Q1 2019

4 SME NEWS / Q1 2019 NEWS , From the Original Frontier Comes a Consultancy to Help Restless Brands Explore What’s Next An independent brand innovation consultancy, Wolves Not Sheep, has launched to help restless businesses in pursuit of uncommon growth. Its founder is a former independent agency CCO and advertising veteran, ChrisWilliams, who has brought together amulti-disciplinary teamof award- winning senior creative and technical talent to build this newmodel. Unlike traditional partners, the consul- tancy acknowledges they are not built to be an agency of re- cord (AOR). "Sitting with CEOs, CMOs, internal sales, and mar- keting teams over the years has provided a front row seat to the issues plaguing businesses to- day," said Williams. "These are larger issues that aren't being solved by throwing more money at marketing to a commonly dis- interested audience." The founders built the consum- er-centric consultancy to attack business problems differently – creatively. They further explain, "management consultants ad- vise company leadership in pur- suit of efficiency, while marketing communication agencies sup- port outreach efforts." Wolves Not Sheep, on the other hand, focuses on the critical gap these two leave behind that commonly hides the key to increased prof- its. "We look at ways to innovate within the brand, finding unmet needs in a core market and help- ing both internal and external teams to develop new products, services, and even business models to meet them," Williams said in a statement. The firm works with its clients in two ways: 1) offering innovation sprints designed to help uncov- er market fit and brand platform concerns, as well as identify po- tential new drivers for growth; and 2) offering transformative project engagements that can range in length and complexity dependent on the nature of the challenge being solved. The roster of clients at launch includes a range of companies from early-stage startups to es- tablished brands, from the West Coast to the Heartland, all facing growth challenges and looking for opportunities that lie just out- side their comfort zones.