Building Brands For What's NXT
Brand Strategy and Storytelling,
Built on Consumer Insight
Insight tells you what’s true.
Strategy tells you where to go.
Story is what makes people believe it, remember it, and repeat it.
Insight tells you what’s true.
Strategy tells you where to go.
Story is what makes people believe it, remember it, and repeat it.
Fredrik Ekström
Independent Creative Strategist
With more than 20 years of experience in brand strategy, insight, and communication, I help outdoor, sports, and lifestyle brands grow by turning consumer understanding into strategy and brand storytelling that drive business and brand growth.
"Story is what makes insight and strategy mean something. It’s the translation of data and direction into a narrative a brand can live inside of, in the product, the advertising, the PR, and in how your own team talks about it."
Fredrik Ekström
Above The Clouds
Insight. Strategy. Story.
From global brands to start-ups, my focus is the same: helping brands become more meaningful, more memorable, and commercially effective.
INSIGHT: Understanding people before you assume you do. STRATEGY: Turning that understanding into a clear, ownable direction. STORY: Turning that direction into something people carry forward.
To put it short, I define what a brand’s numbers and positioning actually mean to people and how that meaning shows up everywhere the brand touches someone, creating recognition and relevance.
Struggling to Turn Insight Into Something Your Team Acts On?
Houdini
Consumer Intelligence Brand Strenght Matrix
Why Do People Choose One Brand Over Another?
Building a Brand Strength Matrix From the Ground Up. Research, analytics model, archetype framework, questionnaire development, brand recommendations.
First Line Sportswear
Winning Game Strategy
From Product Credibility to Brand Momentum. a brand foundation, positioning and marketing framework that could turn product strength into a scalable, ownable brand direction, one that builds long-term relevance in modern mountain culture.
MINI A TURE
Winning Game Strategy
Based on a core insight, we created the brand positioning Family Freedom From Nature To City Life that became the centrepiece in MINI A TURE brand DNA and global winning game strategy.
HOUDINI
Winning Game Strategy
Based on Houdini's brand DNA and progressive outdoor positioning, we created a global winning game strategy with an updated brand approach, playbooks, and audience hierarchies.
Free 1-Hour Strategy Consultation
Launching a new product or struggling with consumers or marketing results? A free consultation offers tailored consumer insights, market know-how and brand direction to support your decisions.
The first hour we spend with no charge; after that we explore if we should work together.
The NXT Reports:
Consumer Research You Can Build On
My Future Series research programme reveals emerging behaviours, values and expectations, giving brands a clear, data-driven foundation for strategy, innovation and communication.
Six years running, built on thousands of respondents across the Nordics and Germany.
The NXT Sustainable Consumer Germany
A quantitative research study of 1300 respondents focusing on preferences, aspirations, status, and anxieties related to sustainability and consumption.
The NXT Outdoor Consumer Nordics
A consumer research study based on 2500 respondents in the Nordics and expert interviews with 27 brand representatives from Nordic outdoor brands.
About Fredrik Ekström
Independent brand strategist and consultant with 20+ years across brand leadership and agencies. I help outdoor, sports, fashion and lifestyle brands grow by turning consumer insight into strategy and storytelling that creates real commercial impact.
Fredrik Ekström
Independent Brand Consultant
Outdoor Impact Summit, Riva Garda
Care For The Outdoor and Impact Communication
CPH Fashion Week, Copenhagen
From Sustainability Fatigue to Cultural Relevance.
European Surf Summit, Seignosse
How do we win the future outdoor consumer.
Let's Connect & Collaborate
I offer a freelance consultant service where you as client get the benefits of in-depth expertise across a number of specialty areas, without having to increase your permanent staff or contract a full size agency.