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Marshalls is the UK’s leading hard landscaping, building and roofing products supplier. The brand represents years of technical expertise and market leading innovation, focusing on creating better spaces. They commissioned The Future Collective to become a strategic innovation partner, delivering a series of foresight reports to directly inform every element of the innovation roadmap: from short-term tweaks and adjustments to the current range, to long-range forecasting for future spaces, and transformation of the overall product offer.

Challenge
The pace of change is accelerating, and expectations of innovation, sustainability and value - from both domestic and commercial audiences - have never been greater. Embedding insight and foresight at the heart of the product design process will future-proof strategic and creative thinking, unlocking the next generation of market-leading innovation.

Solution
Focusing 12-18 months into the future, we created an inspirational Trends and Insights review, featuring four influential design directions and associated colour, material, form and finish strategies, with suggested product quick wins.

We then took a deep dive into the built environment to create an Innovation Forecast, focusing five years into the future. Looking through the lens of the domestic, urban and road scapes within which Marshalls operates, we explored evolving needs in relation to the future of the natural environment, materials, manufacturing, smart city and living spaces. We highlighted emerging product and urban development innovation which seeks to build a positive and resilient future, and identified the strategic implications and key opportunities for Marshalls’ business.