At Achmea, brand growth is not just about standing out. For Madelon van Dijck-Scholte, Senior Manager Brand & Communication, it starts with being genuinely relevant in people’s lives. That means connecting brand purpose to customer relevance, building trust through meaningful themes, and making sure that societal impact also supports business growth. Brand Growth Starts with Relevance For Madelon, brand growth begins with a simple but demanding question: how do you stay truly

In an increasingly competitive and digital-first insurance landscape, growth requires more than just strong branding or sharp performance marketing alone. In this conversation, Ron Adams, Tribe Lead Marketing & Sales at Allianz Direct, shares how the company approaches brand growth through a combination of data, agility, and customer-centric innovation. From building visibility in a crowded online environment to redefining the role of brand in an AI-driven world, Ron explains

En una industria marcada por la incertidumbre y una transformación acelerada, el papel de la construcción de marca en el sector asegurador está siendo redefinido. En esta conversación, Rubén Gallardo, Director de Marketing de Mapfre España, comparte su perspectiva sobre cómo impulsar el crecimiento de marca dentro de la principal compañía aseguradora de España. Con más de ocho años en Mapfre y habiendo asumido recientemente un rol que unifica el marketing digital y tradiciona

As DVJ Insights celebrates its tenth anniversary of Brand Growth, this special edition takes a step beyond the practitioner perspective and into academia. In conversation with Dennis Herhausen, Professor of Marketing and Head of the Marketing Department at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, one thing becomes clear: while marketing tools and technologies evolve rapidly, the fundamentals of growth remain strikingly consistent, yet increasingly complex. Dennis brings a strategic an

Copenhagen, 30 April 2026 - DVJ Insights welcomes Lars Brix Bendtsen as client consultant in Denmark, further strengthening its local consultancy team and supporting continued growth in the Nordic region. Lars brings almost 20 years of experience in insights, market research, and business development. He started his career at a GroupM media agency and has since worked as a Partner at Communication Research and as an independent consultant at Loyalty House. He also held role

“What we sell is only a good feeling.” That is how Saskia Divendal, Manager Brand & Marketing at the Netherlands Red Cross, describes the challenge of driving growth in a category where trust, emotion and reputation matter at least as much as visibility or conversion. In this Brand Growth Interview, she explains what that means in practice, from positioning and KPI management to creative choices that help the brand stay both credible and effective. When Your Brand Is The Pr

In a recent article, I argued that there is no such thing as a “right” or “wrong” segmentation — only those that are more or less useful for marketing. That point is worth reiterating. Because it leads to a second, equally important conclusion: There is no single best way to segment a market. The right segmentation depends entirely on the decisions it is meant to inform. Or, put differently: segmentation is not a model. It is a tool. And like any tool, its value lies in how w

In an era where retail is increasingly defined by omnichannel complexity, the instinct is often to expand: more channels, more touchpoints, more innovation. Yet according to Els Breugelmans, Full Professor at KU Leuven and expert in retail and consumer behaviour, this is not where true growth is found. Instead, the real driver of success is much more fundamental. Retailers grow not by doing more, but by doing what matters most for the customer. Reflecting on her research, Els

Madrid, 21 de abril de 2026 - DVJ Insights incorpora a Ariane Längsfeld como client consultant en España, reforzando su equipo local de consultoría y apoyando el crecimiento sostenido en la región. Ariane cuenta con más de 15 años de experiencia en investigación de mercados. Anteriormente ha trabajado en Kantar Insights, MetrixLab, EssenceMediacom y WPP Media, donde ha ayudado a sus clientes a transformar el conocimiento del consumidor en decisiones estratégicas bien fundam

When Maaike Maagdenberg joined Go-Tan as Marketing Director, she stepped into a business already enjoying remarkable momentum. The Dutch family-owned brand had achieved strong double-digit growth in recent years, not through heavy marketing investment or sophisticated data systems, but through instinct, speed, and a deep connection to emerging food trends. Now, as Go-Tan sets its sights on further European expansion, Maaike’s challenge is clear: to build on that entrepreneuri

The Uncomfortable Truth: A Great Product Is Not Enough There is a widely held belief in product development: if you carefully craft a product – optimise its features, sharpen its proposition, fine-tune pricing and packaging – you are setting yourself up for success. And to a certain extent, that’s true. Robust product development processes –rooted in consumer insights, concept testing, iterative design optimisation, etc. – are indeed a necessary condition for success. They ma

Hamburg, 21 April 2026 - DVJ Insights welcomes Timon Seidelmann as Client Consultant in Germany, further strengthening its local consultancy team and supporting continued growth in the region. Timon brings close to 20 years of experience in market research. Most recently, he worked at Ipsos Creative Excellence, where he led a team of nine researchers across different seniority levels. Previously, he held roles at Harris Interactive (Toluna) and Partner Research (Mindline).

DVJ Insights has been nominated for Research Agency of the Year in the Netherlands by the Data & Insights Network. This award recognises agencies that have made a strong and visible impact on the Research & Analytics industry over the past year. It reflects hard work, a high standard of quality, and the ability to lead in innovation and growth. For DVJ Insights, this nomination reflects a strong 2025. The company achieved sustainable growth, maintained 100% client retention

Ferrero is one of the world’s largest sweet packaged food companies, with iconic brands such as Nutella, Kinder, Tic Tac and Ferrero Rocher enjoyed in more than 170 countries. Fabrizio Testa, Senior Insights Manager at Ferrero UK & Ireland, has spent over eleven years working across different markets and roles within the company, from testing new products directly in-market to leading consumer and shopper insights. In this conversation, he shares his perspective on what truly

Fernando Cobos leads Consumer Insights, Growth Planning and Digital Insights at Essity, a global hygiene and health company operating across both consumer and professional markets. In this conversation, he shares how Essity approaches brand growth through a structured global framework that combines data, investment discipline, and local market flexibility. From managing penetration and product mix to navigating growth in commoditised categories, Fernando explains why consiste

At our last week’s Brand Growth Event, Mark Ritson made a point that should have landed harder than it probably did: Category is the number one driver of brand growth. Product, he argued, still matters enormously — but not in the way many organisations assume. It’s less often about constant new product development (NPD) and many times more about existing product improvement (EPI). That distinction is more than semantics. It points to a fundamentally different way of thinking

Brand growth is one of marketing’s most talked-about ambitions, and one of its least clearly defined concepts. Ask ten marketers how to achieve it, and you will likely hear ten different answers. Ask academia, and the answer becomes even more nuanced. In a conversation with Tammo Bijmolt, Professor of Marketing Research at the University of Groningen, one thing becomes clear: brand growth is not a single lever to pull, but a system of interconnected forces that must be carefu

Lantmännen is an agricultural cooperative and Northern Europe’s leader in agriculture, machinery, bioenergy and food. The group is owned by 17,000 Swedish farmers and is operating across the whole value chain, “from field to fork”, with a portfolio of well-known product brands within food such as Scan, AXA, Vaasan and Kungsörnen. Yet the Lantmännen brand itself does not sell products directly to consumers. Instead, the brand functions as a powerful endorser brand; a guarantor

In this conversation, Fiona Naughton, Chief Marketing Officer at CoinZoom, reflects on how brand growth has evolved across her career in technology-led businesses including PayPal and Robinhood. At CoinZoom, a regulated digital currency exchange and fintech platform operating across nearly 169 countries, Fiona focuses on bridging the gap between crypto and everyday financial behaviour. Drawing on decades of experience across mobile technology, gaming and financial services, F

DVJ Insights has been named a finalist in the AMMA Awards (Best Use of Data & Technology), together with a.s.r. and TheMerge. The nomination recognises an innovative approach to making creative development more data-driven through the use of AI. In many organisations, media decisions have long been guided by data. Creative decisions, however, are still often based on intuition and discussion. This case shows how AI can change that. Together with a.s.r. and TheMerge, DVJ Insig