Why?

Because mainstream audiences don’t often respond to messaging in the same way as early believers of impact-led brands. So what got you here, won’t get you there. 

To complicate things further, the ground is shifting underneath you faster than ever. Regulation is getting tighter, consumers are becoming more sceptical, and too many brands claim to do what you do. It’s not unusual to feel genuinely uncertain about what the next five to ten years looks like.

That uncertainty feels very risky when you’re investing hard-earned capital in fuelling growth.

For brands born from a passion to drive impact beyond profit, breaking out of the bubble can be a tough ask 

About us

Ready or Not works with organisations and brands to de-risk investment by building with, not for, the consumer. 25 years of strategy and innovation expertise is piped through real insight and co-creation with your stakeholders. 

Your team build it together so they believe in it; we know products, services, strategy and comms will land because we build it with your audiences in the room; and we know it’s future-proofed because we bring those with future vision into the conversation.

Jump on a call!
Email us!
Poster reading “Extraordinary possibility to get beyond the bubble,” with cartoon illustrations and red-and-black lettering.
People collaborating around a table covered with handwritten yellow sticky notes, pens, notebooks, and a water bottle during a brainstorming workshop
Students writing with pens on worksheets at a classroom table
Students writing with pens on worksheets at a classroom table

The pay-off for you

Group of people participating in a workshop around a table with laptops, coffee, water, and sticky notes

You’ll have the clarity, confidence and resilience to invest and grow. 



That means:

  • Reducing the risk in big decisions, by grounding them in real customer insight rather than assumption.

  • Building internal buy-in and confidence, by underpinning decision-making with customer mandates and watertight strategic thinking

  • Turning sustainability and circularity into a genuine source of competitive advantage and consumer appeal

  • Building propositions, products and comms that hold up to scrutiny, from consumers to a business's own leadership.

  • Leaving internal teams better equipped, through training and co-creation, not just handing over a report and skipping off!

“Denise’s expertise in the Sustainability space matched with her wider research and strategy skillsets helped us develop a best-in-class approach to tackling our objectives”
— Adam Peto-Smith, Vodafone Three UK
Jump on a call!
Email us!
Women at a workshop building a tall pink tower from paper strips around a snack-covered conference table.

What our clients say

  • "I have had the pleasure of working with Denise for six years. Her vision, entrepreneurial experience and nuanced sense for consumers and brand has led her to become a trusted partner. She seems to have a sixth sense of when to keep pushing me and my thinking and my stamina and when to take a step back and think and act. I find myself more and more inspired and grateful as time goes by."

    Tiphany Yokas, Global Director, Laws of Growth and Insights Capabilities, Mondelez International

  • "Timely solutions, fresh perspective, budget friendly prices with big budget thinking"

    Tony’s Chocolonely

  • "Denise is amazing and won the trust of Marketing. We wanted a more strategic brain on what appeared a difficult question to answer. She has delivered brilliantly."

    Hanne Bogues, UK Cadbury

  • "An incredibly important piece of work, further enhancing our understanding about customer attitudes towards sustainability. The '5 Truths' will really help to ensure sustainability is at the heart of everything we do."

    Andy Habgood, Global Customer Insights Senior Manager, Jaguar Landrover

About the Founder, Denise Hicks

I’ve spent 25 years helping organisations tackle complex problems and turn them into clear, practical strategy, across advertising planning, qualitative research, brand strategy and innovation.

Recent work spans foresight for Unilever’s skincare portfolio, strategy and research for the Carbon Trust, and a sustainability training programme with A Rocha. Before Ready or Not, I was Global Climate Lead and Practice Director at C Space, where I led consumer research and sustainability strategy for Philips, Bupa, Nuffield Health and JLR. In 2025 I led The S Word, an eleven-market study on how people respond to sustainability, which won Best Sustainability Research at the MRS Awards.

What I care about is work that deserves to exist. Products, services and strategies that are better because the people they’re for had a hand in shaping them.

Alongside Ready or Not, I chair Climate Action Lewisham and I’m a Certified Carbon Literate practitioner. I live in South East London with my husband and three sons, somewhere between the plants, the heated film debates and the occasional late-night cheese and crackers in the kitchen disco.