When the business is changing faster than the plan
Some moments ask more of a business than the day job has space for. Growth has flatlined and the approach that built the business isn't producing what it used to. An acquisition has happened and the strategic logic of the new portfolio hasn't been worked through. A founder is stepping back and the strategy is still living in their head. The next round of investment is on the horizon. The category is shifting under the business in ways the current model isn't built for. Or, most commonly of all, the business is operating successfully but a different version of it is visible and someone in the leadership team can see that a new trajectory is needed to get the business where it could be going.
These moments have a common requirement. The business needs to look and act more strategically coherent than it has had to before. It needs to make deliberate decisions about what to carry forward and what to leave behind. And it needs to do so while continuing to operate. The temptation is to commission a one-off strategy project, get a deck, and try to live by it through eighteen months of fast-moving change. We think such moments need more than this.
Use us if
Growth has outpaced the strategic framework that got you here.
A recent acquisition has reshaped the portfolio and the strategic logic of the new whole hasn't been worked through.
A founder is stepping back and the strategy is still partly living in their head.
An investment round is six to twelve months out and the strategic plan isn't yet tight enough.
The category is shifting and the business model is starting to look like the wrong shape for where the market is going.
The business is operating successfully but someone in the leadership team can see a more interesting version of it, and is looking for help building the case internally.
What we do
A transition is not a project. It's a journey, typically of 12-24 months, during which the business is moving from one shape to another while continuing to operate. We work as a sustained strategic partner through that period.
Sometimes a transition is forced. By an acquisition, a leadership change, flatlining performance, a strategic reset the business didn't ask for. The moment needs handling so it becomes an opportunity not turbulence: setting the agenda for what needs deciding, making decisions about what to carry forward and what to leave behind and creating a space for strategic planning while the rest of the team runs the business.
Sometimes a transition needs to happen without an external driver. A different version of the business is visible but the current model is working well enough that nothing creates the urgency to act. The work here is about helping the leadership team see the gap, identify sources of inertia holding the current model in place and build the case for change before its absence becomes the reason it never happens.
The shape of the partnership in both cases is more like a coach than a consultancy: sustained, accountable and present when it matters most. Strategic stewardship providing to support better decisions through periods of growth, change and uncertainty.
Our perspective
Most brand consultancy operates in continuity, helping brands strengthen what they already are. Transitions are different. The brand needs to become something different from what it currently is, while remaining recognisable as itself.
Transitions are terrain, not a moment. They involve a period the brand has to move through, where the meanings people hold about it are actively shifting. Continuity and change are the same strategic question asked from two directions: what has to stay for the brand to remain itself, and what has to change for it to work in changed circumstances? Neither can be answered without the other. And the work includes the ecosystem of stakeholders whose understanding of the brand needs to evolve together. A transition that works in one part of the ecosystem but not another isn't a successful transition.
Strategy as the art of the possible
Transitions test what a business can actually sustain. The temptation is to plan the transition the business wants rather than the transition the business can deliver. Working with real capabilities, and being realistic about pace and sequencing, is what turns ambition into a roadmap that actually gets travelled.
The questions we ask
What does this transition actually mean for the brand? What changes and what is the change about at a deeper level?
What has to stay for the brand to remain recognisably itself and what has to change for it to work in the new circumstances?
Who are the stakeholders whose understanding of the brand needs to evolve and how does the change land differently for each of them?
What can this business genuinely sustain through the transition given its current capabilities, resources, and organisational readiness?
What's the shape of the terrain the brand has to move through, and what path can actually be travelled?
How will we know the transition has landed? What does the destination look like, for the brand and for the ecosystem around it?
How it works
Transitions vary substantially depending on where a business is in the change and what kind of change it is navigating. Some businesses are approaching a specific transitional moment and need clear strategic direction. Others are in the middle of a substantial transition and need full strategy and articulation. Others are in extended periods of change where transition is the operating condition rather than a discrete momen
Kickstart
An agile way to explore the challenges and define the issues
One to two weeks of focused desk research into the business, the transition being navigated, and the stakeholder ecosystem affected by it
A one-day workshop with the leadership team working through the strategic questions around what the transition means, what has to stay, what has to change
A strategy report capturing our reading of the terrain and the shape of what could come next
A follow-up conversation once the document has been lived with, to test and refine
For businesses wanting a low-commitment way to work with us and see what's possible. Typical timescale: 3-4 weeks.
Level One - Strategic direction
A focused piece of strategic work that develops a clear direction for the brand through the transition.
Briefing conversations and framing of the transition and what's driving it
Cultural and strategic analysis of the current brand and the changed circumstances it's moving into
Initial view of the stakeholder ecosystem: who's affected, how the change lands for each part of it
Assessment of current capabilities, resources, and organisational readiness for the transition
Strategic direction development: what has to stay, what has to change, how the transition should be shaped
Written strategy with clear position, rationale, and recommended next steps
For businesses at or approaching a specific transitional moment who need clear strategic direction. Typical timescale: 6-8 weeks.
Level Two - Transition strategy and articulation
A more substantial programme that takes strategic direction through to full articulation of how the brand shows up during and after the transition. Suitable for businesses ready to translate strategic understanding into positioning, messaging, and stakeholder communications that carry the transition coherently.
Cultural and strategic analysis of the transition (as Level One)
Primary research with key stakeholders where useful
Positioning and proposition articulation for the transitioned brand
Stakeholder ecosystem map: the network of relationships that need to move together, and how to bring them through the transition in sequence
Messaging architecture for each stakeholder group
Phased transition plan grounded in what the business can genuinely sustain
Documented transition strategy ready to inform organisational, commercial, and communications activity
For businesses navigating a substantial transition who need full strategy and articulation. Typical timescale: 3-4 months.
Level Three - Sustained partnership through change
Ongoing strategic partnership for businesses in extended transitional periods
Strategic support for transitional decisions as they arise
Ongoing analysis of how the transition is evolving across the stakeholder ecosystem
Ongoing ecosystem work supporting the evolution of stakeholder relationships through the change
Annual strategic review of the transition and the brand's positioning within it
Ongoing analysis of category shifts and cultural change affecting the transition
For businesses in extended transitional periods where transition is the operating condition. Typical timescale: annual partnership, usually starting with a twelve-month engagement.
Bespoke engagements
We can tailor our approach to specific transitional situations. Common bespoke work includes post-acquisition brand integration where two brands need to become one coherently, founder exit and succession where the brand needs to evolve beyond its founding identity, rapid response to unexpected transitional events (leadership departures, category disruption, reputational moments), and preparation for sale where the brand needs to be positioned for a specific transaction.
What we bring
25 years of brand strategy and senior leadership experience, including MD-level roles in growth businesses. The ability to hold strategic conversations at board and investor level. And the willingness to stay close to the business as the transition unfolds rather than dropping in and out at quarterly intervals.
Free transition guide
Get our working paper exploring how businesses can recognise the transitions they need to make before circumstances force them.
A 2024 Bain study found only 12% of business transformations achieve their original ambition. That figure measures the transformations that were attempted. The larger story is the ones that should have happened and didn't.
Our ‘Before you have to’ working paper is about both. The transitions that get attempted and frequently fail, and the transitions that never happen, despite being needed.
Inside:
A short diagnostic to locate your business. Forced transition, chosen transition, or neither
A method for handling forced transitions well in the first ninety days
A method for building the internal case for chosen transitions
A working framework for surfacing strategic inertia in your own business
Reflections drawing on the work of Donald Sull and Marshall Goldsmith