Godfrey Dadich Partners (GDP) has made a strategic investment in Upstatement, a brand and digital product studio operating at the intersection of storytelling, design, and engineering. Godfrey Dadich is the award-winning firm pioneering The New Editorial—bringing together the best of journalism, strategy, and design to deliver meaningful and engaging communications. The partnership will foster close collaboration between the agencies with the goal of expanding the audiences, executions, and impact for The New Editorial. Upstatement’s cross-disciplinary teams are globally renowned for digital innovation and award-winning work.
Upstatement, established and headquartered in Boston, will continue to be led by its co-founders—CEO Mike Swartz, COO Jared Novack, and CPO Tito Bottitta—along with the addition of a board of directors that will be chaired by GDP co-founder Scott Dadich. Upstatement is currently 50 people strong, with team members across the US and in Europe. With this acquisition, Upstatement becomes part of the kyu Collective, which brings together best-in-class creative firms, including Godfrey Dadich, SYPartners, and IDEO, to propel the economy and society forward. kyu is a strategic operating unit of Hakuhodo DY Holdings (HDY).
“We at GDP have long been admirers of Upstatement’s brilliant team and fans of their digital practice. Since their founding, their leadership in product design has been deeply rooted in an authentic editorial approach, one that aligns perfectly with Godfrey Dadich’s vision for ‘The New Editorial.’ Upstatement’s track record of delivering true stories in new forms and formats complements our journalistic methodology to brand communications, and we are certain the partnership will lead to new creative unlocks for our respective clients—and business growth for both of our firms,” Dadich shared. “We have already begun working together to pioneer and design new kinds of story experiences on today’s and tomorrow’s digital platforms.”
“We created Upstatement to help our partners communicate clearly and directly with their audiences by designing digital brand platforms to tell memorable stories,” Swartz added. “The Godfrey Dadich team has built a studio—along with a vision, systems, and portfolio of work—that we are thrilled to partner with. Their approach to storytelling, their values, and their level of craft resonates deeply with us, and we share the same newsroom DNA. We have embraced the fact that The New Editorial builds trust in brands, organizations, and movements through content that has the quality and integrity of the best journalism. We’re excited to grow The New Editorial together and unlock new opportunities for our client partners.”
Godfrey Dadich has charted consistent double-digit growth four years running and reported record revenue in 2021, fueled largely by its signature editorial work. This is the second strategic investment for Godfrey Dadich, having partnered with Ghost Note, the Washington, D.C.-based Black-owned creative agency, in February 2022. Godfrey Dadich, Upstatement, and Ghost Note will all work together for clients when appropriate, and have begun to showcase their collective strengths on theneweditorial.com.
The New Editorial builds trust in brands, organizations, and movements through content that has the quality and integrity of the best journalism. The New Editorial allows brands to connect directly with their audiences—from employees to customers to policymakers—to create genuine conversations. It’s a shift from building awareness to building authority. From renting ad space to building community. This is how leaders achieve greater impact in uncertain times. Leading client partnerships include IBM, for a short film on computing revolutions; Microsoft, which turned to GDP in 2020 to create Microsoft WorkLab, an ongoing digital publication and podcast series showcasing Microsoft’s vision for the future of work; and Nike, which has engaged GDP to produce documentary films. Upstatement’s client work includes brands, digital products, and large-scale digital platforms for PBS, ESPN, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, MIT, and more.
“From the very start of kyu we have sought out organizations that push the boundaries of what creativity can achieve,” said Michael Birkin, kyu’s CEO. “In 2020, Godfrey Dadich Partners entered the Collective as standard bearers of storytelling. Now with Upstatement, GDP has added a fresh facet to The New Editorial and strengthened kyu’s ranks to better fulfill our promise to drive meaningful business and societal impact.”