Pitch an innovation hub, accelerator or fund and the room glazes over: the idea is real but lives in potential. We help innovation organisations give it a name, a shape and a reason to join.
What we’ve learned
Innovation organisations sell something you can’t hold. A hub is a floor of desks until someone can see the community in it, a programme is a calendar until a founder can see themselves in the cohort, and a deeptech fund is a set of numbers until an investor understands the science behind it. The ambition is rarely what’s missing. The picture usually is.
That’s why our work in this space starts with something concrete. For Plexal, a name rooted in the idea of a plexus grew into wayfinding that organised the hub like a small city, with streets, squares and neighbourhoods. For SHIFT, it meant splitting a sprawling offer into two clear products, the Testbed and the Ecosystem. For IQ Capital, it meant a growth fund deck that makes the case for deeptech in plain terms to fund selectors looking for a reason to say no.
A hub, a programme or a fund only fills up once people can picture themselves in it.
Naming and visual identity that give a new hub, programme or venture one idea people can remember and repeat.
For example: naming and branding Plexal
Brandscape workshops and messaging that turn a sprawling offer into clear products, with a message for every founder, partner and funder.
For example: SHIFT’s Testbed and Ecosystem
Investor decks, membership drives and application campaigns that give the right people a reason to back you or apply.
For example: IQ Capital’s growth fund deck
Top Rated Agency
sortlist 4.96/5
★★★★½
A brilliant job. I’m really happy with everything you’ve done. I think you nailed it, so thank you!
Outfly named and designed Plexal, the innovation hub at Here East, and built strategy, brand and campaigns for SHIFT on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. We developed the growth fund deck for IQ Capital, named and branded Rescape, ran brand workshops for Hatch Enterprise’s Female Founders programme and branded UNSEEN Impact, our own initiative for underserved founders.
Start with an idea people can feel in the space itself. For Plexal we chose a name rooted in the plexus, an interconnected network, then worked alongside Grimshaw Architects to carry it into wayfinding, lighting and furniture, organising the hub like a city with streets and squares. Today more than 1,000 innovators work across Plexal’s Stratford, Shoreditch and Cheltenham workspaces.
Investor audiences vary, so the deck has to work for all of them. For IQ Capital’s growth fund we ran a Brandscape workshop mapping family offices, first-time institutional investors and seasoned fund selectors, explored five visual routes and built a calm 3D art direction, then designed a deck that makes the case for a specialist deeptech fund in plain terms.
They can when each audience hears the offer in its own terms. As SHIFT’s marketing and communications partner we ran campaigns for three Future Industries Demonstrator challenges, each with its own creative, paid social and application funnel. Together they drew 265 first-stage and 138 second-stage applications, and the free membership drive onboarded more than 120 members by March 2024.
