Showing you the way forward

Strategy Insights Plans

Are you…

Struggling to grow, or going backwards

Stuck with an uncompetitive brand

Working blind, without customer insights

Lacking a clear plan of attack

Need a fresh perspective or new ideas

Hamstrung by a gnarly marketing problem

We can help

Headlight is a boutique
business strategy company

Insightful

Experienced

Practical

  • “Lew Bentley is one of the best strategists in the business, combining deep insight with a practical, delivery-focused approach. He has a rare ability to simplify complexity, align stakeholders and help teams move forward with confidence. Headlight consistently delivers high-quality work and is a pleasure to partner with.”

    Rob Sherlock - Chairman of Yefira Group, Chairman of The Crisp Group, Chair of Advisory Board DAIVID Emotional AI, Chairman of Exxovantage, Chair ADFEST Advisory Board, Business Advisor PalletEarth

  • "I have known and worked with Lew Bentley for 5 years. Lew is one of the strongest strategic minds in New Zealand. His robust direct style allows clear focus on the strategic issues and opportunities that have faced me in managing one of the largest FMCG businesses in Aotearoa New Zealand. Lew is quickly able to grapple with complex issues and distill them down into simple and clear jobs to be done and has been a huge asset to my strategic planning team. Over many projects Lew has been a sounding board and a check & balance for me in planning some big brand turnarounds. Lew will tell you how it is and has a clear and independent view which is invaluable as a resource for any C-suite executive to lean on. Even when he has a clear opinion, I love the way Lew provides multiple strategic and tactical options for discussion and works them through to potential execution and impact before aligning on a recommendations. It gives me confidence that we have explored all options before landing on a clear decision."

    Frankie Coulter - Chief Marketing Officer, The Warehouse Group, 2024 New Zealand Marketer of the Year.

  • "I’ve found Lew an inspiration to work with, across a number of FMCG segments. Lew brings wonderfully grounded human insights through his understanding of behavioural psychology, in combination with sound business intelligence and a clear, inherently practical way of thinking and working. His research and strategy deliver! Lew is a joy to work with, challenging assumptions and bringing new perspectives to the table. Thoroughly good for business!"

    Julia van de Coolwijk - GM Engagement (Marketing, Communications & Fundraising) SPCA

  • "Lew has a handy combination of strategic and creative marketing expertise. He not only produces results, but is also a great sounding board for anyone needing clear pathways to navigate the increasingly dynamic business and media world."

    Dean Williamson - CEO and Publisher, AgriHQ

Work we’re proud of

  • Child with curly hair smiling and holding a glass of milk in a kitchen

    Goodman Fielder

    Goodman Fielder is New Zealand’s biggest food manufacturer with an extensive range of household staples in dairy, bread and groceries.

    Headlight has helped GF out with its marketing programme management as well as positioning strategy for several of its key brands.

  • Woman with dark hair and makeup holding a glass of white wine

    Hancocks

    Wine is great to drink but annoying to buy. To help address this Headlight carried out a major customer experience and segmentation project for Hancocks.

    The project presented innovations that Hancocks could take into different channels including wine stores, supermarkets and restaurants and bars.

  • A woman with curly hair smiling outdoors with sunlight filtering through trees in the background.

    My Health for Life

    My Health for Life is a Queensland state-funded Health & Wellbeing programme.

    Headlight created a segmentation model based on people’s relationship with their health. This has guided the evolution of My Health for Life’s marketing programme and customer experience design.

  • Statue of Liberty with New York City skyline in the background

    Morrow Sodali

    Headlight developed a global brand strategy for consulting firm Morrow Sodali, based in Rome and New York.

    This helped the company integrate the identity and skillsets of several companies that has been acquired into one entity based on a distinctive value proposition.

  • A woman with dark hair in a braid stretching her arms overhead and behind her head, wearing a black strappy sports top and black shorts, against a pastel gradient background. The text reads 'nutianiTM physical wellbeing'.

    Fonterra Nutiani

    This work helped Fonterra position their wellbeing Product-as-a-Service brand Nutiani.

    It created a clear point of difference from Fonterra’s existing pure ingredients brand NZMP., and provided a model for how to present Nutiani’s offering and product options to different customer segments.

  • Logo for Pallet Earth with a stylized pallet icon, surrounded by a green arc, set against a view of Earth from space.

    Pallet Earth

    Headlight developed the brand name and strategy for Pallet Earth, a disrupter in the shipping pallet market.

    The Pallet Earth product is sustainable and traceable and ‘intelligent’.

    The strategy focused on repositioning traditional (but still dominant) wooden pallets as having had their time. Pallet Earth was positioned as a visionary new generation challenger.

  • An elderly couple holding hands and walking into the ocean on a sunny day.

    Kiwi Wealth

    An insights programme that explored all aspects consumer money management, responsible investing, what wealth means, and the behavioural economics of money.

    This guided Kiwi Wealth’s promotion, customer engagement and new product development.

  • A man at an outdoor fitness booth with a black canopy branded 'Musashi' and 'The Rock' promotional banners, holding a resistance band and using a circular platform for exercise, on a blue tennis court under a partly cloudy sky.

    Musashi

    Headlight created a brand and communications and consumer activation strategy for sports supplement brand Musashi.

  • Aerial view of a city waterfront with a marina, high-rise buildings, and a park area along the coast.

    Greater Wellington Regional Council

    Headlight designed a segmentation model for the Wellington region based on people’s relationship with the environment.

    This helped GW become more customer-centred and has guided both communication strategy and public engagement with council infrastructure projects.

  • Colorful, block-style text spelling 'TAKU TAMAKI SOUTH Auckland Stories' against a black background.

    Eke Panuku Development Auckland

    Headlight designed an urban regeneration leadership strategy for Eke Panuku.

    It has also developed destination branding options for Manukau based on an extensive community consultation process.

  • Portrait of a smiling male healthcare professional with a stethoscope around his neck in a medical setting.

    Central Region District Health Boards

    This work was to design a behaviour change strategy to attract & retain more Māori in the health workforce.

    It involved extensive consultation across 5 DHB regions and incorporated a Māori world view in the programme design.

  • A beige trophy with a stepped design featuring the text 'effie awards' on the front.

    Award Judging

    Lew has been judging communications industry excellence awards for many years. This includes the New Zealand and APAC EFFIES (Advertising effectiveness), the Australian AWARD, Young LIONS, the Beacons (media effectiveness) and the Marketing Awards.

    He was Convenor of judges for the NZ EFFIES for 5 years and the Beacons for 3 years.

  • Selection of passports from various countries including the United States, United Kingdom, Denmark, and South Korea.

    Immigration New Zealand

    Headlight designed an integrated behaviour change model that aligned the attraction of priority skilled migrants, with visa processing, and their successful settlement into New Zealand.

  • A woman high-fives two children at a colorful classroom table, with children holding pencils and papers in front of them.

    Ministry of Education

    The Ministry was re-structuring into two new entities: Te Mahau (operational) and Te Tāhuhu O Te Mātauranga (policy).

    Headlight assisted by developing a communications framework for how to apply the new organisational model to the Ministry’s complex array of stakeholders.

  • A gray wall with a coat of arms emblem and the sign for the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment in New Zealand.

    Ministry of Business, Immigration & Employment

    Headlight’s work for MBIE includes a review and upgrade of the government RFP documentation process.

    It also featured the design of a segmentation model of how businesses interact with government agencies. This model was used to generate a broad range of potential innovations for government-to-business relationships including the New Zealand Business Number.

  • Close-up of person playing a resonator guitar with fingers on the fretboard.

    Rockshop

    Headlight created a new brand strategy for musical instruments retailer Rockshop. This shifted the focus from a transactional product sales approach to a more customer-centred strategy based on the relationship that musicians have with their music.

  • A busy harbor park featuring people walking, sitting, and playing. There are sailboats docked in the background, with two large industrial silos and greenery on the right side. The sky is partly cloudy with the sun shining brightly.

    Waterfront Auckland

    Headlight designed a brand strategy for the Wynyard Quarter urban regeneration precinct. This included creating a comprehensive stakeholder engagement strategy.

  • Elderly women gardening in a backyard with a greenhouse in the background.

    Arvida

    This work evaluated concepts for two new retirement villages including the appeal of serviced apartment living options.

    Headlight was able to provide Arvida with a clear insights on customer decision drivers and how to refine their product concepts.

  • Colorful circular logo with the words "Trust power" displayed on the side of a modern building with windows and a crane visible through the reflection.

    Trustpower

    This work involved a performance review of how Trustpower develops and delivers its sales & marketing campaigns.

    It identified a raft of potential improvements for both effectiveness and process efficiency.

  • Sign with ANZ logo on a dark building and a woman walking past

    ANZ

    Over several years Headlight helped ANZ with brand strategy, research and campaign development. This was both working on-house and with ANZ’s agencies.

  • A white Gothic-style clock tower with spires, set against a clear blue sky, partially framed by green leaves.

    University of Auckland

    Headlight developed a marketing and brand development strategy, as well as a schools engagement strategy. This was based on extensive internal consultation as well as research with students, parents and career advisors.

  • A man wearing safety glasses, a white helmet, and an orange safety vest with 'MOT MACDONALD' printed on it, standing on scaffolding at an active construction site with large rust-colored pipes and steel frameworks in the background.

    Worksafe

    Headlight created an engagement strategy targeting the Chinese construction sector. This was based on research with Chinese construction companies as well as Worksafe inspectors.

  • An industrial facility with large metallic pipes and tanks, set against a cloudy sky.

    Warner Construction

    Warner Construction is a family steel fabrication based in Taranaki and Taupo.

    Headlight created a brand platform based on the idea of “Made of Steel”. This idea reflects the steel craft quality, and resilience of their team culture.

  • A straight open road extending towards distant mountains with the words 'SAFETY FIRST' painted on the asphalt.

    Road Safety

    Headlight has a lot of experience with behaviour change campaign development in road safety.

    This includes work with The World Bank and other authorities in New Zealand, Oman, UAE, Argentina, India, and Tunisia.

  • Large yellow letters spelling 'WELLINGTON' with pink and blue accents, in front of a marina with boats and a woman standing on top of the letter 'G', smiling and waving on a sunny day with a blue sky.

    Positively Wellington Tourism

    Headlight worked on several projects for PWT including developing a strategy and in-market research for the Australian east coast.

  • A cake shaped like a car with white frosting and green and red decorations, placed on a blue and white checkered tablecloth. Background shows a red and yellow kitchen. Text overlays say "Sounds Like Us" and "Radio New Zealand."

    Radio New Zealand

    Headlight has worked with RNZ on campaign development and brand strategy work.

  • Orange camouflage vehicle with roof racks and off-road equipment, labeled with Camel cigarette ads, parked on dirt with trees in the background.

    Land Rover

    Headlight worked with Land Rover for many years on communication strategy, new model launches and customer experience.