The Forge

What The Forge does

The Forge (legal entity: The Forge Insight Limited; operating as Forge MSQ) is a private, UK-based growth strategy and innovation consultancy founded in 2013, headquartered in London with additional offices in New York and Amsterdam. It serves global enterprise clients — including PepsiCo, Unilever, Nestle, Danone, McDonald's, L'Oreal, Diageo, VodafoneThree, Haleon, KraftHeinz, NatWest, Capital Group, and Primark — across FMCG, food & beverage, beauty, telecoms, banking, and asset management. Its core offering comprises four service modules: Bold Futures (strategic visioning), Dynamic Demand (live demand intelligence), Growth Strategy, and Innovation Engine, delivered alongside content products including The Persuasion Game podcast and methodology video series.

The firm's key technical asset is the Dynamic Demand Spaces framework, a proprietary methodology that combines survey data with future-facing signals (search trends, social data, sales data, macroeconomic shifts) and uses AI techniques — synthetic respondents and digital twins — to refresh demand mapping without additional primary research. This is layered with bespoke AI tools, rapid prototyping, and live dashboards built around each client, plus a "Human Brilliance" layer of senior consulting and persuasion capability. The firm is B Corp certified and won the Market Research Society's Innovation of the Year award in 2023. Following a merger with Freemavens in 2026, the firm operates as Forge MSQ.

The business model is enterprise professional services: bespoke consulting engagements sold through direct field sales to brand leadership, with fees structured per Statement of Work (typically 75% on contract formation and 25% on final debrief, plus expense reimbursement). GTM is executed through direct engagement with senior marketing and strategy executives, supported by a thought leadership content engine (podcast, video series, newsletters, LinkedIn) and industry event presence including Cannes Lions.

Name

The Forge

Legal name

The Forge Insight Limited

Website

https://www.thisistheforge.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Forge (operating as Forge MSQ) is a London-headquartered growth strategy and innovation consultancy founded in 2013. It serves global enterprise clients across FMCG, food & beverage, beauty, telecoms, and financial services through four service modules anchored by its proprietary Dynamic Demand Spaces framework.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Management Consulting Services: The Forge provides consulting services including growth strategy, innovation engine, bold futures, and dynamic demand mapping. Their engagement model involves professional services engagements with enterprise clients, typically structured as projects with defined statements of work.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Forge is an impact-driven growth consultancy that helps global consumer brands identify and unlock new sources of demand through proprietary frameworks such as Dynamic Demand Spaces, Seven Success Factors, and Bold Futures foresight. Its practice combines qualitative research, AI-augmented analysis, and embedded consultancy teams to deliver growth strategy, innovation, and demand-space engagements for enterprise clients.

Product overview

The Forge is an impact-driven growth consultancy that offers a unified consulting platform combining strategic services with proprietary technology. The core offering comprises four service modules: Bold Futures (strategic visioning), Dynamic Demand (demand intelligence), Growth Strategy (brand and category growth), and Innovation Engine (product/service innovation). These are complemented by proprietary technology including Bespoke AI Tools and Live Dashboards built around client needs. The company also produces thought leadership content including The Persuasion Game Podcast and video series on Dynamic Demand Spaces and brand portfolio strategy. The consultancy differentiates through its combination of human expertise, intelligent data capabilities, and applied creativity.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Bold Futures A foresight-driven growth strategy engagement that helps global consumer brands identify emerging consumer demand and translate it into long-term brand and category strategy.
• Dynamic Demand A demand-spaces analytics engagement built on The Forge's proprietary Dynamic Demand Spaces Framework, used to identify unmet consumer demand and quantify opportunity spaces for client brands.
• Growth Strategy A bespoke growth strategy consulting service that helps enterprise brands define where and how to grow, delivered through embedded consultancy teams and proprietary frameworks.
• Innovation Engine An innovation consulting offering that helps enterprise clients strengthen and accelerate their innovation pipelines, from opportunity sizing to concept and execution strategy.

Quantifiable outcome

• Reigniting cultural relevance for an iconic beer brand across Africa
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers13 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability3 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• FreemavenscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFreemavens merged with The Forge to become Forge, combining their Demand Spaces and behavioral science expertise. This integration expanded The Forge's capabilities in dynamic consumer demand mapping and behavioral insights, creating a unified consultancy offering.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Bain & Company: Global strategy consultancy with a strong growth-strategy practice serving the same Fortune 500 FMCG and consumer brand clients (PepsiCo, Unilever, Nestle, L'Oreal). Most direct comparable on growth strategy and brand portfolio engagements.
• Boston Consulting Group (BCG): Global strategy consultancy with leading innovation and brand strategy practices. Competes head-to-head for growth, demand-mapping, and innovation mandates among the same multinational CPG and consumer brands.
• IDEO: Design and innovation consultancy with a methodology-driven approach to consumer insights and innovation. Closely comparable on the Innovation Engine and Bold Futures service modules and on human-centered, design-led growth work.
• Frog (frog design): Innovation and design consultancy serving global brands on innovation strategy, product development, and demand spaces. Direct peer on innovation consulting and category-level transformation mandates.
• What If Innovation: Boutique innovation consultancy with a methodology-driven approach to category innovation and consumer demand. Closely comparable in size and service mix to The Forge's Innovation Engine and Dynamic Demand offerings.

Broad incumbents

• Kantar: Global market research and consumer insights powerhouse with overlapping demand-mapping, brand, and innovation offerings. Larger and broader than The Forge, but the most direct overlap on the Dynamic Demand Spaces methodology.
• McKinsey & Company: Largest global strategy consultancy serving the same enterprise CPG, retail, and financial-services clients on growth strategy and transformation. A broader incumbent rather than direct specialist, but routinely competing for similar mandates.
• Ipsos: Global market research firm with significant innovation, demand, and brand portfolio research practices. Competes for enterprise insights and innovation mandates, though at much larger scale and broader scope than The Forge.
• Accenture Strategy: Strategy arm of Accenture with a large consumer goods practice and growing innovation / AI-led offerings. Larger incumbent competing for enterprise transformation, marketing strategy, and demand-mapping programs.

Emerging players

• The Futures Company: Specialist futures, cultural insights, and demand forecasting consultancy. Adjacent peer with overlap on the 'Bold Futures' and forward-looking demand-sensing propositions, but a narrower geographic and client footprint.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/about
• Xx.com/_TheForge

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Forge