1 January 2003. Troutbeck, Upstate New York. A foot of snow. Minus 10 degrees Celsius.

The annual management meeting of Kantar, WPP’s insight, information and consulting division. It may not sound like the perfect first date but the frost focused the mind and spawned an idea.

What would happen if you took three businesses and turned them into one? The first had pioneered the concept of iconographic insight in brand thinking. The second had changed the way America developed and tested brand communications. The third had introduced the strategic marketing consultancy to Europe.

Icon Brand Navigation. Diagnostic Research. Added Value. Together we believed we could create a business that would become the Marketing Inspiration behind the world’s most iconic brands.

And so Added Value, a global brand development and marketing insight consultancy, was born.

The idea became a business that now has reach across 23 locations, in 14 countries and 5 continents, with experience in over 150 markets.  We answer the central marketing questions. Questions big. Questions small. Questions about market, equity, positioning, innovation and communications.  Answers which require insight, creativity and rigour. Answers which inspire action.  It’s what our clients value. It’s what we add.

Why work with us?

Our answers are sharp, strategic and grounded in insight

A crystal clear definition of the problem. An enlightened understanding of the consumer and the brand. A tight focus on the immediate actions required by the business and the longer term impact that needs to be achieved. A vision, a strategy, the perfect brief.

Our solutions work

They demonstrate a deep understanding of your market, your business and your organisation. They are delivered by people who understand what it takes to drive ideas into the market. People who have sat where you sit and know how it feels.

Our advice stands the test of time; it has the future inside it

Sometimes you need to predict the potential size of an opportunity. Sometimes it’s about imagining how you could transform a category. More and more, the focus will be on making a brand’s behaviour sustainable. We have built deep expertise in trends, cultural insight and sustainable marketing to ensure that our answers create lasting value.

We make the complex simple and beautiful
Many great answers are lost in words. We distil each thought until it speaks for itself.

We deliver marketing inspiration.

Want to know more?  Get in touch.  Or have a look as some of our case studies here.