A decade inside global brands. Here's what it taught me.
I didn't come from consulting. I came from inside — running global brand strategy, launching markets, scaling campaigns, managing agencies, and solving the kind of business problems that don't come with a clean brief.
What I do now is take what I learned at that scale and apply it to businesses that are ready to grow — but don't have the time, budget, or appetite to figure it out the hard way.
Here are the four things that decade taught me — and the companies where I learned them.
Scale forces clarity
The lesson: At GetYourGuide — a global travel marketplace operating across 150+ countries — vague strategy doesn't survive. When you're running campaigns across multiple markets simultaneously, with real budget and real accountability, you learn fast that clarity isn't a nice-to-have. It's the only thing that scales. Unclear positioning, unclear audience, unclear message — all of it gets exposed quickly.
What that means in practice: Most businesses think the problem is budget. It's usually clarity. If you don't know exactly who you're talking to, why they should care, and what you want them to do — more spend just amplifies the noise.
Where I learned it: GetYourGuide — Head of Global Brand, Originals & Consumer Experience (2021–2025)
Brand and performance aren't opposites
The lesson: At Zalando — Europe's largest online fashion platform — I learned that the best marketing doesn't choose between brand and performance. Brand builds the trust that makes performance possible. Performance captures the demand that brand creates. Separate them and both get worse. The businesses that win treat them as one system.
What that means in practice: Chasing short-term conversions without building brand trust is expensive and unsustainable. Building brand without a clear path to conversion is indulgent. The job is to connect the two — and most businesses aren't doing that yet.
Where I learned it: Zalando — UK Marketing Manager (2016–2018)
Knowing your customer is a discipline, not a one-off
The lesson: At Henkel — a Fortune 500 FMCG business with operations in 75+ countries — consumer understanding wasn't a research project you did once. It was a continuous discipline baked into every product decision, every campaign, every category review. The businesses that lose are the ones that think they already know their customer and stop asking.
What that means in practice: Most businesses have a rough idea of their customer. Few have a clear, specific, actionable picture of who that person is, what they fear, and what would make them buy. That gap drives almost every growth problem I see.
Where I learned it: Henkel — Category Marketing Manager (2014–2016)
New markets don't forgive assumptions
The lesson: At GetYourGuide I led the US market launch — an eight-figure budget, agencies, media, Times Square. At ZOZO I launched a Japanese fashion platform into the UK. The lesson both times was the same: what works in one market doesn't automatically work in another. Assumptions get expensive fast. The businesses that launch well do the homework first.
What that means in practice: Whether you're entering a new market, a new category, or trying to reach a new audience — the strategic groundwork comes first. Every time. No exceptions.
Where I learned it: GetYourGuide — Brand Lead, US (2020–2021) | ZOZO — Country Manager UK (2018–2019)