Erik Saelens Profile Picture

Keynote SpeakerErik Saelens

Rebranding and Renaming Specialist

Erik Saelens is the founder and executive strategic director of Brandhome group, which makes companies grow faster than their markets. With over 25 years’ experience in brand marketing and communication, Erik Saelens specialises in rebranding and renaming, and has executed and researched more than 300 brand-change operations worldwide. He is... Read more

Biography

Erik Saelens is the founder and executive strategic director of Brandhome group, which makes companies grow faster than their markets.

With over 25 years’ experience in brand marketing and communication, Erik Saelens specialises in rebranding and renaming, and has executed and researched more than 300 brand-change operations worldwide. He is also an expert on brand management and M&A and IPO strategies, and draws on a strong operational background when putting these strategies into practice.

Until 2002 Erik Saelens worked as senior brand advisor to the board of Royal Dutch Telecom KPN in The Hague and Brussels. He was previously employed at Sodexo as a member of the international brand management team, having started his career at Walibi, a European amusement park group.

His expertise has earned him a place on the boards of companies such as Unbox (BE), CQ (US) and Stackin (US), where he contributes to decisions on the businesses’ strategies and future.

Erik Saelens focuses on what makes branding meaningful today and how to make marketing relevant tomorrow. He addresses how brands can maintain or initiate contact with their customers and what these customers really want from the brand.

Saelens has written more than 15 books on brand marketing in order to share his expertise and insights with the widest possible audience.

“A brand is an immaterial asset, a belief system.”

"Listening to Erik feels like sitting in the back seat of a 4WD with a new age marketeer driving me around on a rocking adventure road through the time machine of marketing." Gunter Uytterhoeven, CMO Axa
"Erik may not have intended it, but his vision on branding is also about sociology and politics." Claude Guéant, Former Chief of Staff to President Nicolas Sarkozy
"After listening to Erik on storytelling, you will never look the same way ever again at brands and the stories they (don’t) tell." Peter De Keyzer, Chief Economist BNP Paribas
"I always thought branding was about luck. 
Erik reveals the science behind branding and helps me understand better how and why branding money is put to work." Frank Verhagen, CFO DELTA
"Erik shows that disruption and change are not just trendy words – they are processes we will have to apply every minute of every day." Christophe Degrez, CEO Eneco
"Out of over forty speakers at CHARGE, the premier marketing and branding event for the energy space, Erik was the one who was provoking and left the audience thinking and wanting more. He both provide innovative content and challenged the delegates. To me, that is a the right recipe for a good conference and a great speech." Prof. Dr. Fridrik Rafn LARSEN, Chairman Charge Energy Branding 2017
"Erik offers brilliant insights and challenging thoughts on how to cope with a revolution that has only started." Axel Miller, CEO D’Ieteren
"Erik puts all megatrends in perspective and provides any organization with a toolkit on how to tackle the future." Frank De Moor, CEO & Chairman Executive Board Q-Park
"Erik’s thoughts are a wake-up call, one no business or industry can afford to ignore." Ari Epstein, CEO Antwerp World Diamond Centre
"The Brandhome method® provides marketers with the right ingredients and the right recipe to get branding right!" Kurt Frenier, Senior Marketing Director PepsiCo
"With the correct authentic and activating time, Erik’s story sets people into action. Activating people to move in the right direction is what business is all about." H.E. Sulaiman Hamid Almazroui, Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to the United Kingdom

Popular Talks by Erik Saelens

  • Rebranding and Renaming
  • Marketing and Sales
  • Communications
  • Internal Branding
  • Crisis Communications
  • Legal aspects of branding
  • IPO Strategies