What’s the thing you’re trying to change at the moment that you’re finding hardest to make happen?
Work with usAbout
We make important ideas work in the real world.
Goodthing is a strategic innovation studio. We work with organisations trying to change something important — in communities, places, public services, sport and society — where the problem is complicated and the answer isn't obvious. We help them see what's really happening, find a better way forward, build what's needed and move it into the real world.
Our mission
Make sure the ideas that deserve to work, actually do.
There is no shortage of good intentions in the sectors we work in. There is a shortage of people who can take a complicated, half-formed, genuinely important idea and turn it into something people understand, use and keep using. That is the job we have chosen.
Why we exist
The hard part is working out what to do.
They need someone to work out what's actually going on. We're comfortable in the messy bit between "we know something needs to change" and "here's what we're going to do about it" — reading a system, finding the real problem underneath the stated one, and turning it into something people can understand and use. The output is different every time: a proposition, a brand, a product, a service, a campaign, a system, a programme. The job underneath doesn't change.
Fast facts
-
25 years turning complicated problems into things that work.
-
5 disciplines research, strategy, creative, digital and evidence, under one roof.
-
90% adoption at Derwen College, run entirely by their own team.
-
245k+ organic views for Take the Oath, at zero ad spend.
-
Shrewsbury & London one small studio, senior people on every project.
-
Councils to construction sport, health, education, public sector, food, drink, tech and law.
Our values
Our values are there to remind us of who we are, and who we want to be. They steer everything: how we choose work, how we behave in a room, how we speak to people. They are what unites us as humans.
Give something back
Our work is all the better for being driven by a higher purpose. We choose problems where getting it right leaves people better off, and we try to do a little good in how we work as well as what we make. Giving back should be a given.
Walk in other people's shoes
Empathy is how we find the real problem. Understanding someone else's point of view, and the system they actually live inside, is what separates a solution that works from one that only looks right on a slide.
Look beyond the horizon
We're creating the future, so we always think about the impact of our work beyond today. That means building things that last, that keep working once we've gone, and that don't cost the environment more than they give back.
Keep it real
Being genuine people is key to our success and our ability to find joy in our work. We speak like real people rather than hiding behind a corporate veneer, we say when something isn't working, and we aren't afraid to express feelings when the time is right.
The sum of the parts
We're stronger together. Working with a bunch of trusted and talented collaborators is an important part of how we do things, and so is treating a client's team as part of ours. We recognise what each person brings to the whole and celebrate their unique flavour.
Go your own way
We do what feels right, rather than what we think we should. Our industry can be faddish, but we think it's better to use common sense and intellect than to follow influence. Intuition matters to us, so we encourage one another to tap into our own rather than following the crowd.
The people
Small studio, senior people, no hand-offs.
Goodthing is deliberately small. The senior people you meet are the people who do the work, alongside you from the first conversation to handover, with a trusted network of specialists brought in when a project needs them. No account layers, no juniors learning on you, no hand-offs to people you've never met. It is the only way we know of staying close enough to a problem to actually solve it.
Warran Brindle, Founder
Twenty-five years making complicated, important things work, hands-on from the first conversation to handover.
What clients say about working with us
“Goodthing helped us build something people could believe in, not just something that looked good, rooted in place and people. I'd confidently recommend them to any council or public health organisation.”
David TinnionCOO, London Sport
1 / 9