Behavioral economics firm BEworks joins kyu collective

Founded in 2010, Toronto-based BEworks is the world’s first firm dedicated to the practice of applying behavioral economics to solving business and governmental challenges. CEO Kelly Peters and Chief Behavioral Scientist Dan Ariely (both co-founders) will remain full partners. Nina Mažar, an Associate Professor of Marketing (Behavioral Science) at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, will be a minority partner.

“We are thrilled in our choice of BEworks. As a leading firm in this field, it will play an essential role in providing more well-rounded creative offerings for kyu’s clients and stakeholders,” says kyu CEO Michael Birkin in a statement. “They will help kyu companies be even more evidence-based, more rigorous, and more scalable across larger numbers of people.”

BEworks specializes in applying behavioral science to marketing, product, pricing, and operational challenges. With its team of behavioral experts and PhDs in cognitive and social psychology and neuroscience, it provides behavioral science techniques to diagnose the consumer mindset, use scientifically-grounded strategies, and validate recommendations through empirically-sound experiments. The firm’s client list includes global Fortune 1000 companies and government agencies from across the globe.

“As leaders in the field of behavioral economics, our passion is in applying the power of scientific thinking towards helping organizations develop better strategies, customer experiences, and optimized operations,” adds BEworks CEO Kelly Peters. “We are honored to work alongside some of the world’s most creative companies that make up kyu. This is an incredible opportunity to be even more ambitious in our pursuit of applying behavioral science insights and together create even greater impact.”

BEworks will join kyu’s diverse group of member companies: creativity and commerce conference company C2 International; digital content and design firm Digital Kitchen; global design company IDEO; branding agency Red Peak; creative ad agency Sid Lee; and transformation company SYPartners.

“kyu is committed to tackling complex problems in both business and society—problems that are largely rooted in human behavior,” says IDEO CEO Tim Brown, whose firm joined kyu in February. “BEworks’ expertise in behavioral science will help us in the design and creative communities better understand and design for these behaviors. It will lend a deeper level of scientific rigor to the innovative and creative approaches that kyu companies already bring to clients and stakeholders.”

To read more about this exciting new addition to kyu, check out this exclusive on Fortune.

Photo credit: John Morris Photography