Where Strategy Becomes Artful Growth

Poem partners with forward-thinking organizations to unlock potential, drive growth, and create meaningful change. Guided by cultural insights and adaptive strategies, we help you thrive in a world that never stands still.

System-Shifting Strategy

We craft visionary strategies and clear goals that help your organization thrive in a world of constant change. By preparing you for cultural, social, economic, and ecological shifts, we make sure you’re ready for the future—adaptable, quick to respond, and always focused on creating lasting impact.

Iittala: Design strategy and human-centric portfolio model.

Insight-Driven Growth

We identify growth opportunities, open new markets, and design business models backed by data-driven insights, from market trends to financial analysis. This helps you drive financial growth, unlock new revenue streams, and build the long-term resilience needed for impactful, mission-driven operations.

Turku Music Hall Fuuga: Business model and service offering, innovation and validation.

Culture-Forward Innovation

We combine cultural insights with digital-first thinking and a collaborative design approach to help you create vibrant cultural experiences, products, and services for today’s digital and hybrid world. This will deepen customer engagement, attract new audiences, and align your offerings for long-term business growth.

Venice Biennale of Architecture: Hyperwater exhibit concept and storytelling.

WORK

Operating across the cultural, technology, media, design, and art sectors, key clients and projects include:

Aalto University — Archinfo — Ateneum Art Museum — City of Helsinki — City of Turku — Craft Museum of Finland — Design Forum Finland — Design Museum — EMMA Espoo Museum of Modern Art — European Commission — Europeana — Finna — Finnish Museum of Photography — Finnish Heritage Agency — HAM Helsinki Art Museum — Helsinki Biennial — Helsinki City Museum — Helsinki Metropolitan Area Libraries — House of Visual Arts — Iittala — Lahti City Museums — Maritime Centre Vellamo — Museum of Finnish Architecture — Museum of History and the Future — Sitra — Slush — Suunto — Turku Music Hall Fuuga — University of the Arts Helsinki — Yle, the Finnish Broadcasting Company.

  • HAM HELSINKI ART MUSEUM / Insight-Driven Growth & Business Model Design

    Creating the business model and financial analysis to prepare HAM Helsinki Art Museum to expand and move into a new location.

  • HELSINKI BIENNIAL / Insight-Driven Growth & Fundraising Model

    Developing the partnership and fundraising model and materials for Helsinki Biennial, the most important contemporary art biennial in the Nordics.

  • IITTALA / System-Shifting Strategy & Design Portfolio

    Developing the design strategy and portfolio model for Iittala, the essential Nordic design brand, to drive growth from the human perspective.

  • SLUSH EVENT / System-Shifting Strategy & Organization Design

    Partnering with the Slush’s leadership and event team to cultivate a thriving culture, refine daily practices, and enhance both short- and long-term outcomes of their efforts.

  • EMMA, ESPOO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART / Insight-Driven Growth & Business Model Design

    Creating the vision and business model for new growth with EMMA Espoo Art Museum, one of the leading contemporary art museums in the Nordics.

  • SUUNTO / System-Shifting Strategy & Brand Purpose

    Developing the purpose and strategy to transform Suunto, the 80-year-old wearable sports tech company for the future.

  • ARCHINFO, THE INFORMATION CENTRE FOR FINNISH ARCHITECTURE / System-Shifting Strategy

    Being a long-term partner of Arcfinfo, developing the strategy with the board and personnel to support the organization to operate and create impact across society.

  • THE HOUSE OF VISUAL ARTS / System-Shifting Strategy & Business Design

    Building the concept, strategic directions, business model and services for the House of Visual Arts, the new visionary center developed in Helsinki.

  • TURKU MUSIC HALL FUUGA / System-Shifting Strategy & Insight-Driven Growth

    Developing the strategy, business models, service portfolio and governance model for Turku Music Hall Fuuga, the new music venue and concert hall opening in 2026.

  • THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND THE FUTURE / System-Shifting Strategy & Museum Concept

    Creating the museum concept, strategic directions and operational model for the Museum of History and the Future, a new museum opening in the Turku harbor in 2030.

  • THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND THE FUTURE / Innovation & Exhibition Concept

    Creating the concept for the main exhibition for the Museum of History and the Future, named Startling Lives’ and designed to incite empathy for life's complexity and diversity.

  • YLE, THE FINNISH BROADCASTING COMPANY / System-Shifting Strategy & Social Impact

    Developing the social impact strategy for Yle to co-create deeper value across digital channels.

  • CRAFT MUSEUM OF FINLAND / Innovation & Exhibition Concept

    Designing the concept for the new main exhibition of the Craft Museum, to explore the virtual, actual, and intensive dimensions of craft.

  • HELSINKI METROPOLITAN AREA LIBRARIES / System-Shifting Strategy & Culture Development

    Supporting the Oodi library and other libraries in the metropolitan network with a vision and directions for increasing equality, equity and inclusion.

  • DESIGN MUSEUM / Innovation & Exhibition Concept

    Crafting the strategy and concept for the Utopia Now, the main exhibition of the Design Museum that tells the story of Finnish design.

  • DESIGN MUSEUM / Innovation & Exhibition Curation

    Co-curating the Design Museum’s exhibition Enter & Encounter to explore the emerging directions and new possibilities for Finnish design.

  • AALTO UNIVERSITY / System-Shifting Strategy & Department Purpose

    Supporting the leadership teams and educators of Aalto ARTS with strategies that help design education to face the future.

  • MUSEUM OF FINNISH ARCHITECTURE / System-Shifting Strategy & Goal Setting

    Advising on strategy to help the Museum of Finnish Architecture to prepare for the multi-year transition to a new building.

  • VENICE BIENNALE, FINNISH PAVILION FINALIST / Innovation & Exhibition Concept

    Co-creating the concept of Hyperwater for the Finnish Pavilion in Venice Biennale to explore the cultural and architectural properties of water, the source of all life.

OFFERING

  • Strategy

    Adaptive and clear visions, strategies, and goals to lead organizations forward and aim for impact.

    | Strategic foresight
    | Strategy journeys
    | Vision formulation
    | Goal setting
    | Organizational design

  • Growth

    Growth opportunities, new markets, and business models to create meaningful value and revenue.

    | Market analysis
    | Opportunity identification
    | Business model design
    | Investment thesis
    | Fundraising development

  • Innovation

    Clear directions for experiences, products, services, and systems with transformative power.

    | Cultural analysis
    | Service systems
    | Product portfolios
    | Exhibition concepts
    | Cultural worlding

Worlding projects

Worlding is a digital-native method to creative engagement and cultural production. It creates interactive, cross-platform experiences that blend digital and physical media, helping organizations build deeper connections and unlock new revenue.

We offer tailored worlding projects, from entry-level workshops to comprehensive transformations, through strategy, curation, business development, and hands-on support.

READ MORE ABOUT WORLDING

ABOUT

Our team includes strategists, researchers, and designers. We also collaborate with diverse experts, forming ensembles that bring deep perspective and right talent to every project.

Our Edge

We use a systemic approach that integrates leading methodologies from strategic design, cultural analysis, social sciences, complexity science, strategic foresight, business strategy, and organizational transformation. This allows us to create real, impactful, and sustainable change.

Our Story

The name Poem refers to the art of poetry and the act of poeisis, the emergence of something that did not previously exist. Our origins trace back to 2011, when we launched as a strategy consultancy in New York. Over a decade and more than a hundred of successful client projects later, we advance art, culture, and tech from Helsinki.

Ville Tikka

Poem is lead by Ville Tikka. He advices the leadership, strategy, and creative teams in diverse sectors, including art organizations, tech companies, progressive museums, lifestyle brands, concert halls, and NGOs.

Prior to founding Poem, he gained extensive experience in tech sector in New York and Helsinki, leading strategy, innovation, and research projects alongside global business, design, and brand teams on five continents.

Ville is a thought leader who has written books on circular and contemporary design. His expertise extends to curating and designing exhibitions, as well as pioneering explorations in AI and web3 world-building.

He holds an MA in Psychology and Media Studies from the University of Turku.

PUBLICATIONS

Circular Design Guidebook

Circular Design Guidebook (2024) unites diverse design disciplines to help businesses embed the principles of the circular economy into their strategy and operations.

This practical guide offers models, instructions, tips, and real-world examples to inspire actually sustainable solutions—one product, service, and business model at a time. Written by Ville Tikka for Design Forum Finland, it is aimed at leaders, product and service developers, and design professionals.

The guidebook’s goal is to help readers recognize that transitioning to a circular economy is not just critical for the environment but also offers diverse business opportunities.

The New Wave of Design

The New Wave of Finnish Design brings the story of Finnish design into the 21st century, showcasing the latest in contemporary Finnish design.

The book explores what design means today and how it can create value and significance in a changing world. It highlights ten diverse examples of the new wave: from products and digital services to AI-driven platforms, brand experiences that foster communities, business models that advance social good, and dynamic organizational cultures.

The New Wave of Finnish Design reveals what everyone invested in a hopeful future should see.

CONTACT

Ville Tikka
Strategy Lead
Phone +358 4068 40656
Email ville@poem.company

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