For most of the last decade, the question that shaped dairy strategy was what consumers would buy. Over the next five years the question that will shape it is what regulators, customers and trading partners will permit. This paper sets out the twelve drivers behind that shift, how we classify them, and one of the four futures they produce. Confident View Ahead | Confident Strategy Group | September 2026 In 2022, the dairy chief executives and regulators we worked with asked us two questions. The first was about demand: would plant-based alternatives keep taking share, and would consumers pay for provenance? The second was about technology: what would happen to the industry when milk proteins could be produced by fermentation rather than by a cow? On demand, our view was that dairy would prove more durable than the headlines suggested. Four years on, the evidence supports that view. The strongest demand signal in dairy today is for its proteins, and we set out that evidence below. On technology, the change has been faster than on any other driver in this paper, and it has happened on the farm as well as in the factory. In the factory, fermentation-derived dairy proteins […]

The EU AI Act's Article 50 transparency rules take effect 2 August 2026. What businesses must label, the human‑editor exemption, and how to prepare now.

Passion. Entertainment and Cultural Heritage   Practice. Public Relations and Amplification Stakeholder and Industry Affairs   Scope: US The Opportunity A historic New York City music venue — one that had played a foundational role in launching the careers of some of the most iconic bands in rock history — had never received formal recognition for its cultural significance. The venue had closed decades earlier and the original building had been demolished, but the story it represented remained deeply relevant to the communities, musicians, and music historians who knew it. The venture behind the venue’s legacy needed to build public awareness and institutional credibility around its cultural heritage — not only to honour the story, but to strengthen the broader entertainment property it was developing. That meant securing meaningful press coverage, cultivating relationships with community stakeholders and cultural institutions, and creating high-profile public moments that would connect the story to new audiences. They engaged Confident Strategy Group to lead the PR, stakeholder engagement, and heritage recognition strategy.   The Solution Approach: We developed and executed a sustained public relations and stakeholder engagement programme that positioned the venue’s legacy as a matter of cultural significance — not just entertainment nostalgia. Heritage […]

Passion. Entertainment and Cultural Heritage   Practice. Advisory Production Lifecycle Development Stakeholder and Industry Affairs   Scope: US The Opportunity An entertainment and cultural heritage venture had a clear multi-platform production strategy and a growing audience — but turning that strategy into executed productions required hands-on oversight across multiple workstreams simultaneously. A documentary-style podcast needed to move from concept to launch. A live event concept needed to be developed, agency partners evaluated, and a revenue model built. And a prestige miniseries needed a pilot script commissioned, reviewed, and packaged for industry meetings. Each production operated on a different timeline, involved different creative partners, and carried different commercial considerations — but all needed to reinforce one another and serve the venture’s long-term IP strategy. The venture engaged Confident Strategy Group to lead production oversight across all active workstreams.   The Solution Approach: We operated as an extension of the venture’s leadership team, providing strategic oversight and hands-on management across three concurrent productions — each at a different stage of development and each requiring a different set of capabilities. Podcast Production We managed the full production lifecycle for a documentary-style podcast exploring the venue’s impact on 1970s New York music culture. This […]

Passion. Entertainment and Cultural Heritage   Practice. Advisory Public Relations and Amplification Production Lifecycle Development   Scope: US The Opportunity A rock band with deep roots in New York City’s 1970s music scene had a compelling backstory and a growing catalogue of original music, but lacked a cohesive brand identity, a structured digital presence, and a marketing engine to match its ambitions. The band was performing regularly across New York but without consistent visual identity or coordinated promotion planning. At the same time, the band sat at the centre of a broader multi-platform entertainment venture — meaning its brand, audience, and credibility needed to work in service of the larger story, not in isolation from it. The venture engaged Confident Strategy Group to develop and execute the band’s brand strategy, marketing, and creative direction.   The Solution Approach: We delivered a strategic recommendations framework that addressed every dimension of the band’s market positioning — from brand identity and messaging through to digital presence, promotion planning, and audience development. Brand Identity and Messaging We clarified the band’s unique positioning, defining it clearly as a rock ’n’ roll band with a distinct narrative rather than an offshoot of other projects. We developed […]

Passion. Entertainment and Cultural Heritage   Practice. Advisory Production Lifecycle Development Stakeholder and Industry Affairs   Scope: US The Opportunity An entertainment and cultural heritage venture held the rights to a compelling, untold origin story rooted in 1970s New York City — a story that sat at the intersection of immigration, family, music, and cultural revolution. The principals had already staged an Off-Broadway production and formed a band, demonstrating proof of concept and audience appetite across generations. But there was no structured strategy to turn the story into a scalable, multi-platform intellectual property — and no production entity to house, protect, and commercialize the rights. The venture needed a strategic partner who could see the full picture: someone who could build the production roadmap, advise on entity formation, develop investor-ready materials, and lead outreach to major studios and streamers — all while keeping the creative vision intact. They engaged Confident Strategy Group to lead that transformation.   The Solution Approach: Drawing on our experience advising organizations through complex, multi-stakeholder growth phases — across industries from food systems to healthcare to technology — we approached this engagement the way we would any corporate transformation: with a clear strategy, disciplined prioritization, and […]