About Günter Soydanbay
I’m a brand strategist. Agencies bring me in, as part of their team, when a pitch, project or live account needs senior brand thinking they don’t have in-house. I’m based in Brussels and work in English and Turkish.
How I got here
I trained in psychology and then took an MBA, which is an unusual combination in this business and turned out to be the useful one. Brands behave like people: they have histories they’d rather not discuss, stories they tell about themselves that aren’t quite true, and blind spots visible to everyone but them. Twenty-five years and more than 150 brands later, I’ve yet to find a brand problem that was only a marketing problem.
That work has taken me to 19 countries across five continents, for clients including Diageo, Holcim, Carvana, Lonza, KingSett Capital, Doğuş Group, NATO and the European Commission, almost always alongside an agency partner.
Psychotherapist for Brands
A client gave me the phrase, and it stuck because it describes the method. I don’t arrive with the answer. I ask the questions that surface what an organisation already knows but hasn’t been able to say, then put it into words it can act on. Clients often tell me I’ve understood them unusually well. They supplied the material; I only took notes and listened to what wasn’t being said.
What I’m called in for
Brand problems that facts alone can’t solve: many stakeholders to align, or a human truth no one has found yet. In practice that means financial services; multi-brand groups, including FMCG portfolios; and premium B2B suppliers in manufacturing and professional services.
Elsewhere
I’ve written a monthly column, Marka ve Şehir, for İzmir Life magazine for fifteen years, on what brand thinking has to do with how cities are run. I also write and speak on brand strategy in English. Read the writing.