Leveraging cultural intelligence for strategic advantage.
Strategic counsel for modern organisations, with deep expertise in brand, partnerships, experiential design, and philanthropy.
Rachel O’Brien is a cultural strategy consultancy helping brands, cities, and institutions build cultural capital that lasts.
We design upstream and downstream interventions that are both strategic and creatively ambitious.
We operate at the intersection of creativity, capital, and systems.
Cultural capital is business-critical for organisations whose value generated depends on meaning, relevance, and perception. When your business’ practices are culturally aligned, it compounds across identity, trust, and differentiation; shaping how audiences connect, how industries are perceived, and how brands stay ahead in crowded markets.
Local presence, global resonance.
Based in Perth, Australia, we operate with a global lens, attuned to the cultural signals emerging from epicentres like London, Tokyo, New York, Berlin, and Dubai. To shape culture, you must be fluent in where it’s being made and where it’s going. We work with organisations ready to think globally, act culturally, and lead creatively, wherever they are.
Witness the commercial power of building meaningful, relevant brands.
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222%
better returns over the stock market from brands that lead with cultural relevance, purpose, and consumer connection.¹
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2.3x
faster rate of growth for companies that integrate creativity, analytics, and purpose.²
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88%
of customers who trust a brand are more likely to buy it again.³
Channelling creative intelligence across four service pillars.
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Brand & cultural strategy
Defining, expressing, and evolving your distinct positioning to differentiate your brand as culturally fluent and relevant in shifting markets.
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Commercial strategy & partnerships
Designing, building, and activating partnerships that expand reach, enable innovation, and unlock shared value.
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Events & experiential design
Harnessing designed experiences as a tool for brand positioning, stakeholder engagement, revenue generation, and cultural visibility.
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Philanthropy & cultural investment
Advising your organisation or family office on how invest in the future through models that shape legacy and drive meaningful impact.
Gain insights on creativity in business, direct from the thought engine.
Ideas Economy, founded by Rachel O’Brien, is a thought platform for investigating the capital of ideas.
Our in-house newsletter gives you access to an evolving body of knowledge, bringing together innovation, creativity, and vision, and enriching your team’s capability and clarity. Through Ideas Economy’s Thought Essays and Mental Models, you can examine the systems, industries, and individuals driving idea-based innovation, and interrogate how imagination might be economically harnessed and valued.
FAQs
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Cultural strategy helps organisations build meaningful connections with their audiences by aligning brand, partnerships, and experiences with evolving cultural trends and values. It drives relevance, trust, and differentiation in competitive markets.
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Building cultural capital creates long-term value by deepening audience identification, enhancing reputation, and enabling new commercial and social opportunities. It makes your brand more resilient and future-ready in shifting markets.
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We work with consumer brands, cities, sports organisations, tech innovators, and arts institutions. That is, those seeking to harness culture as a strategic asset to engage audiences, drive impact, and improve performance.
OUR PURPOSE
To shape culture, connect people, and enhance quality of life.
Let’s create great work together.
Bring your vision to life with us. Contact Rachel O’Brien directly to explore the full suite of what’s possible for your organisation.