Senior Brand Strategist

At AKQA, we help the world’s most ambitious companies and organisations navigate shifting markets and culture, define better futures, and build brands that don’t just compete, but pioneer. As a frontier agency, we work at the intersection of technology, storytelling, and design to future-proof brands and turn brand into strategic business advantage. We believe brands aren’t just a reflection of culture, but a part of shaping it. 

We’re looking for a senior brand strategist, seasoned in combining strategic rigour with creative imagination, to join our Copenhagen studio. Our brand strategists are the connective tissue between our clients’ ambitions and our creative solutions.

We are looking for someone to join our team, who can dissect market dynamics and socio-cultural shifts, identify compelling positions, and translate them into creative brand ideas that resonate and perform. 

If you thrive on turning complexity into clarity—and believe brands both shape and reflect culture—we’d love to meet you.

The role

Strategy at AKQA combines analytical rigour with creative imagination to help our clients’ businesses thrive and suceed in the market. Senior brand strategists operate across brand, campaign, and experience to develop holistic solutions that establish differentiated brand positions and bring them to life through creative activation. Collaborating closely with the our strategy leadership—and across creative, design, and technology disciplines—you will lead translation of our clients’ challenges into actionable strategies that are both strategically sound and creatively compelling. 

This role requires the ability to identify emerging customer expectations and market white-space with rigour, while crafting brand narratives and concepts with imagination. You’ll own the strategic direction of brand and campaign engagements—from foundational brand work through to creative activation. You will champion value-driven thinking, moving beyond conventional touchpoints to identify the moments that matter most—ensuring our combined impact is both business outcomes and creative excellence.

YOUR ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Define brand futures

• Lead the development of brand platforms, positioning, and narrative frameworks that help our clients define who they are and where they’re going
• Dissect market dynamics, customer expectations, and organisational capabilities to unearth compelling, differentiated brand positions
• Demonstrate how brands can meaningfully participate in culture—not just respond to it, but actively shape conversations, behaviours, and social dynamics
• Translate complex business challenges into clear, compelling strategic territories that establish a resilient and relevant market position
• Pioneer approaches that sit at the intersection of brand, technology, and culture

Develop campaign strategies

• Turn strategic insights into simple, creative concepts and campaign ideas that cut through the noise
• Develop campaign strategies and activation that are culturally resonant, creatively ambitious 
• Define audience insights, communication territories, and strategic frameworks that guide creative development
• Craft campaign briefs that inspire breakthrough creative work—balancing clarity of direction with creative freedom

• Orchestrate GTM systems and brand/campaign ecosystems across audiences, channels, formats, and timings for maximum impact

Collaborate on creative activation 

• Partner with creative teams to develop campaign concepts and activation ideas rooted in strategic insight
• Combine strategic insight with imaginative creativity to develop and collaborate on concept development
• Ensure creative executions ladder back to brand strategy while pushing creative boundaries
• Think across touchpoints—from big brand campaigns to digital activations, experiences, and beyond
• Evaluate and refine creative work through a strategic lens, championing ideas that are both bold and effective

Build the case

• Ensure brand and campaign strategies translate into measurable business value—not just creative awards
• Conduct organisational analysis and stakeholder collaboration to safeguard execution of strategic direction
• Conduct and synthesise primary and secondary research—from qualitative deep-dives to cultural and semiotic analysis
• Develop insight-led strategies grounded in evidence and business relevance, not assumption
• Craft strategic narratives that inspire creative teams and build client confidence

Lead in the room

• Present and defend strategic recommendations to senior client stakeholders with clarity and conviction
• Facilitate workshops that can develop new thinking and align diverse stakeholder perspectives
• Be the strategic voice that earns a seat at the table—with clients and creative partners alike

Collaborate across disciplines

• Partner with creatives, designers, technologists, and experience strategists to ensure strategic coherence
• Bring a holistic perspective—integrating inside-out (organisational) and outside-in (market) viewpoints
• Work across categories; this is a generalist role with exposure to diverse sectors and challenges
• Contribute to new business development, bringing strategic direction to pitches

QUALITIES AND CHARACTERISTICS

Experience and background

• 5-7+ years in brand strategy, marketing strategy, or creative strategy
• Demonstrated experience across both brand-building and campaign activation work
• Agency experience strongly preferred; consultancy or client-side brand roles also valued
• A portfolio that demonstrates both strategic depth and creative ambition

Strategic capability

• You dissect complexity with confidence—market dynamics, competitive landscapes, customer expectations
• You build airtight arguments, with recommendations grounded in evidence and communicated with precision – you can hold your own in a room of sceptics because your thinking is bulletproof
• You understand brand architecture, positioning frameworks, and how to measure brand performance
• You think in value journeys, not just touchpoints—identifying the moments that matter most

Creative capability

• You’re drawn to the “what if?” and have the imagination to envision futures that don’t yet exist
• You understand that strategy is not only an analytical practice, but also a creative act
• You translate strategic insight into compelling brand narratives and creative concepts
• You understand how to brief and inspire creative teams, not just direct them
• You have an instinct for concepts that resonate—ideas that are simple, memorable, and ownable

The mindset

• You’re fascinated by how brands shape and reflect culture, and how they can be proactive leaders in their categories
• You question assumptions—including your own—and bring intellectual curiosity to every challenge
• You believe brand is a business value driver, not a cost centre, and you balance creative ambition with commercial pragmatism
• You’re genuinely curious about technology, behaviour, semiotics, and the forces that drive cultural change. We expect that you read widely, notice patterns, and bring outside-in thinking to every challenge

Explore our extensive range of benefits here.