Biography

Martin Lindstrom started young. He won a competition and was declared the best LEGO builder in Denmark. It didn't stop there. He then set about developing a LEGOLAND in his parents' back garden. In his first year of opening, he had over 1,000 paying visitors.

Two senior LEGO executives visited his LEGOLAND, and offered him a trainee position. So at the age of 12, Martin Lindstrom began working in LEGO's Design Department. At the same time he developed a fascination with marketing, so he set up his own small marketing company, and helped his mother sell her beauty products. After selling his agency he went to the European Academy of Advertising, and was subsequently offered seven jobs at top agencies. After much deliberation he accepted a role at the global giant BBDO, and became an advertising executive. He then went on to form BBDO Interactive Europe; three years later he founded BBDO Interactive Asia, both of which grew to become the largest Internet solution company in their region.

By the age of 30, he was appointed global COO of British Telecom/Looksmart. working out of London and Sydney - his main role was to establish a global operation with offices across 18 countries.

These were startling beginnings for Martin Lindstrom who's still in his early thirties. According to the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Lindstrom is one of today's most respected branding gurus in the world. He sits on several boards globally including Yellow Pages in the United States, and his blue-chip client list includes Mars, Pepsi, American Express, Mercedes-Benz, Reuters, Visa, Pepsi, McDonald's, Kellogg's, Ericsson, Yellow Pages and Microsoft.

As well as sitting on the board of several companies globally, Lindstrom also advises world's top brands on all aspects of brand building and brand optimization. These include McDonald's Corporation, Heineken, the Walt Disney Company, Microsoft and Nokia.

Over the course of twenty years of hands-on marketing experience, Lindstrom has conceived a revolutionary set of principles that transform marketing strategies into positive business results. He rejects the old rules of the industry that conceptualized branding as an art form composed of vague commercials and awareness messages. Instead, his unique vision is scientific and process-based, all supported by global studies conducted by a team of more than 600 researchers. The CEOs of McDonald's, Mattel, LEGO and Disney have all endorsed Lindstrom's work and vision making branding the driver of sales and profits, and consequently the centerpiece of business.

At his revolutionary lectures on 360-degree branding, Lindstrom has a reputation for earning "a guaranteed standing ovation", and this accompanies his popularity as a columnist. Lindstrom publishes his observations on branding in a weekly column, which reaches a global audience of more than one million people in thirty countries. Additionally his brand shows which, during 2005, were held in more than 50 cities across 29 countries. His last four books on branding written with industry icons such as Don Peppers, Martha Rogers, Patricia Seybold and Philip Kotler are sold worldwide and have been translated into more than twenty languages.

Lindstrom's latest highly acclaimed book; BRAND sense, written in partnership with Philip Kotler is published on Simon & Schuster New York. Visit BRANDsense.com to learn more.

Whether you're kicking off a major conference or rolling up your sleeves in an executive work session, Martin Lindstrom will shake up the audience, fill the participants with ideas and charge them with inspiration.