THe Way

Envision and own the future

We are strategic consultants – growth enablers, branding experts, innovation creators, and architects of sustainable success – led by foresight and insight.

Our Focus

We unlock growth opportunities for clients across three core areas. Grounded in foresight and insight expertise and proprietary offerings such as DisruptorID™, Upland enables organizations to more clearly map their trajectory, build and future-proof plans, and gain critical competitive advantage.

Growth STrategy

Defining bold yet actionable strategies that take organizations to the next level

Strategic Visioning and Plans
Commercialization & Expansion Paths
Partnership Opportunities
Market & Competitive Intelligence

Innovation Strategy

Creating products, services, and experiences that win the next cycle or drive the next big leap

Demand Space and Front-End Innovation
Ideating & New Product Development Process
Innovation Roadmaps and Validation
Commercialization Blueprint

Brand STrategy

Building and maintaining relevance to drive distinction and unseat competition

Brand Positioning and Value Proposition
Brand Identity and Packaging Design
Marketing and Communication Strategy
Go-to-Market and Retail Strategy

We have a deep suite of qualitative and quantitative consumer/customer insights capabilities to support client project needs. This includes traditional methods plus ways to connect with hard-to-reach targets like Gen Z: Influencer-Led Discussions, Hot-Spot Diary, AI Conversational Qual + more.

Method

We start every engagement by giving our clients a growth strategy framework and clear vision of where their world is going, so they can create transformative, future-ready solutions in it.

Phase 1: Envision The Future

Envisioning the future starts with foresight and our proprietary DisruptorID offering, integrates consumer insights, and results in a rigorously defined Future Map outlining emerging opportunities and growth paths.

Foresight

Through DisruptorID, we study market drivers and weak signals, tap into our Foresight Hub experts, track VC/PE investment activity, and use AI scanning to identify disruption likely to impact clients.

Insight

Grounded in these relevant disruption areas, we explore how expectations and needs are evolving through consumer insights work, designed to uncover more meaningful, actionable learning.

Synthesis

To future-proof and inform strategy, we integrate Foresight and Insight learning to create Future Maps, which deliver rich opportunity spaces that leverage disruption and chart paths for growth.

Phase 2: Create Your Future

Creating your future is highly collaborative, from building platforms to ideating solutions that address future scenarios and opportunities. Ideas and directions that emerge are refined with consumers, becoming more focused and ending in concept testing.

Ideation

With a clear vision of tomorrow’s needs and future maps to “spark” thinking, dynamic ideating outlines the most promising paths forward and generates ideas that reflect real market opportunity.

Creation

The innovation strategy and ideas that emerge are further co-created with consumers, experts, influencers, industrial designers, and other creatives who come together to enhance the outputs.

Validation

Critical concept testing via efficient Qualitative and Quantitative consumer insights methods provides clients with the confidence to invest time and resources to bring solutions and strategies to market.

Results

From award winning innovations, to portfolio expansions, to Foresight work that has pivoted corporate and business growth strategies, the result of our unique approach is in the successes it has enabled for our clients.

Haribo

Innovation Strategy + Roadmap Food & Beverage

Primed for rapid growth in the US market, Haribo enlisted Upland to conduct DisruptorID and an expansive, Quantitative exploration of the snacking landscape, including a full Market Segmentation, to develop marketing growth strategy, an innovation roadmap, and sequenced product pipeline.

More Proof

McDonald’s

Future Landscape Mapping QSR & Restaurant

Seeking to gain a robust understanding of the Future of Food, McDonald’s engaged Upland to conduct DisruptorID to identify future product, brand, and marketing growth strategy for the organization to leverage, as well as threats to plan against. The result was a visionary 10-year growth strategy and a pipeline of disruption-led initiatives.