30 years of positioning brands in FMCG, iGaming, financial services, insurance, telecom and social gaming. Distinctive from day one, remembered by the people who matter, and built to make every euro of performance marketing work harder.
When rules limit what you can say, 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.
I’ve spent my career in exactly these markets: from Red Bull, when its ingredients made it one of the most restricted drinks in Europe, to PayPal, Achmea and operators in newly regulated iGaming markets. I know how to build a brand that stands out and sticks, within the rules.
Existing brands at a moment where standing out, fast, matters more than anything else.
When the brand needs to break through instead of blending in.
When the business plan asks for growth the current brand can’t carry.
When customers know you, but don’t think of you first.
When entering a new or newly regulated market has to land the first time.
When the brand has lost its edge or no longer fits where the business is going.
When multiple brands compete with each other instead of with the market.
When regulation narrows the field and you need ways to reach customers that work within the rules, not against them.
When your own people need to carry the brand, so it holds up in every customer contact.
In iGaming and financial services, 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.
When people recognise and prefer the brand, the same ad and the same landing page simply perform better.
Direct brand preference means less spend is needed to persuade, so CAC comes down across channels.
A brand people chose on purpose keeps them through the next promotion from a competitor.
I position the brand with the performance team in mind from the start, so brand and acquisition pull in the same direction instead of competing for the same budget.
Alcohol-free beer was barely a category. I built the positioning and an always-on activation calendar around new drinking occasions, with clear trial and repeat targets.
A market that overwhelmingly chose iDEAL. As brand strategy director, I removed the extra step adoption required and tied PayPal directly to purchases people already made.
Regulation around its ingredients ruled out traditional marketing. Instead, we built the brand through content and activation.
An outdated product in a saturated market. I led the repositioning and rebrand, with a new value proposition and a go-to-market plan with clear KPIs for acquisition, conversion and retention.
I repositioned Speedy Spel for the newly regulated Swedish market, in the period leading up to the sale of Hero Gaming.
The opportunity wasn’t more reach but activating existing users. I focused the customer journey on the step from passive viewer to paying subscriber.
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.
Market, brand, customer behaviour and the rules you work within. Where is the real opportunity?
A distinctive position, clear choices, and what to stop doing.
Campaigns, activation and a roadmap with KPIs and owners, so the brand works in the market.
You know the brand should do more, but not exactly what is holding it back.
Positioning, repositioning, go-to-market, a brand portfolio or a campaign platform.
Senior brand and marketing leadership alongside your CEO, CMO or marketing team.
For more than 30 years I’ve built brands that connect positioning, customer behaviour and commercial growth, for Red Bull, PayPal, Bavaria, Achmea, KPN, Hero Gaming and Chess.com, among others.
I’ve also built my own companies and models. That’s why my strategies are made to be measured and executed, not just to sound good in the boardroom.
Grew from concept to 255 stores, and showed which incentives actually drive the next purchase.
Download the Surprize Me teaser (PDF)A quarterly scorecard that shows boards and investors what an iGaming brand is worth and what makes it risky: 28 indicators across four pillars, plus a separate risk index of 11 dimensions that is never blended into the score.
obhigaming.com11 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).
“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
“Erik is a very passionate and creative marketing consultant. He strongly believes in a non-traditional marketing approach. It’s real value for money.”
Peer SwinkelsCEO, Bavaria
“Erik is a fast-thinking strategist and consultant. He can fully exploit the potential of a brand like no other.”
Piet ZeeSenior Marketeer, Achmea
A first call of 30 minutes is enough to find out: