Peace Cabin is the first not-for-profit pop-up strategy studio

A space for strategic transformation; a quiet place from which noisy ideas in service of life are made.

Problems worth fixing

We are the sum of the problems solved and distractions removed. We choose to collaborate with good people, doing the ‘good’ work that pushes Earth forwards in these extraordinary times. Some of the best of humanity, regardless of industry.

Our first 18 months, an 8-piece collection of collaborative positive impact projects (shown below), is testament to the complicated place we’re in right now and the problems that fascinate us.

Small-batch strategy for busi-ness

Peace Cabin opens 6 times a year for 6-week long exclusive engagements. We work with businesses, cultural organisations and charities when they’re starting out (invention), at a transition point (re-invention), or for ‘special projects’ (restless). To date the studio has covered business, product, brand and marketing ideas when ‘busy’ demands it. Read more about our uses-cases.

About

  • Ooops, I created a strategy studio.

    In the summer of 2023 an experiment began. Could I make the world 0.000001% better? Could art be used to support marine conservation? Could 25 years of strategy experience be made of value for 6-week long engagements, using its profit to sequester carbon? Could the nature of work take a different format, whilst focussing on quality and craft? 

    That experiment became this project: Peace Cabin by Matt Hardisty. No longer a prototype, but always a work in progress with brands that look beyond short-term profits and consider how they might offer broader benefits to society. A studio built around a very specific purpose: to help slow the planet, to help slow busi-ness. A simpler, more meaningful, and less accelerated business model. One that values life ambition, not just ambition. One that enables access to world-class, awarding-winning strategy without the overheads, and only when ‘busy’ demands it.

  • Before Peace Cabin I got good at finding and connecting dots, to find an opportunity and then tell a story. I had won sustainability awards for Currys, creative awards for Virgin Atlantic, Reebok, Beck’s and Heineken, and effectiveness awards for Eurostar. I had gained a certification in Business Sustainability Management from Cambridge.

    I had worked at some of the best agencies, across a near A-Z of 40 clients, with some of the best practitioners, all around the world: living in London, Amsterdam, New York and Tokyo. Former Strategy Partner, AMV BBDO and Mother. Former Founder, AnalogFolk. Former Global Executive Creative Director, Naked. (CV).

    But I felt the heat of climate change, and I felt 6-week sprints and pitches were my optimum: that’s where I added the most value. Too much time is a killer of great ideas, than too little. 

    6 x 6-weeks became my ‘enough’ number: becoming better, not bigger. Continuing to learn widely, to stay abreast of change, to stay curious, to keep the wheels on my climate fund turning - all whilst allowing me the time to be the Dad I want to be. 

  • My studio is a pop-up and is accessible through a combination of IRL (city or coast) and remote.

    The sea is my neighbour in Margate in the UK, its coastline is where my climate fund is restoring its first seagrass meadow.

    “The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.” Jacques Costeau.

    The pink cabin is not mine, mine inspired the Peace Cabin logo and is a simple hut.

Clients score Peace Cabin:  9.2 / 10*

Peace Cabin is experienced, easy to work with and has a proven system to solving problems and more desired imagined futures. We are hired by people with problems to fix (testimonials below). *9.2 is the average taken from 16x participants based upon quality of delivery, satisfaction, likelihood to recommend and use again.

  • "Smart, thoughtful, creative - in the largest, most interesting way. Given the ever changing world we all work in nowadays, everyone needs new 'navigators' and Matt's one of those."

    Carl Johnson, Founding Partner & Executive Chairman of Anomaly.

  • "We engaged Matt and his design partner Tipota to re-envision our brand: what does a wildlife trust really mean for a capital city in crisis? In just 6-weeks he delivered everything we had hoped for. His kindness and compassion with our team was really appreciated and he brought a wonderful new energy to the trust as we get ready to launch our new strategy."

    David Mooney, CEO, London Wildlife Trust.

  • "Matt’s brain is like Mastermind meets Art Attack. He is the first person we reach out to whenever we have an overflow. I couldn’t recommend him (or his music taste) more highly."

    Hannah Penn, Managing Director, Pablo London.

  • "Matt delivered everything that we had hoped for and more. The 6-week journey was a real emotional investment on his behalf, something you don’t normally receive when you purchase strategic services. My advice, book ahead because you know a problem is right around the corner."

    James Haycock, CEO, Planet Native Ventures.

  • "Cannot thank you enough for working with us on this. What you have done for us is amazing, best piece of marketing / branding input into any of our businesses ever."

    Alan Wogan, CEO, Symplicity Foods.

  • "Matt was instrumental in our pitch win for The Met Police. He was collaborative and insightful, with the ability to surprise us with his 'out of the box' thinking."

    Mark Sng, CSO, Pablo London.

  • "Super smart. Super collaborative. Super nice. It’s indispensable having Matt as our super strat buddy."

    Chris Bovill, John & Chris Industries.

  • “Matt’s insight, creativity and talent brought out the best in us. A great bloke to work with too. Highly recommended.”

    Steve Chisholm, Founder, Run Communications.

Peace Cabin: more than a name or a metaphorical space, is a system

The word Peace also informs our collaborative and repeatable 6-week system: P. E. A. C. E. We like to keep things simple. Create bolder narratives born of brutal simplicity. We lead with imagination, before evaluating and architecting, then move into stewarding any visual build. An end-to-end action orientated solution.

P.E.A.C.E.

  • P.E.A.C.E. is our 5-step system completed over a 6-week period. If studio capacity allows, only certain steps may be engaged (see 'How to engage' below to view the options).

    Through P.E.A.C.E. we aim to create ideas that have a practical application. Not just useful, but life enhancing, in service of those for whom they were designed. Creating a body of work that becomes a manifesto for a more enlightened way of living.

    The defining principle and outcome of P.E.A.C.E. :

    Life utility for better living®.

  • We dream and see how the world could be, outlining the issue at hand and where we want to go.

    Method:

    • Stakeholder interviews: insight to deliver the first draft of 'The High Dream'.

    • The High Dream: a long-hand collaboration articulating the ideal state; a vision leading with imagination, to round out where we want to get to.

  • We frame ambition with contextual shifts, we build new fires by leaning into a tension and we create unique value that nurtures communities.

    Method:

    • Strategic shifts: action orientated insights required to deliver upon 'The High Dream' (ambition) across company, customers and category.

    • Workshops: shifts discussed to collaborate and refine further.

    • Value proposition: what we’re taking to market.

    • Value manifesto: added texture, energy and clarity around the proposition.

    • Brand strategy: how we’re taking that proposition to market.

    • Brand blocks: purpose, vision and mission.

  • We know that new habits demand simplicity. We make repeatable systems, not surface area - creating an architectural plan (or the real world footprint for delivering value).

    Method:

    • Architecture of the business, product, brand and marketing ideas: clarifying what we’re delivering.

    • Objective setting: for the specific task in question.

    • Communications architecture: a simple customer journey framing how the value prop must flex across the footprint (channels).

    • Content strategy: an exploration of what curated, created and convening could look like.

    • Collaborative go-to-market plan: a light overview of the key actions needed to be taken.

  • We create the play, not add the stage lighting. We believe that product is a platform. Then we steward the colouring-in of the footprint (creative output).

    Method:

    • Naming: what’s intended in the name.

    • Brand world and TOV: stimulus that delivers upon the value proposition to achieve visual stand-out within the category, exploring adjacent spaces.

    • Creative idea: exploration for expressing the brand strategy.

    • Creative brief: from brand through to a specific strategic act(s)

    • Moderate one-day creative sprint: assist in direction of the output - “it works because… / it doesn’t work because…”.

  • We believe brands need an inspiring universe. We know that best price, is not the true cost. And only love and kindness works on earth.

    Method (one or more of the following means to outline the success metrics for impact.):

    • Agenda-led that shapes internal structures.

    • Commercial, brand and campaign.

    • Environmental, commercial and societal.

Working with Peace Cabin

We are a collaborator not simply a partner. We want to get sh*t done, not simply provide good chart. We operate on project fees, but take on subscribers akin to fractionalised employment. For a small fee subscribers receive a preferential ‘Cabin Rate’ and early / priority booking notifications.

While there are only ever 6x slots per year, repeat / multiple bookings are common - allowing for program-based solutions to be more tenable for those on tight budgets.

How to engage

Our offering is a 6-week end-to-end system: P.E.A.C.E. - a solution for removing distractions. From reframing to realise a pathway to ambition, through to stewarding any creative output; production is none of our business.

These engagements are exclusive to either a creative company or for a brand owner. If studio capacity allows, other engagement options may exist (see below) - please contact us for availability.

Options:

  • Prepared brain picking / on-site consulting.

    How to pay:

    Make a charitable donation to our climate fund:

    'art for our sea' (via our Crowdfunder).

  • Choose which part of our system best suits:

    P. and E. | Or just A. | Or just C.

    How you pay:

    Creative Companies only - consultancy project invoice (ex VAT).

  • Our flagship end-to-end solution:

    P. E.A.C.E.

    How you pay:

    Creative Company: inside or outside IR35 (ex VAT).

    Brand Owner: consultancy project invoice (ex VAT).

  • Fractional strategist to lead on projects:

    'Peace Cabin Inside'.

    How you Pay:

    Fractional FTC.

For non-profits and start-ups it's 'pay what you can'. For everyone else it's 50% at the start of the engagement, 50% upon completion.

Peace Cabin is balanced with nature

10% of our revenue (all our profit) goes to marine conservation and carbon sequestration in Margate, UK and its surrounding coastline via Project Seagrass. Peace Cabin has opted for impact over B-Corp accreditation, putting its ambition ahead of any accumulation of profit, strictly adhering to PlanetMark.

EPS. Earth Positive Strategy

We don’t support a cause to sell more strategy. We sell more strategy to support our cause. Peace Cabin operates like a public benefit company, working to plant a network of seagrass meadows circling the UK. The ambition is that over the next five years 2 million tonnes of C02 will be captured with our climate fund ‘art for our sea’.

Inside the studio

Once a year we crowdfund additional monies for our climate fund via ‘rewarded’ donations: original artworks and merchandise - hence the name ‘art for our sea’. Four times a year we share music that has soundtracked the studio, releasing our now legendary mixtapes. And ‘Cabin Rate’ members are invited to the ‘Good people, doing good things’ beach meet-up.