Who We Are
Arbor is a communications consultancy that thinks in cycles, not straight lines. Applying cyclical thinking to all aspects of brand storytelling.
We're the communications partner for businesses ready to break free from linear approaches, predictable narratives, and outdated measurements – from conscious start-ups to established industry leaders.
Our approach, born from years of experience:
A marketing cycle that learns by doing
Smart use of data for quick, actionable insights
Direct link to your bottom line
Knowledgeable, dynamic staff focused on real, measurable outcomes
Short project cycles that minimise risk and maximise impact
A process designed to keep the pace of circular innovation
Our experience spans: Apparel | Hospitality | Premium & Luxury | Tech & Innovation | Building & Infrastructure | Financial Services
While we have deep expertise in these sectors, our approach is adaptable to any industry ready to move beyond the traditional storytelling approach.
From Fashion to Finance
Our work spans sectors. We might be:
Attracting customers to re-commerce platforms
Promoting subscription or leasing models
Defining high-impact and organised messaging
Helping a tech manufacturer sell more modular components
Strengthening an online offering
Helping businesses discuss product life cycles
In every case, we find and tell stories that resonate and drive business growth.
We work best with:
Businesses keen to move through strategy to execution
Those willing to be creative
Companies at any stage of their sustainability journey
Brands looking for a trusted partner, not just a service provider
The Ambition
We believe there are three modern marketing ills that need wholesale change.
The first is long and laborious marketing cycles that cannot reflect real-time change in attitudes.
The second is the idea that a product or service must lose its value completely over time, in a kind of linear lifecycle.
The third is the frustration of connecting Return on Marketing Investment to bottom line.
We grew tired of these assumptions, and we knew it could be done differently.
Our aim is to make circular thinking standard practice for brands and audiences alike, by proving that it is a prime driver for brand and bottom line.
Because that’s what it will take for system change. A refreshed undertaking to tie marketing to bottom line, a quicker marketing cycle that can keep up with how people feel and live, and an evolution of the promise of sustainability.
The Model
The real world moves fast. Stories shift multiple times a day, opinions change, and yesterday's data quickly becomes obsolete.
Based on principles of design thinking and development modelling, we've reimagined the marketing cycle for today's world. Our approach is more nimble, responsive, and attuned to real-world dynamics than traditional consultancies.
We call it circular thinking: a streamlined loop that ideates, delivers and measures in cycles to get to impact faster.
It’s built to help you to move at the speed of modern communication, all the time with a thoughtfulness that will resonate with your audiences.
It's ideal for tackling evolving challenges, building momentum and minimising risk. It provides outputs at every stage, moves swiftly from insights to execution, finds ideas that are easy to implement, and makes sure that we move onto the next project better informed.
We don't do bloated teams or unnecessary hierarchy. Most briefs need a combination of skills, so we assemble small, specialised, and experienced teams for each project.
This keeps us agile and better able to deliver, and it keeps time and costs down.
Data and Measurement Strategy
Our approach goes beyond the deluge of data that digital has brought to marketing. And our data strategy underpins the way we work.
Our quick-to-impact promise relies on data and AI analysis in near real time, to keep pace with audiences attitudes. The first steps in our process are meticulously designed to use specific data, and move swiftly from intelligence to action. Instead, we continuously optimise by focusing on four key indicator categories, balancing traditional metrics with more advanced measures of impact.
We are determined to refocus how we measure both immediate performance and long-term success of marketing, so that it creates measurable business outcomes.
We’re also committed to giving you real outputs at every stage. So much so that we’re working on an exciting project with our customers and data partners to develop a holistic AI-driven system that connects not only our efforts, but those of our entire industry, directly to business results. A refreshed undertaking to tie marketing to bottom line.
Points of View
That circularity is more than a trend. It's a real opportunity for brands and businesses to lead in both business practices and creative communications. It offers environmental stewardship, economic prosperity, and new and interesting thinking all at once. Potential customers - across generations, class-divides, and borders - are all looking for a better way.
That the idea of ‘doing the right thing’ isn’t enough to make your customers do the right thing.
That sustainability has come to mean so much that it means little at all. ESG no longer offers the communications promise that it once did. Making sustainability mean something is hard.
That marketing is a bit broken. Protracted timelines, inflated budgets and excessive activity makes it not only impossible to measure and prove impact, but makes it too high risk for many.