Strategy. Narrative.
Creative Direction. Growth.
I help brands translate complex business ambitions into distinctive positioning, compelling narratives, meaningful experiences and cross-market growth.
My work connects business objectives, audience insight, brand positioning and creative direction — building strategic frameworks that translate into relevant narratives, experiences and market opportunities across cultures.
International strategy and creative leadership across luxury hospitality, branded residential, entertainment, technology and lifestyle.
With 15+ years of international experience across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Americas, I have led work for and with brands including Mandarina, Netflix, Ogilvy, Swarovski, HTC and Deutsche Bank.
I work fluently across German, English, French and Spanish, and have delivered multilingual work across numerous additional languages and markets.
Trusted by global brands
What I Do
Brand Positioning & Narrative Strategy
→ Define what a brand, destination or proposition should mean, why it matters and how its value becomes distinctive, coherent and compelling.
Creative Direction & Experience Strategy
→ Translate strategy into creative expression, local execution and meaningful experiences across communications, environments, digital touchpoints and emerging formats.
Cross-Market Growth & Market Development
→ Adapt global propositions for new audiences and markets, connecting cultural intelligence, positioning and go-to-market strategy with commercial opportunity.
Localization & Cultural Adaptation
→ Build frameworks that preserve global brand integrity while enabling culturally relevant expression across languages, markets and audiences.
How I Work
I start with the business question:
• What needs to change?
• Who needs to care?
• What makes the proposition distinctive?
• What story makes that value meaningful?
• How should people experience it?
• And where can it create growth?
My approach connects:
Business Priority → Audience → Positioning → Narrative → Creative Direction → Experience → Market Activation → Growth
Depending on the mandate, I move between strategic advisory, hands-on leadership and executive creative direction, bringing together the people and disciplines required to turn strategy into execution.
Ways To Work With Me
Senior Leadership
→ Embedded leadership for businesses navigating brand transformation, market expansion, destination development or complex cross-functional growth.
Strategic Advisory
→ Ongoing senior counsel across brand positioning, narrative, experience, creative direction and market development.
Fractional Leadership
→ Senior strategic and creative leadership integrated into the business for a defined period, priority or growth phase.
Project-Based Mandates
→ Focused engagements around positioning, narrative architecture, market entry, audience strategy, experience development or other high-value strategic initiatives.
Engagements are shaped around the business challenge, the opportunity and the level of leadership required.
Selected Impact
Netflix
Shaped narrative strategy across DACH and Sub-Saharan Africa, developing culturally relevant member-facing narratives across diverse markets and audiences.
For All Quiet on the Western Front, served as Informed Captain and Creative Writing Strategy Lead, shaping the title’s narrative strategy and aligning it across key creative and communications functions.
Defined its personalization and algorithm-driven distribution strategy and established the source-copy and localization framework that guided transcreation across 37 languages.
The work contributed to a 6% uplift in global engagement. The film went on to win four Academy Awards and seven BAFTAs.
Ogilvy (Airtel)
Led creative development for Francophone markets during Airtel’s expansion across Africa, adapting global and regional brand narratives for culturally and socio-economically distinct audiences.
For Gabon, co-wrote and creatively directed a locally relevant television campaign.
The campaign contributed to a 49% increase in sales within 15 days.
Swarovski
Led concept, storytelling and creative direction for a limited-edition Swarovski × Star Wars collector collaboration with Disney/Lucasfilm.
The work translated luxury craftsmanship and cultural fandom into high-impact digital storytelling.
The collector’s piece sold out globally within 24 hours, with the campaign asset becoming the collaboration’s top-performing digital content.
Why This Matters
Brands rarely struggle because they lack things to say.
They struggle when business ambition, audience value, narrative and experience are disconnected.
A strong proposition makes value clear.
A strong narrative makes it meaningful.
A strong experience makes it believable.
And when all three align, brands are better equipped to travel across markets, enter new categories and create sustainable growth.
My work is about building that alignment.
Voices
Strategic & Narrative Leadership
“You know the ins and out of your work like nobody else.”
— Raneem Hannoush
UK & SWANA Lead, Netflix
Cultural & Editorial Intelligence
“Katrin has a rare ability to translate global content for local audiences with nuance and care – and vice versa. Her editorial instincts and cultural insights are outstanding.”
— María Fernanda Ramírez Smith
Former Creative Writing Strategy Manager, Netflix
Cross-Market Creative Leadership
“A very creative person and true team player. Katrin impressed me with her understanding of cultural nuances and ability to deliver tailored, out-of-the box solutions.”
— Yasmine Sailer
Director Brand & Corporate Communications DACH, Garmin
Origins
My approach to strategy began with storytelling.
With a Master’s Degree in Communication Design, I started my career in documentary filmmaking and video journalism, exploring how stories shape perception, meaning and behavior across cultures.
My documentary Papa Shilingi received seven international awards and contributed to environmental policy change in Kenya supporting the protection of whale sharks.
That foundation still informs my work today: understanding what matters, finding the approach and narrative within complexity, and translating it into something people can understand, feel and act on.
From Film To Strategy
From filmmaking and journalism, I moved into copywriting and creative direction, then into global brand, audience and narrative strategy—working across advertising, technology and entertainment before expanding into luxury hospitality, branded residential and destination strategy.
Across those chapters, the medium has changed. The underlying question has remained remarkably consistent:
What does this mean, for whom, and how do we make its value matter?
Let’s Talk
I work with organizations and leadership teams navigating brand transformation, market expansion, new propositions and complex cross-market opportunities.
Engagements range from senior leadership and strategic advisory to fractional and project-based mandates.
If you’re building something that needs sharper positioning, a stronger narrative, a more meaningful experience, or a clearer path into new markets — let’s talk.
Email: hello@katrinender.com
LinkedIn: katrinender
Katrin Ender — Global Narrative & Brand Strategy Lead 