SPEAKER: MARTIN LINDSTROM

Martin Lindstrom, founded his own advertising agency at the age of 12. Needless to say, Lindstrom has a highly unusual background. The rapid rise of his career has made him one of today's most respected branding gurus in the world according to the Chartered Institute of Marketing. He sits on several boards globally, and his clients include Disney, Mars, Pepsi, LEGO, American Express, Mercedes-Benz, Reuters, Visa, Pepsi, McDonald's, Kellogg's, Microsoft, Ericsson, Yellow Pages and Microsoft.

Martin Lindstrom is a former global COO of British Telecom/LookSmart, BBDO executive, founder and CEO of BBDO Interactive Asia, and co-founder of BBDO Interactive, Europe, both of which grew to become their region's largest Internet solution companies.

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. It makes branding the driver of sales and profits, and consequently the centerpiece of business.

Lindstrom has a reputation for earning "a guaranteed standing ovation" at his compelling lectures on 360-degree branding, 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. His 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 15 languages.