Senior brand thinking, inside your team.
Every so often a client walks in with a problem your team can’t crack. Not for lack of talent, but because the answer isn’t in the category, the data, or anything the client can articulate. Those briefs don’t arrive often enough to keep a specialist on staff, and they arrive too rarely to be worth losing. That’s the gap I fill: for a pitch, a project, or an account you’ve held for years that has quietly stopped making sense.
Günter Soydanbay · Brand strategist · Psychotherapist for Brands · Brussels
The questions I get handed
25
years of brand strategy
150+
brands, from startups to nations
19
countries, across five continents
To win it
When the decision turns on the strategy rather than the execution, I work inside your team on the thinking the client will judge you by.
To deliver it
When the work is yours and the brief needs a senior mind you don’t have free, I do it alongside your people and hand it over in a form they can carry forward.
What you get
A strategy your client can act on, a brief your creatives can run with, and a client who hears their own thinking said back to them, better than they could say it. Most of what I do is help people say what they already knew. They tend to call it a revelation, which is generous of them.
He took the idea, which was in our minds, and gave us the right shoes. He also found the right metaphor — Ensō — after which we named our company. Günter, plain and simple, put our dreams on paper.
Canan Ilter · Co-founding Partner, Ensō · Istanbul
His input, vision and guidance helped everyone within our organization to understand the mission, sacred values and the promise of Beyondtech in a way we didn’t know was possible.
Luis Cárdenas · CFO, Beyondtech · Madrid
An impressive brand strategist, who possesses deep insights into why things are the way they are. His narrative-based analysis and actionable tactics gave us results we could not even dream of.
Ben Plomion · Chief Marketing Officer, GumGum · Santa Monica
He helped us segment our customers in a way that resonated in many internal meetings long after we engaged with him.
Marcel Stephan · Director of Customer Experience, KAEC · Saudi Arabia
Your client stays yours
I work under your name, present as part of your team, and take the credit you choose to give me. Discretion is the job: a psychotherapist who discusses his patients at parties is not long in practice.
I have partnered with Günter on several projects over the last 8 years.
Allison Rietta · Creative Director, Diagonal Creative · Toronto
Over the years, I worked with Günter on numerous projects. He can blend academy-level strategic acumen with creativity, seeing the hidden potential in every situation. He is a genuine gentleman, with whom my team and clients enjoyed working.
Alper Kulak · Managing Partner, Maven Insights · Dubai
Questions you might ask
Will our client know you’re external?
That’s yours to decide. Many agencies introduce me as part of the team; some name me in the proposal. Both work.
Can you be named as an expert in a proposal?
Yes. I’ll send a CV in whatever format you need.
How are fees set?
Per project, quoted after the first call. More questions.
Where agencies bring me in most
Financial services; multi-brand groups, including FMCG portfolios; and premium B2B suppliers in manufacturing and professional services. I work in English and Turkish from Brussels, with agencies across Europe, Turkey, the Gulf and North America.
Selected work through agency partners
NATO · European Commission · Diageo · Holcim · Lonza · Carvana · KingSett Capital · Papara · Doğuş Group · Sanko Holding
About me
Trained in psychology, with an MBA, I’ve spent 25 years on brand strategy for more than 150 brands across Europe, Turkey, the Gulf and North America. I work in English and Turkish. More about me.