Choose the decision the case study should support
Define the question a buyer should be able to answer after reading. The case might demonstrate experience with a new-city launch, a multi-market communications programme, partner development or a website localisation project. One clear commercial question produces a stronger account than a catalogue of every service delivered.
Select a project because it is relevant to the intended market and client type, not merely because it is recent or prestigious. If the operating conditions are materially different, explain the difference rather than inviting the reader to assume that the result is directly transferable.
Describe the starting position precisely
Set out the client's sector, scale, market position, project stage and central constraint. If the client cannot be named, provide enough non-identifying context to make the problem intelligible. A description such as a European service group with several established locations is more useful than an anonymous global leader.
Separate observed facts from the client's interpretation. The account should state what was known at the beginning, what still needed to be tested and which assumptions shaped the initial brief.
Record the baseline before presenting improvement
A result needs a starting point, period and measurement method. Record the source, geography, sample, channel and calculation used for each important number. If the original project did not collect a baseline, do not manufacture one retrospectively.
Qualitative change can still be valuable. A documented approval process, a validated partner route or a working market brief may be the relevant outcome. Describe it accurately instead of converting every improvement into an unsupported percentage.
Distinguish the agency's contribution from the client's work
List who researched, decided, produced, approved and implemented each significant part of the project. The agency may have developed the strategy and coordinated delivery while the client's sales team secured contracts or its local counsel completed regulatory work.
Clear attribution makes the case study more credible and helps a future buyer understand the resources they must provide. It also prevents a successful outcome from being presented as the work of one supplier when several parties contributed.
Explain the decisions that changed the project
Select the few decisions that show how the team worked: narrowing the audience, changing the proposition, rejecting a channel, choosing one pilot city or delaying an announcement until evidence was ready. Give the criterion and the information used, not a diary of meetings.
Include relevant alternatives. Explaining why one route was chosen over another demonstrates judgement and allows the reader to see whether the method suits their own circumstances.
Create an evidence file for every material claim
Link figures to source reports, analytics exports, contracts, published coverage or other records. Keep the period, definition and owner beside the claim so that later edits do not detach a number from its meaning. Where confidentiality prevents publication, retain the evidence internally and state the public limitation clearly.
ASA and CAP guidance says marketers should hold documentary evidence for objective claims and evidence that testimonials are genuine. A customer quotation does not independently substantiate a performance claim contained within it.
Secure permission for names, quotations and data
Agree which company name, logo, employee names, quotations, performance figures, screenshots and project details may be used. Keep the approved wording, approver and date. Permission to mention a relationship does not automatically authorise disclosure of commercial information.
Use a properly anonymised case where disclosure is restricted. Remove combinations of details that identify the client indirectly, and avoid wording that implies an endorsement or continuing relationship beyond the permission actually given.
Localise the explanation without changing the facts
Translate the business context as well as the words. Explain unfamiliar legal forms, channels, job titles, currencies and market practices. A reader should understand why a constraint mattered without needing prior knowledge of the original country.
Keep the central facts consistent across language versions. Local examples and terminology can change, but the scope, attribution, method and result should not expand during translation.
Write around the result and its limits
A practical sequence is: client situation, decision to be made, constraints, work completed, contribution of each party, result, limitations and next step. Use charts or before-and-after tables only when the underlying measures are genuinely comparable.
UK government case-study guidance recommends clear evidence of outcomes and impact, and advises waiting when results are not yet available. An unfinished project can support a process note, but it should not be presented as proven success.
Review the published version as evidence changes
Check names, roles, permissions, figures, links and legal restrictions immediately before publication. Align the headline, summary card, presentation version and full case so that none of them makes a broader claim than the approved evidence supports.
Assign an owner and review date. If a client page disappears, a role changes or a number becomes obsolete, update the context rather than leaving an apparently current claim without support.
How ICON IMAGE develops international case studies
ICON IMAGE can select the most relevant project, organise the evidence, define attribution, coordinate permissions and adapt the explanation for an international buyer without exposing confidential material.
A useful starting brief includes the target audience and market, project records, available results, contractual restrictions, approval owner and the commercial decision the finished case study should support.
Editorial sources
Primary sources used to verify the factual statements and publication dates in this article.