18 years of brand.
80+ brands.
One system.
Director Innovation Strategy at MetaDesign · Berlin
What I believe
Brand is not a communications project. Brand is what a company steers with, from strategic direction to operational execution. For companies that want to turn strategy into a basis for decisions.
I work at the intersection of brand identity (for humans) and brand infrastructure (for systems). The central question: Is our brand describable enough that a system can reliably select it, and meaningful enough that a human would want that?
Current
- MetaDesign: Director Innovation Strategy. Berlin. Since 2026.
- HORIZONT: Guest article “Wie KI den Brandingprozess umdreht”, 9 September 2026. Read it here in English; the German original at HORIZONT is behind the paywall.
Stations
- Founder, Unternehmenswissen.AI. 2025–2026. AI platform that makes internal company knowledge accessible and usable. GDPR-compliant, hosted in Germany. For mid-market and industry.
- Founder and Strategy Director, DE.design. 2022–2026. Strategy consultancy for brand, product, and go-to-market. Founded with Lars Krüger, Berlin. Clients included Bayer, Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe, LichtBlick, Tesvolt Energy, Sigvaris, Grüne Erde, Charlotte Meentzen, Friedrichstadt-Palast.
- Interim Strategy Director, Helder. Feb–Oct 2024, Berlin. Client: Schüco.
- Interim Strategy Director, KMS TEAM. Jul–Sep 2024, Munich. Client: Viessmann.
- Partner and Strategy Director, diesdas.digital. 2018–2022. Digital agency for brands that treat digital not as a channel but as a product. Connecting brand strategy, UX, and technology. Clients included Red Bull, Miele, Zalando, CLARK, Zeit ONLINE, Clue, Arolsen Archives.
- Founder, KI Community. 2018–2022. A community of more than 1,000 members. Events and talks at the intersection of business, design, and technology. Speakers from Aleph Alpha, KPMG, Fraunhofer, Humboldt University, among others.
- Founding Partner, Brandheads. 2016–2022. A network of independent brand experts. Strategy, design, copy, architecture.
- Guest Lecturer, TU Berlin. 2018. Lecture: image and brand building in real-estate development.
- Independent Strategy Director. 2016–2018. Independent strategy consulting.
- Strategy Director, MetaDesign. 2008–2015. Seven years of brand strategy at one of Europe's leading brand consultancies. Stations: Berlin, Beijing, San Francisco. From Brand Strategist to Brand Strategy Director.
Brands I Have Worked On
Some in my own engagements, some as an employee of agencies and consultancies. I name the client and the period on request.
Automotive & Industry: Audi, Siemens, Daimler, Porsche, Volkswagen, Bosch, Schüco, Miele, OTIS, HILTI, voestalpine
Energy & Technology: Viessmann, LichtBlick, Techem, Tesvolt Energy, Entrix
Consumer & Lifestyle: Red Bull, Charlotte Meentzen, Sigvaris, Zalando, Grüne Erde, Lackmann, Dresdner Christstollen
Healthcare & Pharma: Bayer, Novo Nordisk
Digital & Platform: CLARK, IBM iX, Zeit ONLINE, Clue
Institutions: Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe, Friedrichstadt-Palast, DIW, Arolsen Archives
Working Approach
- Coherence: the parts have to fit together, even when nobody is looking.
- Precision: clear definitions that decisions can hang on.
- Dual-track: always designing for human resonance AND machine readability.
- Implementation-oriented: strategy that survives contact with reality.
Read on
- Brand Infrastructure: why brands need to become machine-readable.
- Agentic Brand Readiness: what it means when AI systems judge your brand.
- Taste & Accountability: why taste won't save brand work, and what clients will actually pay for.
- Agent Authority: your agent holds a mandate. Who defines what it may do, and who stands behind it?