We work with organisations at the point where existing approaches have stopped working, but the need to act remains. When the gap between how you were built to operate and what the world now requires has become impossible to ignore.

We stay small so we can stay close. Same senior team throughout—from strategy through to execution & operations. That closeness is how we help you act with ambition and confidence, and become the template others want to follow.

We help you see what’s true early, commit to what matters, and follow through.

Founded in 2016. Based in London, working internationally.

The situations are different. The pattern is the same.

Projects we’ve worked on

Filter work
  • Filter work
  • capability building
  • culture
  • healthcare
  • organisational change
  • professional services
  • proposition design
  • research
  • secondment
  • service design
  • spatial strategy
  • strategic briefing
  • strategic presence
  • technology
  • worldbuilding
ClientProjectTagsDateIn collaboration with
  • Dana-Farber Cancer InstituteDefining the institutes first AI Enablement Strategy and inaugural initiatives
    • technology
    • healthcare
    2022 - 2024Claire Tolan
  • Dana-Farber Cancer InstituteProduct Training for E&D Leaders
    • capability building
    • technology
    • service design
    2026
  • SerpentineFuture Art Ecosystems - yearly publication series
    • strategic briefing
    • research
    2018 — 2025Serpentine R&D team
  • LSH x Mercedes-BenzBuilding the future of automotive retail following the group’s investment in the UK
    • spatial strategy
    • service design
    • organisational change
    2017 - 2018 Steve Coleman; Declan Kickham; Boni Yuen; Sérgio Cameira
  • SchrodersAccelerating the creation of a design team and its initiatives within the institution
    • secondment
    • capability building
    • professional services
    2016 - 2017
  • NHS AI Lab Developing scenarios for AI in health and care for the NHS’s innovation arm, to inform its future AI Strategy
    • healthcare
    • service design
    • worldbuilding
    2021Livework Studio
  • Sharjah Architecture TriennialStrategic presence of the inaugural edition of the first architecture triennial in & for the Global South - Rights of Future Generations
    • strategic presence
    2019 - 2020Michael Oswell, Satoshi Fujiwara, PWR Studio
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When you work with Rival, you work with us.

Benedict and Marta, Sharjah Desert 2018
Platform Design Workshop - The Serpentine as Platform 2017
Sharjah Triennial Instal 2018
Masterclass in Porto 2019
Masterclass in Porto 2019: Evolving a Business Strategy – From Platform to Experiences
Rival Studio 2016
Prototyping Solutions for Emergency Services - Design Sprint 2021
Worksession - Strategic Presence 2018

BENEDICT DEMIREN SINGLETON
is the director of Design for RIVAL. Benedict’s path into strategy began in neuroscience, moved through philosophy of intelligence, and culminated in a PhD on cunning and ingenuity—work that produced the essay Maximum Jailbreak, now translated into 17 languages. Before Rival, he worked as an independent consultant on emerging technology, digital government, and infrastructure projects, and directed a postgrad architecture studio at the RCA.

He tends to find the crack in the system where movement becomes possible.

MARTA FERREIRA DE SA
is the director of Strategy for RIVAL. Marta’s path into strategy began with the question of how technology transforms organisations—pursued through a mix of strategic advisory, creative agency work, and documentary film. She has held positions at MIT Design Lab, Central Saint Martins, and Strelka Institute, taught service design at the RCA, amongst others, and served as a specialist advisor to the UK Design Council.

She tends to see what's structurally true before it becomes obvious.

Things we’ve written

  • New ideas about how an art and design school can work
    Linkedin
  • AI Vendors Promised Efficiency. What we Got Was an Arms Race
    Linkedin
  • The AI Gradient: Organisational Culture, Power, and the Uneven Future of Work
    Linkedin
  • The rise of the ‘culture stack’: What is it and how is it reshaping art, technology and places?
    World Economic Forum
  • You Live the Surprise Result of Old Plans. The New Normal Book
    Book chapter
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What others have written about our work

  • Video

    Strategic Change: Future art and creative ecosystems

  • Frieze

    The First Sharjah Architecture Triennial: Can Art Be an Applied Science?

  • World Economic Forum

    The rise of the ‘culture stack’: What is it and how is it reshaping art, technology and places?

  • portuguese

    The Equator Company quer ser “a nova história” na consultoria em sustentabilidade

If this sounds like where you are, get in touch. Book an initial 30min call with us.
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