Selbey Labs, part of the Selbey Anderson Group, is a foresight and innovation practice focused on helping brands see and respond to opportunities and threats.
Selbey Anderson, one of the UK’s fastest growing independent marketing groups, has launched a foresight and innovation practice called Selbey Labs.
Selbey Labs helps clients identify, understand and respond to emerging opportunities and threats through foresight, research and strategic consulting.
The practice works closely with Selbey Anderson group agencies and partners as well as its own clients and has recently collaborated on projects for ZF Group, Gates Corporation and a major healthcare brand with LAW Creative and a major financial services brand with AML.
Selbey Labs identifies macro trends, key sector and market trends and in-depth audience insights, with the ultimate goal of bringing clarity to inform future strategies, campaigns, products and services, ensuring that clients remain resilient and successful.
In an evolution of the futurist consultancy, Selbey Labs engages machine learning alongside expert advice to unearth deeper truths about audiences, culture, markets and brands.
Gerry Hopkinson set up the practice and takes on the role of CEO. He is supported by a management team that includes Sean Pillot de Chenecey, Head of Foresight & Strategy, a strategist, speaker and author of The Post-Truth Business and Influencers & Revolutionaries.
Helen Pillot de Chenecey takes on the role of Insights & Trends Researcher, having worked both agency and client-side in trend forecasting and qualitative research roles.
Ian Henderson is Selbey Labs’ Chief Creative Officer, who has run agencies of Publicis Groupe in London and New York, and Engine Group.
The management team is supported by a panel of faculty partners: futurist Carsten Beck of The Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies (CIFS); Dr Elizabeth Stephens, geopolitical risk advisory lead; Dr Rachel Lawes, social psychology lead; and Georgina Lee, innovation lead.
Selbey Labs has signed a partnership agreement with the Copenhagen Institute of Futures Studies to help develop new products and services. The practice has also partnered with Lumilinks to research and develop a bespoke predictive analytics tool for a wide range of applications.
Selbey Labs will regularly publish trend reports, white papers and research focusing on macro trends, key socio-economic drivers, markets, audiences and culture.
Gerry Hopkinson, CEO of Selbey Labs, said: “Selbey Labs is all about delivering on our group positioning as difference makers and our mission to find and unlock value and bring clarity to a complex world. Historically, futurists have found it difficult to separate signals and noise – but by engaging machine learning alongside senior consultancy, we can focus on the signals and forget the noise.”
Dom Hawes, Group CEO, Selbey Anderson, said: “This is a significant development in the life of Selbey Anderson, giving us a foothold in the world of insight and innovation as well as a pathway to developing our own IP. More importantly, it provides a new way of looking at the world, helping clients make sense of it with practical, useful and effective strategies to adapt, evolve and thrive.”
Selbey Labs is launching a series of trend reports entitled ‘Making Sense of…’ that are intended as an introduction to its thinking, and will cover topics such as Trust and Authenticity, Future Cities, and the Wellness Economy. The first of these, on Innovation, is available to download here.
Selbey Labs will be hosting a series of events driven by its work and reports, the first of which will look at Anticipatory Leadership, in partnership with CIFS in London, later this year. The practice will also be launching a podcast on the same topic.
