Juliane Kringe

Entering a new market means localizing your brand’s soul, not just your language.



Brand and marketing strategy for consumer brands crossing between Europe and the U.S., in either direction. And for those still building a brand worth crossing with. German roots. Los Angeles base. Almost 20 years on both sides.

Let's talk → hello@julianekringe.com




Transatlantic Brand & Marketing Strategist | Fractional Marketing |
Board of Directors, Marketing @ GABA (German American Business Association)
Why strong brands don’t travel

Brands rarely fail abroad because they are weak. They fail because their strength is stated in a currency the new market does not accept.

You can arrive with a perfect site, a campaign that worked at home, and photography you are proud of, and still not land. The assets are not the problem. The assumptions built into them are.

A German company earns its standing through the product: how it is made, what it is made of, why it was built this way and not another. That is not a style choice. It is what the German consumer has been trained to reward. Carried unchanged into the U.S., the same care reads as a specification rather than a reason, and it arrives sounding like a supplier.

The reverse is just as reliable. An American company earns its standing through belonging: a stated purpose, a visible community, a clear sense of who you become by choosing it. In Germany that warmth reads as persuasion, and persuasion is what a German consumer discounts on sight.

This is the work I call Brand Translation. Not the language, which any good translator will handle, but the layer underneath: what counts as proof, where confidence sits, and what the reader is assumed to already want. Those assumptions are invisible at home. That is exactly why they break.

Why I notice this

I built my career twice.

The first time in Germany, as the strategic partner to brands like Hugo Boss, Marc O'Polo and Audi at agencies like Leo Burnett and Ogilvy. After a decade, I knew exactly how premium brands worked.

Then I moved to Los Angeles and found out how much I didn't know. The craft-first storytelling that wins in Germany fell flat here. American consumers don't start with the product. They start with belonging: who am I, if I choose this brand? What’s in it for me? I had to relearn my own profession inside a new culture. It was humbling. It also became my specialty.

Because the lesson runs in both directions. What reads as confidence in the U.S. reads as noise in Germany, where understatement signals quality. A brand crossing the Atlantic, either way, faces the same task: keep your soul, rethink how you connect.

I've done that work ever since. Six years leading digital strategy for Rodeo Drive, with six consecutive years of social media growth for one of the most famous luxury destinations in the world. Fortune 500 portfolios at VaynerMedia. The localization of brand strategy and audience profiles for Stapelstein's U.S. entry. 

Today, I work as an independent transatlantic brand and marketing strategist and fractional Marketing Lead, and serve as Director of Marketing on the board of GABA, the German American Business Association.

How we can work together

Build For startups and young brands.

You have a product and early traction. What you don't have yet is a brand that can carry the weight. I help you define positioning, Brand Architecture, audiences and your competitor landscape. Built properly from the start, so it can cross borders later without being rebuilt.

Cross For brands entering the U.S. or the European market.

Market entry in four phases.

Phase 1: The Market Entry Audit. The diagnosis. I read your brand the way the new market will read it, and map the Cultural Gap between where you are today and what that market expects. Where the storytelling has to shift, where you stand against the competition, which cultural shifts are moving in your favour. You come out knowing how ready you are and what to fix first.

Phase 2: The Brand Foundation. The translation. I turn the audit into a brand that works in the new market: your Brand DNA re-tuned for American or German consumer psychology, the positioning and messaging that follow from it, and your highest-value audience segments defined.

Phase 3: The Go-to-Market Roadmap. The plan. Which audiences first, which channels, which partners, in what order, across twelve months. What your team runs, what needs outside help, and what has to be true before each step. This is where the brand becomes a commercial plan with dates on it.

Phase 4: The Launch Ecosystem. The activation. I lead the launch with partners I trust. Messaging and visual storytelling adapted for the new market, a social and content presence in a localized voice, and talent and influencer partnerships that give you credibility you would otherwise have to earn slowly.

Lead For companies that want a partner, not a project.

Ongoing senior marketing leadership as a fractional CMO or strategic lead for your U.S. or European marketing. 
My background

Independent Strategist & Fractional Markting, Los Angeles · 2026 to today

Brand and marketing strategy for consumer brands crossing between Europe and the U.S. Board of Directors, Marketing at GABA, the German American Business Association.

ALLY Communication & Marketing (formerly BOLD LA), Los Angeles · 2019 to 2025

Vice President, Marketing & Communication. Six years co-leading the agency with the CEO. Strategic lead for Rodeo Drive's digital presence: six consecutive years of growth. Localized brand strategy and audience profiles for Stapelstein's U.S. entry. Digital relaunches for Royal Hawaiian Center and River Oaks District.

VaynerMedia, Los Angeles · 2019

Vice President, Client Services. Owned the Johnson & Johnson CPG portfolio and led a team of more than 20 across strategy, creative, production and media.

German agency years: Leo Burnett, Ogilvy, DOKYO, loved, Scholz & Friends · 2008 to 2018

Strategic partner and lead contact for Hugo Boss, Cybex, Marc O'Polo, Audi and Douglas. Launched Ujet internationally from a blank page. Directed the award-winning global relaunch of Audi Magazine. Ran global celebrity campaigns for AXE and Dove.

Founder, N/CRAFT, Hamburg · 2013 to 2015

My own premium leather accessories label. Brand, product, sales, everything. I know what it feels like to sit on the client's side of the table.
Let’s connect

Taking a brand across the Atlantic? Or building one that will get there?

A first conversation. No preparation needed, and nothing to sign. The first conversation is 20 minutes, and you'll leave with two or three concrete observations about your brand, whether we work together or not.

hello@julianekringe.com