We help businesses deliver outsized impact through challenger marketing.
We've spent five years documenting how challenger brands actually grow - 10,000 hours of research, 200+ CMO interviews, 50+ global events. That body of work guides our four integrated solutions, delivered by small, senior teams powered by Rival Intelligence.
Research & Strategy
Category intelligence and brand strategy grounded in how challengers actually grow.
Every brief arrives with assumptions baked in. The job of strategy is to test them. Rival's research practice combines proprietary intelligence tools, primary audience research, share-of-search analysis, and five years of documented challenger behaviour across industries and markets. The output is a defensible, differentiated brand position and GTM strategy to drive challenger relevance.
Ep. 16 – Pregnancy, privacy and programmatic advertisement
Ep. 16 – Pregnancy, privacy and programmatic advertisement
Coming Out on Top in the Economic Shuffle
Coming Out on Top in the Economic Shuffle
3 Strategies Any Business Can Adopt From Challenger Banks
3 Strategies Any Business Can Adopt From Challenger Banks
Rival Spark: The Great British Brand-off; UK Public Sees King’s Cultural Impact as Similar to Bisto (May 2023)
Rival Spark: The Great British Brand-off; UK Public Sees King’s Cultural Impact as Similar to Bisto (May 2023)
How to Design Successful Branded NFT Experiences with Matthew Wurst of Mint
How to Design Successful Branded NFT Experiences with Matthew Wurst of Mint
Creative, Production & Design
Tech-enabled creative, design and production that earns attention, creates talkability and moves at the speed the market demands.
Most agencies separate the thinking from the making. That gap is where speed dies and quality gets diluted. Rival's creative and production teams operate as one studio - from concepting and art direction through to directing, editing, and delivery - leveraging first and third-party tech and AI to maximize the impact of creative budgets.
5 Key Strategies to Building Iconic Brands
5 Key Strategies to Building Iconic Brands
Baking Virality with NYC's Most Famous Bakery
Baking Virality with NYC's Most Famous Bakery
How Gymbox Delivers Massive Campaigns With Minimal Budgets
How Gymbox Delivers Massive Campaigns With Minimal Budgets
Rival Spark: The Great British Brand-off; UK Public Sees King’s Cultural Impact as Similar to Bisto (May 2023)
Rival Spark: The Great British Brand-off; UK Public Sees King’s Cultural Impact as Similar to Bisto (May 2023)
How to Design Successful Branded NFT Experiences with Matthew Wurst of Mint
How to Design Successful Branded NFT Experiences with Matthew Wurst of Mint
Paid Media & Analytics
Media planning, buying, and analytics that find the arbitrage others miss - and compound it.
Challenger brands don't win on budget. They win on how they spend it. Rival's media practice runs cross-channel planning, biddable and programmatic buying, and real-time measurement that feeds the next decision rather than confirming the last one - powered by Rival Intelligence and our proprietary audit, planning, and pacing tools across Google and Meta.
Marketing Q&A: Are TV Ads the Next Big Thing? Addressing Skill Gaps and Building Brand as a Start-up
Marketing Q&A: Are TV Ads the Next Big Thing? Addressing Skill Gaps and Building Brand as a Start-up
Google's Ad Scam & What it Means for Marketers | Scratch Special with Dr. Augustine Fou
Google's Ad Scam & What it Means for Marketers | Scratch Special with Dr. Augustine Fou
Blending Brand & Performance in DTC with Bryant Garvin of Ozlo Sleep, Purple Mattress
Blending Brand & Performance in DTC with Bryant Garvin of Ozlo Sleep, Purple Mattress
Martech & AI Transformation
Building the systems and AI infrastructure that turn marketing operations into a competitive advantage.
The gap between marketing ambition and operational reality is almost always a technology problem. The data exists; the integration does not. Rival's Martech and AI Transformation practice audits the current stack, designs the right architecture, and implements the systems - including Rival Intelligence modules where they apply - that allow insight to move into action without the workarounds that slow most teams down.
TikTok's Ticking Clock, SVB's Impact on Marketing, and Caden's "Zero-Party" Data Monetization: Game-changer or Fluff?
TikTok's Ticking Clock, SVB's Impact on Marketing, and Caden's "Zero-Party" Data Monetization: Game-changer or Fluff?
Marketing Automation is Not a Magic Bullet
Marketing Automation is Not a Magic Bullet
Ep. 17 – How to Make Martech Work for Your Team with Scott Brinker of HubSpot
Ep. 17 – How to Make Martech Work for Your Team with Scott Brinker of HubSpot
Rival Spark: The Great British Brand-off; UK Public Sees King’s Cultural Impact as Similar to Bisto (May 2023)
Rival Spark: The Great British Brand-off; UK Public Sees King’s Cultural Impact as Similar to Bisto (May 2023)
How to Design Successful Branded NFT Experiences with Matthew Wurst of Mint
How to Design Successful Branded NFT Experiences with Matthew Wurst of Mint
