Brand Strategy · Brand Governance · AI-Era Systems
Twelve years building brand systems inside Art Basel and Givaudan, eleven acquisitions unified, a creative studio built from zero, brand governance that held across three continents.
Now applying that same operating discipline to the newest layer of brand perception: what AI systems say about you before a human does.
Twelve years, at scale
11
acquisitions unified into one brand architecture
250+
stakeholders aligned through change management
100+
trademarks renewed and protected, yearly
50+
customer & client interviews on brand perception
~40%
faster asset turnaround at global scale
~50%
faster naming timelines via AI-piloted platform
5
regions · 100+ markets of brand activation
Worked with
The most common challenges
Every new market, acquisition, campaign, tool and team adds interpretation. Slowly, the brand starts sounding different depending on who, or what, is speaking. AI hasn't created this problem. It has industrialized it.
01
Fragmentation through growth
New markets, acquisitions, agencies, and teams each pull the brand in their own direction. Without architecture and governance, coherence erodes quietly, until customers notice before you do.
02
Content at scale, without a system
More channels, more formats, more volume, human and AI-generated. Without governance, voice drifts, quality slips, and brand integrity erodes one asset at a time.
03
The machine layer
AI systems now summarize, categorize, and recommend your brand before a human reads a word you wrote. If your signals are fragmented, machines fill the gaps with probability, not facts.
Perception, signal, governance, roadmap: one way of working, applied consistently, whether the audience is a customer or an AI model, evaluating you through GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) and AEO (Answer Engine Optimization).
Services
Every engagement runs on the same approach. What differs is scope and commitment.
For larger scopes, I bring in a vetted network of specialists, designers, writers, developers, activated as the project requires.
One-time audit · Start here
You leave with a board-ready map of where your brand breaks under AI, and what to fix first.
A structured audit of how your brand is understood today, by humans and by machines. Four deliverables, one prioritized roadmap.
For teams that need a board-ready answer this quarter.
3–4 weeks · Fixed scope
Project
Your team has governance rules that don't require you personally.
Brand strategy, architecture, content systems and creative direction. Designed to remain coherent as the organization grows and AI scales content.
For orgs whose brand is drifting faster than the guidelines can keep up.
Typically 3–9 months
Embedded · one organization
You have a Head of Brand in your leadership meetings, without the full-time hire.
A senior brand leader embedded inside your organization, 2–3 days a week. Sitting in your leadership rhythm, owning brand decisions end to end, one company at a time.
For companies mid-transformation without a Head of Brand in seat.
2–3 days a week · Rolling
Advisory · multiple teams
Your agency, freelance practice, or team ships senior brand thinking to every client, without a senior hire.
Senior brand thinking on demand for agencies, freelance practices, and internal marketing functions, across their client roster. Brief review, creative direction, and strategic sparring, on tap.
For agencies and internal teams shipping brand work without a senior lead in seat.
Ongoing · Defined period
Most engagements start with the Diagnostic. Depending on what it surfaces, we scope either a Brand Systems & Governance project or ongoing Fractional Brand Director support, on the same operating principles. Brand Strategy Partner is a separate entry point, for agencies and internal teams that need senior brand thinking on demand without going through the Diagnostic.
All engagements are scoped on a short free call. Confidentiality applies; an NDA can be signed on request.
A structured diagnosis of your situation, human and machine. Fixed scope, three to four weeks, clear deliverables.
Week 1
Perception audit
How your brand is actually understood today: by customers, by markets, and by AI systems (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude).
Week 1–2
Source & signal audit
What's feeding those perceptions: your website, guidelines, content systems, press, and structured data.
Week 2–3
Governance gap analysis
Where your brand architecture, guidelines, workflows, and adoption break down, and why.
Week 3–4
Prioritized roadmap
What to fix first, what it takes, and what it's worth. Delivered in a working session, not a 50-page report.
Most clients begin here. It's the fastest way to know what's actually going on, and it works standalone, whether or not we continue together.
« Most organizations don’t struggle with their brand. They struggle with alignment. Leadership says one thing, marketing says another, and AI fills the gaps with whatever it finds first. My job is reconnecting strategy, narrative, and execution, including the version machines pick up. »
Selected work
Different industries. The same underlying challenge, growth creates complexity, AI accelerates it.
Givaudan · Taste & Wellbeing
Eleven acquisitions across five regions had left the division with a fragmented portfolio.
Role: As Global Brand Director, project lead across three business units and five regions.
11
Acquisitions unified
CHF 3M+
Investment managed
~50%
Faster naming timelines
AI lens
The governance framework became the foundation for an AI-powered naming platform, every output constrained by the portfolio architecture and legal rules.
Brand architecture reduces complexity before it creates efficiency.
Art Basel
Basel, Miami Beach, Hong Kong, three cultural contexts, three creative demands. Consistency at that level requires systems, not guidelines.
Role: As Global Brand & Creative Manager, directing a cross-functional team and external partners (Pentagram, Barnbrook).
3
Continents aligned
100+
Contributors coordinated
20+
Activations / year
Consistency isn't saying the same thing everywhere, it's remaining recognizable everywhere.
Givaudan + Art Basel
Content demand had outgrown manual review. Every handoff was a new point where the brand could drift.
Role: Owning the operating model; content systems built with in-house studio and cross-functional partners.
~40%
Faster content delivery
100+
Self-service contributors
2
Live AI content systems
AI lens
Rules embedded in the pipeline, not layered on after, the same operating principle now required to keep AI-generated content on-brand.
AI only works when governance already exists.
Illustrative artifact
A representative example of what a diagnostic surfaces. Illustrative, anonymized, not an actual client output.
Prompt: "What does [Company] do?"
"[Company] is a Swiss ingredients supplier. It has offices in Europe and produces flavors for the food industry."
Same prompt, corrected signals
"[Company] is a global creator of taste, fragrance and health experiences, headquartered in Switzerland with over a century of history. It works with food, beverage, fine-fragrance and consumer-health brands, with a stated commitment to sustainable sourcing."
Achieved through structured data, content architecture, and coherent brand signals, not paid placement.
Testimonials
“She operates at the intersection of strategy, governance and creativity.”
Margarita Orsini
Head of Brand Governance, Roche
“She lines up business, customer and brand into one coherent direction.”
Thomas Ullram
Global Marketing Director, Givaudan
“A natural strategist who defines the core challenge and shapes an elegant way forward.”
Nicky Young
Change Management Consultant
About Marion
Twelve years helping organizations transform how they are perceived, through brand strategy, storytelling, and creative leadership.
Art Basel (5 years): led the evolution of one of the world’s most recognized cultural brands, bringing together brand strategy, creative direction, storytelling, and global brand experiences across Basel, Miami Beach, Hong Kong, and Buenos Aires, in partnership with Pentagram and Barnbrook.
Givaudan (7 years): transformed a global B2B brand by aligning positioning, communications, creative operations, and AI-enabled brand systems across five regions and eleven acquisitions, CHF 3M+ in investment managed, an in-house creative studio built from zero.
Earlier work (EPFL, Paléo): created communications and creative platforms for major cultural initiatives, translating complex ideas into engaging public experiences, from an international exhibition in Tokyo to Switzerland’s largest music festival.
Across every role, one lesson became clear: perception, not positioning, is what ultimately shapes trust, reputation, and choice. Today, AI is fundamentally changing how perception is formed, making GEO and AEO the next frontier of brand leadership.
Jury, Le Book Connections Zurich (2025, 2026) · Member, Women in Digital Switzerland · Member, Forum 100 since 2015, Le Temps.
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