INNOVATION ACTUALLY IS
STRATEGIC
WHAT WE BELIEVE
Breaking the silos has become a necessity to ensure a sustainable growth and seize new business opportunities.
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For MATTERS, Innovation means finding and implementing new ways of thinking, working, prospecting or developing businesses. We help clients to find white spaces, design products and services and implement cutting-edge ways of working. It also means using empathy to understand thoroughly an environment and consumers' usages to harness culture and bring unique insights to build meaningful innovations.
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MATTERS combines creative and mathematical thinking to accompany you in your transformation: from identifying gaps, defining your innovation strategy, to optimizing processes.
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Unlock your growth and stay ahead in a dynamic market!
WHO
WE ARE
A combo standing out by its unique blend of expertise,
coming from public and private spheres,
from multidisciplinary academic research and from marketing & branding, mixing creative thinking with analytical rigor and social sciences.
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CREATIVITY - RIGOR
HIGH LEVEL STRATEGY - HANDS ON SOLUTIONS
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AmandinE ROBIN, PhD
DESIGN THINKER
PROBLEM SOLVER
PhD in APPLIED MATHS
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Torn between artistic creativity and Maths since a young age, I started my studies in Architecture as the happy medium between the two. That's where I learnt how to deploy big ideas with attention to detail and consistency. Three years later, driven by the need to deeply structure my system of thought, I decided to revisit Maths and considered it as an infinite field to creativity. I pursued this path, obtained my PhD in Applied Mathematics in 2007 in Paris-Descartes and continued with research and lecturing.
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After about 12 years of academic research in Applied Mathematics and Image Analysis in Europe and South Africa (including at Wits University), addressing complex problems for very diverse sectors (e.g. Agriculture, Mining, Environmental Monitoring, video surveillance or Archaeology), I decided
to tackle concrete challenges within the corporate sphere, to create value, grow businesses consistently and optimize resources. That's how I founded MATTERS with Dora.
With a very creative conception of Maths, I believe mathematical thinking brings very singular strengths to innovation and strategy: the capacity to go back to the roots of a problem, to perceive biases and (re)frame a problem accurately, to understand deeply diverse industries and complex cutting-edge multidisciplinary problems, to see beyond and transversally, to link things which are unlikely to be related and make it meaningful.
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Growing up in various countries in Africa and surrounding islands as a child, I developed a strong capacity to adapt rapidly to a new environment (geographic, cultural or thematic), a distinctive sense of observation and empathy. Later, I continued to consume unique experiences living in Morocco, South Africa, Mongolia and finally settling in South Africa.
DORA JURD
BRAND STRATEGIST
SEMIOTIC EXPERT
PRODUCT INNOVATION SPECIALIST
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Graduated from the ESCP Europe’s Master in Marketing in 2001, I started to work in Product Development departments for Cosmetics (Clarins Group), Luxury goods (Cartier) and building material companies (Saint Gobain) in Europe and in the USA. Eager to focus more specifically on the strategic side of products and brands, I joined the TBWA Group in Paris in 2005 as a brand strategist.
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During 8 years, I developed new brand positionings, fueled the innovation pipelines and rolled out brands' visual identities for big European FMCG clients. As I was developing this expertise, I realized how powerful it can be to decode words and images in brand strategy. This is why I did a Master in Semiotics at La Sorbonne in Paris in 2013.
Having settled in South Africa the same year, I now combine my brand strategy and semiotics skills into MATTERS, which I co-founded with Amandine.
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In parallel to my professional life and for the love of researching and taking up writing challenges, I have started researching on family businesses since 2001. These businesses have always fascinated me because of their specificity and their ability to manage paradoxes like the one of being a family and a business at the same time. In 2002, I wrote a book on the specifics of French family businesses, which bear the name of their founding family: "Leur Nom est une marque" published by Editions d'Organisation. Now the story continues in South Africa where Amandine and I just published a book on the specifics of South African family businesses: "Embracing paradoxes in South African family businesses", with Porcupine Press (2017).
WHERE we add value
Whether you are a big company or a startup,
we offer tailored solutions that add value and impact at different stages to answer your innovation needs
Cultural
Springboards
Problem
Framing
Sessions
Optimisation
of processes,
services or
products
Brand
Naming
Brand
Positioning
Creative
Springboards
Prospective
Trends
Problem
Solving
Sessions
Co-creation
Workshops
Opportunity
Detection
Brand
Visual
Identity
Brand
Platform
Innovative
Workshops
Collaborative
Platforms
Creative
Brainstorming
Animation
New
Concepts of
Products,
Experiences,
Services
Idea
Generation
Platforms
Game
Design
Game like
Activations
Consumer
Research
INSPIRE
Cultural Springboards
Creative
Springboards
Consumer
Research
Prospective
Trends
IS YOUR INSPIRATION FOR INNOVATION RICH AND TANGIBLE ENOUGH?
With our research and semiotics expertise, we screen the emergent signals coming from cultural elements, the global trends and the consumers.
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We cross them with your existing internal resources. We decode them into customable and actionable territories for your brands or innovations.
ARE YOU MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR EXISTING
IDEAS & RESOURCES?
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With our research background and experience, we uncover your under-exploited ideas, materials and resources to leverage them to their full potential and ultimately unearth new paths for your business.
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We immerse ourselves in your environment, interview the staff, observe your processes and analyse your resources.
UNLOCK
Opportunity
Detection
Optimisation
of processes,
services or
products
PROBLEM
SOLVE
Problem
Solving
Sessions
Problem
Framing
Sessions
Strategic
Innovation
Plan
ARE YOU SURE YOU ARE SOLVING
THE RIGHT PROBLEMS?
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As Mathematical thinkers, we know that a well-framed problem is a solved problem! We help you define, frame or reframe any problem. To do so, we question assumptions and constraints, reconsider "obvious solutions" and rethink the problem from its roots.
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Any complex challenge can be broken down into simple problems, which in turn are growth opportunities.
HAVE YOU EVER TESTED THE UNIQUE MIX OF RIGOR & CREATIVITY TO BOOST IDEA GENERATION?
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With a singular approach to creativity combining scientific and creative thinking, we craft interactive solutions to improve your idea generation process. We stimulate your individual and collective creativity by using empathy to put you in the shoes of the end user.
We make sure all new concepts or ideas are pushed enough to be used as complete briefs for the R&D and design teams.
IDEATE
Creative
Brainstorming
Animation
Idea
Generation
Platforms
Co-creation
Workshops
New
Concepts of
Products,
Experiences,
Services
TRAIN
Innovative
Workshops
Collaborative
Platforms
DOES YOUR COMPANY HAVE A TRUE INNOVATION MINDSET?
We believe that a company's ability to generate growth is greater when its whole staff is committed and involved in innovation.
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We tailor and animate workshops or platforms to awaken your staff creativity and to instill a creative mindset within your teams.
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WHAT'S BEST THAN TO LEARN BY PLAYING?
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We believe that game can unlock potential, increase productivity and generate growth.
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We design playful games and experiences to engage effectively with your customers, staff or students.
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GAMIFY
Game
Design
Game like
Activations
BRAND
Brand
Naming
Brand
Platforms
Brand
Positioning
Brand
Visual
Identity
ARE YOUR IDEAS WELL BRANDED?
As brand strategists, we know that a good brand is one that has a solid, unique and attractive identity.
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We design distinctive brand positioning engaging both your staff and consumers. We translate them into consistent visual identities across all media.
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