The Sifted guide to innovation consultancies | Sifted
Founded: 1978, as David Kelley Design. In 1991, David Kelley, Bill Moggridge and Mike Nuttall merged their design companies into IDEO
Locations: Palo Alto, London, New York, Tokyo, Munich, San Francisco, Cambridge (MA), Chicago
What they say they do: “We create positive impact through design”
What that means: IDEO come up with new business ideas, they design services, products and experiences for customers and employees alike. They train teams in human-centred design thinking, they have their own venture studio and their own investment fund to invest in design-driven businesses. They have worked with companies like Ikea to come up with new concepts for the kitchen of the future, and in Peru, designed an entire school system from the ground up (Innova Schools)
Employees: 1,100
Acquired: by Kyu in 2016
Notable clients: Apple, IKEA, The Rockefeller Foundation, Planned Parenthood, City of Boston, Swarovski
Read the interview with Ideo partner Axel Unger: What working with Apple and Ikea taught Ideo about innovation
Founded: 2001
Locations: Atlanta, Auckland, Austin, Berlin, Canberra, Chicago, Copenhagen, Dubai, Dublin, Helsinki, Johannesburg, London
What they say they do: “We put design at the heart”
What that means: The have a design-led strategy and help customers create new products. For example they worked with NatWest to create the new banking service Bó, with Unilever to create an employee engagement tool and with Velux, the window company, to create a virtual reality sales tool.
Employees: 1,200
Acquired: Accenture in 2013
Notable clients: NatWest, Unilever, Velux, Unilever, Finnair, Maersk, Sonos, Commerzbank, Hemköp
Founded: 2007
Location: London, UK
What they say they do: “Putting people and product at the centre of business transformation.”
What that means: Will create new digital products for companies and will also hold digital transformation workshops.
Employees: 70
Acquired: Still independent
Notable clients: Nando’s, Google, Finnair, Skype, World Economic Forum, Burberry
Founded: 1992
Location: London, New York, Shanghai
What they say they do: “We bring experimental change to business”
What that means: they work with corporations to identify their areas they could go into to increase revenue and they offer the corporation solutions to fill those gaps. They also offer workshops to train teams in a ‘what if innovation’ mindset. For example, they helped AB InBev guide teams through a 11-week accelerator programme and worked with Ikea’s UK team to create a new style of leadership.
Employees: 70
Acquired: by Accenture in May 2019
Notable clients: AB InBev, Ikea, Pfizer, KFC, EasyJet, Sainsbury’s, BP
Founded: 1969
Locations: New York, Shanghai, San Francisco.
What they say they do: “We design exceptional digital and physical customer experiences to transform businesses at scale”
What that means: They come up with new business ideas and build prototypes for corporations. They can go beyond just building things, for example helped the American Dental Association think of ways to engage younger dentists and persuade them to join the association.
Employees: 1,300
Acquired: Altran acquired Aricent and Frog in 2017
Notable clients: Equinor, American Dental Association
Founded: 2014
Location: Manhattan Beach, London, New York, Berlin, Tokyo, Shanghai, Sydney
What they say they do: “Invents, builds, scales, and invests in startups with the world’s most influential companies”
What that means: They partner with corporations to build products and digital services for them.
Employees: 1,100
Acquired: part of Boston Consulting Group (BCG)
Notable ventures: Regi, Ware2Go, AutoGravity, MatMatch, FarePilot
Founded: 2009
Locations: Antwerp, New York
What they say they do: “We make corporates innovate/think/work like a startup”
What that means: They come into corporations and train them in how to think about innovation — for example, they helped Roche draw up a new digital innovation strategy
Employees: 65
Acquired: Still independent
Notable clients: ING, Roche
Founded: 2014
Location: London, UK
What they say they do: “We turn ideas into show-stopping designs, and designs into market-ready products”
What that means: They come up with new business ideas and build prototypes for corporations, including a lot of app and website design
Acquired: Still independent
Notable customers; Mars, Diageo, Coca-Cola
Read the interview with Studio Graphene founder Ritam Gandhi: Companies should fail more often
Founded: 2013
Location: New York, San Francisco
What they say they do: “We ignite growth revolutions”
What that means: Bionic offers a Growth OS (operating system). They work together with a group of selected company C-level executives to establish an internal growth board that works the same way as a venture capital model. The growth board evaluated 10 venture ideas and establish a continuous growth function within the corporation. They also have corporate venture capital-as-a-service (Bain & Co’s new service offering) and a Bionic Venture Studio where they build their own businesses e.g. Green Room.
Employees: 60
Acquired: Still independent
Notable clients: Citi, Procter & Gamble, AB InBev, Exelon
Founded: 2007
Locations: London, New York, Amsterdam
What they say they do: “We expose real consumer frustrations and unmet needs, and exploit those insights with commercially-viable innovations to protect and grow your business”
What that means: They use big data to analyse come up with new business ideas and build prototypes for corporations. They also help enterprises track their brand from the consumer perspective
Employees: 50
Acquired: By Accenture Interactive in 2019
Notable clients: M&S, Tesco, Heineken, Diageo, Sanofi, Nestle
Founded: 2006
Locations: New York, London
What they say: “We create communications and experiences that ignite business growth with brand”
What that means: They are a brand agency, but a really good one
Employees: 500
Acquired: By Accenture in 2019
Notable clients: Barclaycard, Amazon, Mailchimp, The New York Times, Covergirl, HBO, Chase, Prudential
Founded: 2011
Location: London, UK
What they say they do: “We do product and service design at such pace that we transform the way organisations work”
What that means: They come up with new business ideas and build prototypes for corporations. They can help brands reposition themselves, for example they helped More Than change the image of its claims service to be more friendly
Acquired: entered into a strategic partnership with Bain & Co in 2019
Notable clients: More Than, Atkins, Lloyds, Ada, HSBC, Arla