Partnering with Strategic Advisory at The Future Laboratory

featured-post
category - strategy
category - services

Closing the delta between tomorrow and today. What context do you need to build sound, future-proofed strategies?  

2024. Two recurring themes.
  • Content Overload [everyone is a content creator, every brand is a media brand – but we are so overwhelmed by content, we’ve stopped paying attention to it].
  • Brand is Culture [but culture can be anything, and everyone is obsessed with positioning brands as cultural engines, negotiating TikTok trends, yet many activations miss real meaning and effectiveness].  

Because, while [meaningful] content is king, it’s context that wears the crown.  

Unlike other agencies, our approach to strategy is futures-first, not iterative. When it comes to futures, what we say and publish today matters. But how this knowledge fits into a bigger picture – and in the context of your brand and business – is what’s important for resilient longer-term planning. 

By constantly asking all the reasons why before what, we can present you with the right context – the evidence and confidence needed to continue to invest in the right opportunities, as well as to start thinking more expansively to imagine other possible outcomes that the future might hold. 

This allows for a wider framework of strategic insights and actions, which brings alignment as well as longevity to decisioning making by linking your actions across The Next: [Visionary], The New: [Strategic] as well as The Now: [Tactical] work-streams.

From HI [Human Intelligence] to AI, we have a range of industry-leading practitioners, expert networks, intellectual property and tools to replace knowledge gaps with strategic insight and actions, and close the delta between your tomorrow and today.  

To simplify this process, we believe these answers lie in the amalgamation and interdependencies of key areas of intelligence, derived from a mix of methodologies.   

Keeping an ever-evolving consumer and increasingly competitive category landscape front of mind is imperative for maintaining brand relevance. 

CONTACT US 

Powered by:

9 May 2024

Author: Rachele Simms

Image: The Future Laboratory

Share

The Four Key Areas of Intelligence

  • Cultural Context: Systematically interrogating the wider global drivers, the external societal, industrial and cultural forces set to shape the future
  • Consumer Context: Understanding the impact of these on shifting consumer expectations and mindsets; asking what’s important, and knowing how this manifests globally and regionally
  • Competitor Context: Analysing and prioritising the above in the context of specific brand categories and the competition, today and tomorrow
  • Commercial Context: Unlocking the equity inside your organisation – your strengths, capabilities, as well as weaknesses – to align on tangible applications and actions 

The solution for clients.

Insights that sit at these intersections ultimately identify a set of implications and opportunities that are specific to your brand.  

True success for you, and us, lies in the creation of practical strategic plans or tools that ensure a bold, more disruptive approach to brand innovation, direction and strategies.   

Our work is powered by Strategic Foresight 

We know that our fundamental human needs are prioritised, expressed and pursued differently as time, culture and socio-environmental requirements change. These, in turn, shape our consumer habits and the way we live, work and play, where trends are the manifestation of ideas and beliefs of the time. 

Which is why, at the core of our operations, lies LS:N Global, a subscription-based digital platform containing over 20 years of trends intelligence, and the foundation and cornerstone of our bespoke services.  

We apply this foresight directly to your business through our in-person Strategic Advisory. 

When clients partner with us, they feel more comfortable about the future and have the confidence to act sooner – the mindset needed for change. That’s how we live up to our purpose: making better futures happen. 

 

Latest Strategy Advisory Case Studies

Client: A real estate development company based in Dubai 

Service: Placemaking and Retail Mix Strategy 

Future challenge: How do we define a unique positioning for this development in the eco-system of Dubai malls, ensuring the customer experience is designed to target future consumers’ and tenants’ needs? 

Modules and methodologies:  

  • Quantitative studies | a wide range of consumer in-depth interviews | cultural navigation | Stakeholder analysis | creative direction | brand strategy | toolkits 

Region: UAE 

The Future Laboratory
Photography by Galina Tribushnyaya

Client: A leading publisher of games on console, PC and mobile 

Service: Foresight Programme Refresh 

Future challenge: How can we capture global shifts in digital culture to update and refresh our internal Cultural Trends framework, which will set the precedent for our global marketing strategy in the next five years+? 

Modules and methodologies:  

  • Qualitative edge-case-user in-depth interviews | expert network interviews | cultural navigation | STEEP analysis | Foresight Framework Refresh 

Region: US 

Client:  A real estate company with a portfolio of luxury/ultra-luxury hotels and resorts  

Service: Consumer Research and Brand Strategy 

Future challenge: How can we capture and use tangible insights to inform how our destinations should be positioned to resonate with – and to retain – the future discerning luxury traveller? 

Modules and methodologies:  

  • Stakeholder analysis | quantitative studies | UHNWIs in-depth interviews | expert network Interviews | data and statistical research | strategic direction  

Region: Mexico 

Photography by Vincent Rivaud
Photography by Birch, England

Client:  A private company operating in the hotels and hospitality industry 

Service: Strategy for the Future of Budget Travel and Stays  

Future challenge: How are broader cultural shifts affecting consumers’ expectations for budget travel stays, and what inspiration and action can we take to optimise our offer and lead the category? 

Modules and methodologies:  

  • Stakeholder analysis | Global DIriver and STEEP analysis | expert network interviews | speculative scenarios | workshops 

Region: UK 

Client:  A British luxury clothing brand 

Service: Brand Growth Strategy 

Future challenge: What are the key brand growth opportunities and how might The Future Laboratory support the leadership team in identifying strategic priorities for the coming year and beyond?  

Modules and methodologies:  

  • Stakeholder analysis | expert network interviews | survey and polling | workshops | growth strategy plan on a page 

Region: UK 

Photography by The Future Laboratory
Close
 

Want to find out more?
Get in touch

When clients partner with us, they feel more comfortable about the future and have the confidence to act sooner – the mindset needed for change. That’s how we live up to our purpose: making better business futures happen. 


GET IN TOUCH