Alex Wipperfürth

Alex Wipperfürth is a brand guy. From Google and Coca-Cola to the NBA, Audi, Amazon, Napster and PBR, his work spans hard tech, biotech, automotive, Hollywood, sports, music, politics, household staples, and booze. He helps brands mean something, not just look good or sound right, but carry genuine weight in the culture they’re trying to reach. That requires understanding the culture first, which is where most brand work stops and his starts.

He created the HERE brand for Nokia’s location service, was appointed Acting CMO and joined the software division’s global Executive Leadership Team, and watched the stock jump 30% in the first week and 175% within two months. HERE later sold to a consortium of German automakers for €3bn. He incubated Audi’s US Innovation Lab to prototype the future of car design. He defined the brand strategy that grew Pandora from zero to 80 million registered users, back when it was still called Savage Beast. He authored the resurrection of Pabst Blue Ribbon, turning a dying regional beer into one of the most culturally resonant brands in America and producing its first volume increase in 23 years, a feat no other beer brand has ever achieved. The strategy was to resist all temptation to do marketing. He invented Cadbury Marvelous Creations from scratch, the most successful new product launch in the history of the company’s Australian market.

He is also, unusually, the strategist and the creative director and the cultural researcher and the product developer, someone who in any given year might deliver a campaign that wins an Adweek Best Spot and submit a patent application and invent a brand name that later sells for three billion dollars, working at scales ranging from startups that had not yet named themselves to the largest companies and institutions in the world.

He wrote a book called Brand Hijack, about how the best marketing is no marketing. It sold well.

His approach starts where most marketing stops, studying the cultural forces that produce behavior rather than behavior itself, the tensions and disconnections in society that shape what people want before they can name it. The findings tend to give language to things people already felt.

Adweek once called him “the guy who will make your brands cool.” He is available.

“I don’t know of anyone else who does things the way you do.”

A.G. Lafley  ·  Former Chairman & CEO, Procter & Gamble
Blue Chip
Nokia €3bn brand creation
Coca‑Cola Crisis defense
Microsoft Democratizing tech
Audi Incubated innovation lab
Cadbury Establishing premium
IBM Bringing AS/400 back to life
Cultural Phenomenon
Napster Going legit
MTV Concepted follow-up to Unplugged
New Line Cinema Film launches and awards strategy
Universal Studios Film launches
Altoids Eccentricity as territory
Swedish Fish Boring as a superpower
Startup
Pandora Zero to 80 million users
Tonal Reinventing the home gym
HERE Spun off from Nokia
Adam Health Democratizing longevity
Trip Currently in development
Forgotten Icon
PBR Creating a hipster icon
WNBA A full brand rethink
STP Dormant to PE‑ready
Southern Comfort Always for pleasure
Dr. Martens Subculture as identity
Innovation
HERE Digital Map Created the HERE brand for Nokia’s location service, giving it a name, identity, and product vision the team called the living map. Nokia stock +30% in week one, +175% within two months. HERE sold to a consortium of German automakers for €3bn.
Cadbury Marvelous Creations Created from scratch: $100M premium chocolate line, from prototype to brand name, persona, identity, and guidelines. Most successful new product launch in the history of the company’s Australian market.
Cadbury Dark Milk Created from scratch: brand name, identity, and product vision for a chocolate category that didn’t exist yet.
Southern Comfort Special Reserve Premium line extension.
MTV, Guilty Pleasures Concepted and piloted the follow-up series to MTV Unplugged. An intimate format where contemporary musicians cover their favorite guilty pleasures, taking allegedly corny songs and reimagining them with genuine passion. Watch
Creative Direction
Swedish Fish, “The Most Boring Campaign Ever” Third most-tweeted topic on the internet. Above healthcare reform. Sustained 25% volume growth. Watch
Glad, “Who Does Your Dirty Work?” Directed by Jeff Tremaine (Jackass creator, his first-ever ad shoot). Double-digit volume gains. Adweek Best Spot. Watch
STP, “Don’t Be That Guy” Revived a dormant brand and readied it for private equity sale within 18 months. Voice by Owen Wilson and Richard Petty. Written in collaboration with writers of Family Guy and the Blue Collar Comedy Tour. Listen
Red Stripe, “Lore in a Bottle” 10-day guerrilla-style shoot in Jamaica to capture the country’s creative culture and the beer’s dominant role within it. 12 TV spots, a 90-minute documentary, and a 20-page photography zine. Total production cost: $240K. Watch
Written
Brand Hijack Marketing Without Marketing. Portfolio, 2005. Six languages, 200+ book citations, Best Books of 2005 per Fast Company and Booz Allen.
Getting Marketing Unstuck Unpublished manuscript. Ask for a copy.
Teaching & Speaking
Miami Ad School Adjunct Professor, Brand Strategy Masters Program.
Harvard Business School Guest lecturer.
University of Wisconsin Guest lecturer, School of Business.
Stanford d.school David H. Liu Memorial Lecture Series in Design. Watch
The New Yorker Festival Which was awesome.
Adweek, “What Teens Want” Expert on cool.
Future Marketing Summit Panelist.
NPR All Things Considered Brand expert segment.
CNBC Open Exchange Brand expert segment.
Currently

Trip

A contextual intelligence layer for vehicles. A system that understands the drive, not just the driver. Multiple patents issued. In active development with automotive and technology partners.

What I Do
Original thinking Brand creation Innovation strategy Creative direction Brand design Crisis management Brand turnaround Product vision Executive advisory

Healdsburg, CA  ·  (415) 613-3200
linkedin.com/in/thewipp