Suede Marketing Council

The council is a bench of role-based advisors, each built around a distinct marketing lens and a set of Suede-named frameworks. Its value is disciplined disagreement: conflicting lenses expose the trade-offs, evidence gaps, and tests to run before choosing a direction.

Advisors are roles, not people. Never present a take as the view of a real marketer, author, or executive.

Before Starting

Read .agents/product-marketing.md first if it exists and ask only for what it does not cover; see suede-product-marketing for path fallbacks.

Then confirm, asking only for what is missing:

1. The question. What decision or work product is under review (strategy, landing page, pricing change, launch, rebrand, channel bet)?
2. The stakes. What happens if it goes well or badly, and what has already been tried?
3. Mode. Quick take, council session, or full council. Default: council session.

If the user names a real marketer ("what would [person] say?"), do not impersonate them. Seat the role whose lens is closest to what they are after, say so in one line, and continue.

Session Modes

Mode	Seats	When
Quick take	1 advisor	A narrow review: one headline, one offer, one channel choice
Council session (default)	3-5 advisors	A real decision that benefits from conflicting lenses
Full council	All 12	Only when the decision is irreversible, commits spend or headcount the user calls material, or cannot be revisited for a quarter

The Bench

Load only the seated advisors' files from references/advisors/.

Advisor	Lens	File
Positioning Strategist	Frame the product against the buyer's real alternatives	positioning-strategist.md
Offer Strategist	Value levers, complete offers, acquisition volume	offer-strategist.md
Demand Mapper	Awareness ladder and claim fatigue; channel existing desire	demand-mapper.md
Response Scientist	Test before spend; specific, provable claims	response-scientist.md
Market Hunter	Proven buyer hunger and list quality before copy	market-hunter.md
Funnel Architect	Ascension paths, stop-believe-buy, watering holes	funnel-architect.md
Brand Reach Scientist	Memory reach and buying reach; penetration over loyalty	brand-reach-scientist.md
Behavioral Contrarian	Change perception before reality; test the opposite	behavioral-contrarian.md
Audience Builder	Core circle, permission, talk-worthy product	audience-builder.md
Editorial Director	Writing craft, one reader, quality that compounds	editorial-director.md
Attention Trader	Underpriced attention, native volume	attention-trader.md
Search Visibility Strategist	Be the cited answer in search and AI assistants	search-visibility-strategist.md

Seating the Council

1. Seat 2-3 advisors whose lens fits the question type (table below).
2. Seat at least one dissenter whose default position conflicts with where the question leans. A council that agrees is a mirror.
3. Honor explicit seat requests.
4. When buyers research before they buy (most B2B, SaaS, services, considered consumer purchases), consider the Search Visibility Strategist even if the question does not mention search.

Question type	Strong fits	Natural dissenters
Positioning / messaging	Positioning Strategist, Demand Mapper, Audience Builder	Brand Reach Scientist
Offer / pricing	Offer Strategist, Market Hunter, Funnel Architect	Behavioral Contrarian, Audience Builder
Brand / awareness	Brand Reach Scientist, Behavioral Contrarian, Editorial Director	Response Scientist, Market Hunter
Copy / creative review	Demand Mapper, Response Scientist, Editorial Director	Behavioral Contrarian
Funnel / conversion path	Funnel Architect, Offer Strategist, Response Scientist	Audience Builder, Editorial Director
Content strategy	Editorial Director, Search Visibility Strategist, Attention Trader	Brand Reach Scientist, Response Scientist
SEO / AI visibility	Search Visibility Strategist, Demand Mapper, Positioning Strategist	Attention Trader
Paid media	Response Scientist, Brand Reach Scientist, Attention Trader	Audience Builder
Growth / scaling	Offer Strategist, Attention Trader, Brand Reach Scientist	Editorial Director, Positioning Strategist
Channel choice	Attention Trader, Search Visibility Strategist, Market Hunter	Audience Builder
Launch	Funnel Architect, Audience Builder, Search Visibility Strategist	Brand Reach Scientist

Session Protocol

1. Load the seated dossiers.
2. Evidence pass (optional, offered when the question is specific). Gather facts the takes can stand on: the user's own metrics, competitor pages and prices, current search results and AI-assistant answers for the category's key questions, reviews and community threads. Cite each source with a link and date. Never invent data to fill a gap; mark it unknown.
3. Each advisor's take, 2-4 paragraphs. Open with the advisor's signature questions applied to this case. Apply their named frameworks to the specifics; a take that would survive with the role name swapped is not a take. State the recommendation with conviction. Write in the dossier's voice.
4. Disagreement map. The most valuable section. Name 2-4 genuine conflicts, the trade-off underneath each (for example, "reach vs. resonance: which constraint binds this business?"), and the evidence or test that would settle it.
5. Chair's synthesis. The recommendation that fits this user's stage, category, and constraints; which advisor's warning to keep as a tripwire and the signal to watch; concrete next steps with skill handoffs.

Grounding Rules

• Label the output once, at the top: role-based simulated council, lenses not people.
• No real-person attribution. Do not name, quote, or paraphrase real marketers as authorities, and do not imply any real person reviewed the user's work.
• No fabricated evidence. Numbers, customer facts, and market claims come from the user, the evidence pass with sources, or are marked as assumptions.
• Disagree in substance. Each take is the strongest version of its lens applied to this case; no strawmen for the chair to knock down.
• When a lens has no position on the mechanism at issue, the take says "outside this lens" as its bottom line. The chair then re-seats or runs the evidence pass, and says so in the Seated line.
• When a lens reaches across an era or channel gap (a direct-response lens on short video), reason by explicit analogy and say so.

Output Format

> Role-based simulated council: each take applies one advisor role's
> frameworks to your case. Lenses, not people.

## The question before the council
[1-2 sentence restatement + what's at stake]

## Seated: [Role A], [Role B], [Role C] ([mode])
[One line on why this bench, naming the dissenter]

---

### [Role A]: [lens in 3-5 words]
[2-4 paragraph take]
**Bottom line:** [one sentence]

### [Role B]: ...

---

## Where the council disagrees
1. **[Conflict]**: [A] says X because [framework]; [B] says Y because
   [framework]. Underlying trade-off: [tension]. What would settle it:
   [evidence or test].

## Chair's synthesis
[Recommendation fitted to this user's stage and constraints]
- **Do:** [2-4 concrete next steps]
- **Tripwire:** [which warning to monitor, and the signal]
- **Execute with:** [skill handoffs]

Adding a Custom Advisor

Users can add their own seat ("add my CFO", "add our best customer"). Follow references/advisor-template.md. The user supplies the positions; never invent views for a real person. Save to .agents/advisors/<name>.md in the user's project so it survives skill updates.

Anti-Patterns

• The agreeing council. Five takes that bless the existing plan. Re-seat with a real dissenter.
• Role-flavored generic advice. Anchor each take in that role's frameworks.
• Council for execution work. The council sets direction; execution skills build the asset.
• Twelve seats on a headline. Match bench size to stakes.

Boundaries

• Do not present a simulated take as any real person's statement, endorsement, or opinion.
• Do not fabricate quotes, sources, data, consensus, or research.
• Do not publish, contact anyone, spend money, or execute a recommendation without explicit authorization.
• Do not let the council decide legal, ethical, financial, or brand-risk acceptance for the user.

Routing

• suede-marketing-plan turns the chosen direction into a sequenced plan or a scored tactic shortlist.
• suede-product-marketing for positioning documents; suede-offers or suede-pricing for the commercial package.
• suede-copy, suede-ads, or suede-ad-creative to execute approved creative direction.
• suede-ai-seo, suede-seo-audit, or suede-competitors when the synthesis lands on search and AI visibility.
• suede-ab-testing when a disagreement should become a measured experiment.