Words from our CEOs – Annual report 2023

Another year has passed, and we have maintained our focus on delivering exceptional value to our clients and internal orchestration following the significant expansion in 2022. Throughout 2023, the central theme for ARC Arise Consulting (ARC) has been to in- tegrate the newly acquired com- panies and the 300+ new talents recruited in 2022 into ARC’s multi- brand strategy and simultaneously come together as one ARC.

We strongly believe in each company’s cutting-edge competence and culture, allowing individuals to grow and clients to get the best in breed value offers and deliveries. The physical office spaces and the collaborative environment they foster are crucial for our success. In Stockholm, considerable effort and focus have been dedicated to establishing the new office at Grev Tureplan, destined to be ARC’s centerpiece office for many years ahead, providing a world-class environment for all our people. The anticipated move is scheduled for the third quarter of 2024. In 2023, our Norwegian companies moved into a single office in Oslo, increasing our ability to work seamlessly across the different companies.

Our commitment and ambition to collaborate across companies is exceptionally high. To avoid slowing down our agile approach and working methods, we believe in “cross-pollina- tion,” i.e., transferring talents from one company to another to create informal communication and collaboration
between our employees. This method been applied between companies in the same country and across regions, leading to collaborative projects in over 70% of our client projects throughout the year. In all of our top 15 client accounts, more than one ARC company is involved.

In our strive to continue building ARC and leveraging duality, we implem- ented a co-CEO leadership of ARC through Måns Jacobsson Hosk teaming up with Mattias Olofsson. Mattias leads the corporate strategy and M&A agenda, whereas Måns focuses on the ARC brand and commercial strategy. 

In 2023, we have been proactive in our efforts to stay at the forefront of sustainability and artificial intelligence (AI), with dedicated task forces working on enhancing our existing value propositions and identifying new opportunities in areas where ARC has yet to make its mark. In the realm of sustainability, we have executed over 80 client projects with a strong focus on sustainability, including compre- hensive sustainability transformations. Our investments will be further intensified in 2024.

Financially, the first half of the year was relatively strong despite the economic downturn, though we faced challenges in the third quarter. Through strong efforts, we regained momentum in the fourth quarter, setting a positive pace as we head into 2024. Our tech wizards at Umain (Sweden) and Q42 (the Netherlands) had a remarkable year. In the Netherlands, we introduced our management consultancy offering to help our clients drive change and realize higher value. An initiative that has quickly gained traction. 

In our consistent efforts to increase client value, we merged our communi- cation and advertising agencies, Animal and BLCK, under a new name – Kurppa Hosk Communications. Above (innovation agency) and Nameless.today (design consultancy) also merged under the Above brand with the ambition to build a global leader in innovation and design. 

Another highlight of 2023 was ARCON, our annual conference, where we gathered one thousand employees in Stockholm, Sweden. This event celebrated our shared culture, provided an opportunity for knowledge exchange, and allowed us to have fun together.

In closing, we are incredibly proud of our talented team and our great clients, both newcomers and those who have been with us over time. They truly reflect our culture, high-quality services, and successful model. We are eagerly looking forward to continuing our dynamic and fruitful growth strategy as we become the benchmark of our industry by making our clients the benchmark of theirs.