Brand, marketing, and communication strategy services with a play state of mind
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Making sense
Whether conducting new research or analysing existing data, from consumer culture to competitors’ initiatives, I help you understand and simplify the wider context your brands evolve in. This includes:
- Market research.
- Audience insights.
- Culture & trends.
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Brand building
Anchored in clear business information and marketing insights, I devise the next steps of growth for brands, from positioning, to purpose, the brand’s identity, and critically, where it is headed. This includes:
- Brand identity (positioning, naming).
- Portfolio, mergers and acquisitions.
- International expansion.
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Innovation design
Studying trends and envisioning different pathways for the future, I help clients define and implement new ideas, methods, products, or services to improve their business and gain competitive advantages. This includes:
- Iterative design sprints.
- Prototyping and testing.
- Environmental, social and governance (ESG) innovation.
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Marketing
Bringing a brand strategy from theory on slides to life in day-to-day business, from considering product and services, to pricing, distribution, or communications across media channels for the intended audiences. This includes:
- Annual planning and implementation.
- New business pitching support.
- Fractional marketing executive.
What’s a play state of mind?
A play state of mind fosters lateral thinking and inspires new ideas (leading to business advantages).
If you are familiar, it can be compared with a state of flow, or being “in the zone.”
Brand experience
From automotive, to technology, energy, and consumer goods, I have over 20 years of international and multicultural brand strategy experience.
My experience spans a wide variety of industries, projects, and markets with the brands above, directly and with agencies such as Iris, Saatchi & Saatchi, BBDO, Off-Works, Si Media, to name a few.
Energy BBDO | SC Johnson Raid / Baygon
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SC Johnson brands Raid and Baygon are the global market leading pest control brands. However, they needed to firm up their position for nighttime mosquito protection to defend against competitors in several countries, including India, China, Italy, Mexico, and Argentina.
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The objective was to develop a multilingual and multimedia global advertising communications campaign, highlighting how mothers around the world protect their homes, their children’s futures and from from the threat of mosquitoes, within the portfolio brand platform: “It’s Good to be Tough.”
Highlights:
Analysis with SC Johnson Consumer Insights team.
Qualitative cultural research about the meaning of protection, motherhood, and family rituals around the world.
Strategy coordination with senior stakeholders in three continents, 20+ markets.
Off-Works | Stanley Robotics
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Stanley Robotics is a deeptech company that combines hardware and software to provide solutions for outdoor vehicle logistics. The technology lies with a robot lifting and moving cars autonomously, and in an intelligent storage management software.
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The overarching challenge was to give the brand a new direction and positioning post-COVID-19 pandemic, towards the outdoor logistics market. over the course of 18 months, I supported the co-founders and board of directors with the brand strategy, coached them for public speaking at a conference, and developed successful marketing communications assets in collaboration with their marketing communications team.
Highlights:
Autonomous vehicles, robotics, deeptech, and logistics industry market research and qualitative insights gathering.
Brand strategy workshop, marketing communications architecture.
Brand story, conference presentation, and ongoing marketing support.
VCCP London | Global Food Brand
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VCCP Blue in London was in need of research and strategy support in the process of this new business pitch, for a global brand operating in the food industry. The work being confidential, the image displayed is part of a diagram’s early draft, only tangentially related to the actual project.
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Working with the strategy teams of VCCP in London and China, we conducted cultural research into consumer trends related to specific emotional states and food consumption occasions.
Highlights:
Multicultural qualitative research in the UK, France, and China.
Synthesizing research, identifying consumer insights.
Leveraging psychology theories of love and emotions.
Client testimonials
“Willem's strategic insights and guidance have redefined Dynvibe's industry position. His global benchmarking unveiled untapped opportunities. We're impressed by his thinking, both innovative and pragmatic, that helped really capture our essence as a brand, and then turn it into actionable marketing initiatives.”
— Anne-Cécile Guillemot, Co-Founder, Dynvibe.
“The brand strategy workshops Willem organized were engaging, creative, and super efficient. We particularly appreciated Willem's professionalism, commitment to understanding our business, and the way he listened to eventually formulate a positioning and marketing strategy for Stanley Robotics that the whole team felt genuinely enthusiastic about.”
— Clément Boussard, Co-Founder, Stanley Robotics
Playful brand strategy posts
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