Redefining branding: NewTerritory on growth, investment and evolution

NewTerritory is a London-based creative studio working at the intersection of brand, design, and experience. Over the past decade, the business has built a reputation for helping organisations think differently about how people engage with their brands, whether through products, services, or environments.

As the studio grew, it reached a stage familiar to many creative businesses, where ambition began to outpace available resource. In this case study, Managing Director Ben Harding and Finance Director Rebecca Clayton reflect on NewTerritory’s growth journey, the role investment from Creative UK played in unlocking its next phase, and how the business is continuing to evolve following its acquisition by geniant.

Ben Harding and Rebecca Clayton

Creative UK: Can you start by describing NewTerritory and its place within the creative experience design space?

Ben: We sit in an interesting and quickly evolving space. We see ourselves as a brand experience studio, and the key to that is how we think about brand. In the past, branding services focused more on visual identity, such as logos, colour palettes and tone of voice, but that has evolved into something much broader over the last decade. For us, brand represents the relationship any business has with its customers or employees.

We design end-to-end customer and employee experiences that are synonymous with a brand. You know the feeling when a moment on a flight, in a store, or in a service interaction just feels right. It’s so distinctive that it couldn’t belong to anyone else. That’s brand experience done well. At its best, we can remove a logo entirely and design experiences that still feel unmistakably ‘on brand’.

Our work spans physical, digital, spatial and service design but is fundamentally about using brand as the glue that holds these pieces together.

Creative UK: How has NewTerritory evolved since its launch, and what have been some of the key milestones along the way?

Ben: The business began with a traditional industrial and product design foundation, particularly within aviation. Even in the early days, there was a clear understanding that product alone was not enough and that the wider experience around it mattered just as much.

Over time, that thinking expanded into visual identity, spatial design, service design, digital, and ultimately full brand experience. This evolution happened organically over about eleven years. One major turning point came early on through our early work with Delta, where we moved from designing physical elements to shaping their brand experience in a much broader sense. That work helped clarify what the broader impact we were able to have for our clients.

Since then, we’ve applied the same principles across sectors, including aviation, automotive, hospitality, wellbeing, and financial services. The core idea remains consistent throughout: strengthening the relationship between companies and their people.

Creative UK: What led you to seek investment at that stage of your growth?

Ben: Like many creative agencies, we reached a point where growth and evolution had stalled. We weren’t struggling, but we were stuck. Resources were stretched, profits couldn’t easily be reinvested, and we were waiting for something to unlock the next phase.

The investment gave us working capital headroom. That allowed us to take on larger enterprise projects and make a number of key strategic hires. As a result, we could focus more deliberately on long-term account growth, sector expansion, and strengthening the business operationally. It created momentum that we simply couldn’t generate on our own at that point.

Creative UK: What were you looking for in an investment partner, and why was Creative UK the right fit for NewTerritory?

Rebecca: It was crucial to find an investor who genuinely understood how agencies operate. That includes the reality of fluctuating cash flow, the need to invest ahead of growth, and the broader challenges of running a creative agency.

Creative UK specialises in supporting businesses like ours, which made them a natural fit. Their understanding meant we didn’t need to over-explain how the business worked, and that made the relationship far more effective.

Creative UK: How important was it that your investor aligned with NewTerritory’s values and long-term vision?

Ben: That alignment was essential. Creative businesses are often challenging to run and require a certain level of risk tolerance and an acceptance that visibility can be limited. From the outset, Creative UK understood those dynamics. We never felt we had to justify normal agency realities, such as only having a few months of revenue visibility. This type of understanding seems to be rare among investors.

Rebecca: That understanding made a significant difference operationally. Conversations around performance and finances were straightforward and supportive. When speaking to our Portfolio Manager, Hannah Long, she immediately understood why there were sometimes fluctuations in P&L, because she understands the sector. This made my life much easier. At times, it genuinely felt like they were part of the business rather than an external lender.

Creative UK: In 2025, NewTerritory was acquired by geniant. How have you navigated the early stages of that partnership while maintaining your creative identity?

Ben: The acquisition represented the next major unlock in our growth journey. From our earliest conversations, it was clear that geniant understood our position in the market and why our work is particularly relevant right now.

One of the biggest benefits has been access to a much wider client network, alongside the ability to share expertise across the group. This means we can support larger and more complex transformations by bringing the right people together globally, while still retaining our own creative identity.

Rebecca: From an operational perspective, it has also created an opportunity to streamline processes and strengthen the business infrastructure. That work is ongoing, but it’s an exciting step forward.

Creative UK: Looking ahead, what are you most excited about for the future of NewTerritory?

Ben: Becoming a truly international business is a major focus for us. That opens up opportunities to build deeper client relationships, deliver more ambitious work, and scale in a way that wasn’t previously possible.

Creative UK: Thinking back to earlier in your growth journey, what’s one key lesson you’ve learned along the way?

Ben: Letting go of the rigidities of planning has been a big learning for me. In the past, I was overly focused on fixed plans and sequences. In creative industries leadership, that approach can really hold you back. What works far better is having a clear direction of travel and an operating environment that allows you to manage guardrails and to be flexible about how you get there.

That shift in mindset has been crucial over the last few years. Without it, we wouldn’t be where we are today.

Rebecca: I’ve seen that flexibility play out repeatedly. We’ve adjusted direction, leaned into opportunities as they emerged, and learned quickly from experience. That approach ultimately led us to the acquisition and the position we’re in now.

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