About this site

The Brand Algorithm is for senior marketers, brand strategists, and founders who believe that brand is the moat in the age of AI. No tool roundups. No beginner tutorials. Just sharp, experience-driven thinking on what happens to brand strategy when AI changes everything underneath it. Published 3–4 times weekly.

About the author

I've been building brands at the frontier of technology for 25 years — and every wave has taught me the same lesson.

In the early 2000s, I built one of the first immersive brand websites in Flash for Heineken. When the servers couldn't handle the traffic, we turned the problem into a PR moment by adding a bouncer that made users wait in line — like a real nightclub. The media went crazy. That was my first lesson in turning constraints into brand stories.

Since then, I've been early on every major technology shift:

I ran SMS-based guerrilla marketing campaigns in Berlin before smartphones existed. I built a stealth social network for Warner Music by connecting artist websites into a platform that competed with MySpace overnight. I helped pioneer video ad fraud detection at BrandAds before "ad fraud" was even a category (acquired by Extreme Reach). I led marketing for an augmented reality startup at a $300M valuation, delivered a TEDx talk on the future of AR, and ghostwrote two additional TED/TEDx talks for company executives — years before anyone was talking about "the metaverse". I took Wild Earth from $0 to $10M in 12 months by filming our CEO eating dog food on camera and building a DTC performance engine behind it (acquired by InvenTel). I co-founded Cinnaholic, scaling it to 100+ franchise locations and $130M+ in annual sales (featured on Shark Tank, acquired by PE).

Along the way, I've built award -winning marketing camapiagns for Nike, Apple, Heineken, Red Bull, P&G, and Unilever. I've helped turn two documentaries into Netflix viral hits by reverse-engineering Indiegogo's algorithm as a distribution hack. And I've used CGI face-tracking technology — borrowed from Hollywood — to create a web documentary that changed German animal welfare legislation.

Now I'm at the frontier of AI. I run AI-powered content marketing engines for venture-funded companies across industries. And I write The Brand Algorithm because I keep seeing the same pattern: technology changes, but the fundamentals of brand don't. When AI commoditizes execution, the only lasting advantage is a brand people trust, remember, and choose.

Brand is the moat. That's what this newsletter is about.

I'm based in Pleasant Hill, California. Originally from Berlin. I work as a fractional CMO and brand strategist — if you want to talk, reach me here or connect on LinkedIn.