Erik Pas
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Erik Pas
Brand strategist for regulated markets

Distinctive brands for regulated markets. Built fast.

30 years of positioning brands in FMCG, retail, iGaming, financial services and insurance, most recently as founder of Surprize Me. Distinctive from day one, remembered by the people who matter, and built to make every euro of performance marketing work harder.

Book a 30-minute call See the results
Erik Pas, brand strategist
147%
ROI on rewards with Surprize Me
36%
market share for Bavaria 0.0 within three years
10,000
new PayPal users every week
Selected clients
Red Bull
PayPal
Bavaria
Royal Swinkels
Achmea
Sony
Hero Gaming
Chess.com
Play Magnus Group

In a regulated market, the brand is your edge

When rules limit what you can say, what you can offer, where you can say it and to whom, most competitors end up sounding the same. The brand becomes the one advantage they can’t copy.

Thirty years in exactly these markets: from Red Bull, when its ingredients made it one of the most restricted drinks in Europe, to PayPal, Achmea and newly regulated gaming markets. Most recently Surprize Me, a reward mechanic that runs in physical retail and e-commerce within promotional rules.

  • FMCG
  • Retail
  • iGaming
  • Financial services
  • Insurance
  • Fewer channelsRules on advertising alcohol, gambling, credit and promotions close off the obvious media.
  • Limited claimsHealth, returns and coverage can’t be promised freely, so the brand has to do the persuading.
  • Lookalike productsRules, price pressure and private labels push offers toward the same shape and price.
  • Rising cost per customerWithout brand preference, every customer has to be won again, with discounts or media spend.

What I’m brought in for

Usually by CEOs and CMOs of challenger brands, scale-ups, PE-backed companies and operators entering a new market, at a moment where standing out, fast, matters more than anything else.

Distinctive campaigns

When the brand needs to break through instead of blending in.

Rapid growth

When the business plan asks for growth the current brand can’t carry.

Top of mind

When customers know you, but don’t think of you first.

Go-to-market

When entering a new or newly regulated market has to land the first time.

Repositioning

When the brand has lost its edge or no longer fits where the business is going.

Brand portfolio review

When multiple brands compete with each other instead of with the market.

Creative routes

When the obvious channels are closed and you need new ways to reach customers.

Brand from the inside out

When your own people need to carry the brand, so it holds up in every customer contact.

Within the rules, from day one

In a regulated market, a brand idea that legal blocks at sign-off isn’t fast. It’s expensive. That’s why legal and compliance are part of the diagnosis, not the final check.

Rules as part of the brief

Advertising codes, licence conditions and regulator guidance shape the positioning from the start, so creative routes are built to pass.

Duty of care built in

In financial services, insurance and gaming, responsible marketing isn’t a disclaimer. Fair treatment of customers and safer play are part of the brand, not a risk to manage around it.

Promotional mechanics that hold up

The reward mechanics of Surprize Me are built to work within the rules for promotions, in stores and online.

A brand that works for your performance marketers

In competitive markets such as retail, financial services, insurance and gaming, acquisition cost is often the biggest line in the marketing budget. A strong brand lowers it, because customers who already prefer you are cheaper to win.

More clicks convert

When people recognise and prefer the brand, the same ad and the same landing page simply perform better.

Lower cost per customer

Brand preference means less spend is needed to persuade, so CAC comes down across channels.

Customers stay longer

A brand people chose on purpose keeps them through the next promotion from a competitor.

The positioning is built together with the performance team from the start, so brand and acquisition pull in the same direction instead of competing for the same budget.

Proven where the rules are tight

Smiling customer at the checkout, the moment Surprize Me turns into the reason for a next visit
Retail & e-commerce
147%
ROI on cashback and store-credit rewards

Surprize Me

Since 2022, founder and CEO

Retailers invest everything in the customer before the checkout, and nothing in the moment right after it. Surprize Me turns that moment into the reason for the next visit: a short game of chance in which every customer wins a personal reward, redeemable only on a repeat purchase. Built from scratch, now with a team of twelve, it runs in stores and online, and scales from a single store to more than 1,000.

The results: 48% more repeat purchases, 15% higher average spend, and 61% of rewards redeemed within a week, twice as fast as the normal visit frequency. Live at Bruna, JYSK, Mothercare and MINISO.

Bavaria 0.0 product range
FMCG
36%
market share within three years

Bavaria 0.0

Alcohol, a restricted category

Alcohol-free beer had all but disappeared as a category. Together with the team set up for the launch, I was responsible for bringing it back. We positioned it around new drinking occasions and backed it with an always-on activation calendar with clear trial and repeat targets.

Within three years, Bavaria 0.0 held 36% of a category that grew fast from almost nothing.

eBay and PayPal
Financial services
10,000
new users per week

PayPal

Brand strategy director

Heavy competition in online payments. As brand strategy director, I helped the team remove the extra step adoption required and tie PayPal directly to purchases people already made on eBay.

Insurance
c. 200%
revenue growth versus prior years

Avéro Achmea

An outdated product in a saturated market. I led the team behind the repositioning and rebrand, with a new value proposition and a go-to-market plan with clear KPIs for acquisition, conversion and retention.

iGaming
New casino
brand and marketing strategy for a launch from scratch

Confidential: new online casino

Recent. Brand and marketing strategy

Under NDA, so no names or figures. Working alongside the founding team on a new online casino built from the ground up: the positioning, brand strategy and marketing approach for its launch.

Red Bull linked to action sports, gaming and music festivals
FMCG
Content first
an early step toward Red Bull Media House

Red Bull

Regulation around its ingredients ruled out traditional marketing. Instead, we built the brand through content and activation.

iGaming
Sweden
repositioned for a market launch

Hero Gaming

Speedy Spel needed a new position for the newly regulated Swedish market. Together with the in-house team, we repositioned it ahead of the sale of Hero Gaming.

Social gaming
Viewer to payer
activation over reach

Chess.com

The opportunity wasn’t more reach but activating existing users. The team was organised around one step in the customer journey: from passive viewer to paying subscriber.

Fast, because it starts with the right question

Speed doesn’t come from skipping the thinking. It comes from experience: knowing where to look, so the diagnosis is short and the positioning is sharp.

  1. Diagnose

    Market, brand, customer behaviour and the rules you work within. Where is the real opportunity?

  2. Position

    A distinctive position, clear choices, and what to stop doing.

  3. Activate

    Campaigns, activation and a roadmap with KPIs and owners, so the brand works in the market.

2 to 4 weeks

Brand Diagnosis

You know the brand should do more, but not exactly what is holding it back.

You get
A diagnosis, clear choices, priorities and a business case.
Choose this when
You want clarity before committing to anything bigger.
Defined assignment

Positioning Assignment

Positioning, repositioning, go-to-market, a brand portfolio or a campaign platform.

You get
A positioning, an activation plan, KPIs and a roadmap your team can execute.
Choose this when
The question is clear and you need someone to own the answer.
Days a month to interim

Embedded Brand Lead

Senior brand and marketing leadership alongside your CEO, CMO or marketing team.

You get
Faster decisions, one commercial agenda and senior guidance during execution.
Choose this when
You need a fractional CMO, or a vacancy needs to be bridged.

Strategist, operator, entrepreneur

For more than 30 years I’ve led and coached strategy and creative teams, building brands that connect positioning, customer behaviour and commercial growth, for Red Bull, PayPal, Bavaria, Achmea, KPN, Hero Gaming and Chess.com, among others.

Since 2022 I’ve led Surprize Me as founder and CEO, now with a team of twelve: shopper activation, brand and campaign strategists, legal, development, implementation and installation, financial control and data analytics. Building a product from scratch, testing it with real retailers and scaling it to hundreds of stores is why every strategy is made to be measured and executed, not just to sound good in the boardroom.

Surprize Me

A retention platform that turns every checkout into the start of the next purchase, in stores and online.

surprizeme.shop

OBHI

The Operator Brand Health Index: a quarterly brand and risk scorecard for iGaming boards and investors.

obhigaming.com

11 international awards, including Brand of the Year (NIMA), a Cannes Lion, the Challenger Award, a Fab Award (UK), the Golden Award for Topical Advertising (twice), a Golden Esprix, LAMP Gold and Silver, and the SAN Accent (twice).

What clients say

“Erik is a very passionate and creative marketing consultant. He strongly believes in a non-traditional marketing approach.”

Peer SwinkelsCEO, Bavaria

“We’ve never seen so many happy faces in such a short time. Surprize Me brought fun and repeat purchases together.”

András BárcziMarketing Director, JYSK

“Erik is an incredibly smart and creative brand strategist with a deep understanding of brand preference, positioning, consumers, market perception and business growth.”

Ismael DiagneCEO, River iGaming

Let’s see where your brand can stand out

A first call of 30 minutes is enough to find out:

  • Where your brand is losing ground to competitors or to the rules
  • Which question needs answering first
  • What kind of senior support fits
Book a 30-minute call
+31 6 2980 6085 +356 7907 1717 erik@erikpas.nl linkedin.com/in/erikpas