PROF. DR. OLIVER ERRICHIELLO - Brand expert 

Prof. Dr. Oliver Errichiello is one of the most distinctive voices in brand consulting today — not because he follows current discourse, but because he has spent over two decades developing a perspective that cuts through it. As the holder of the world's first and only professorship in brand sociology, he approaches brand management from a foundation that most consultants simply do not have: a rigorous, scientifically grounded understanding of why brands work, how trust is built, and what truly drives a brand's long-term value.

His path to this position was not academic alone. Before founding the Büro für Markenentwicklung in Hamburg together with Prof. Dr. Arnd Zschiesche in 2006, Oliver Errichiello worked as a strategic planner at renowned advertising agencies, as a marketing director, and as a consultant at the Institute for Brand Technology in Geneva — one of the most respected brand research institutions in the world. He studied socioeconomics and brand sociology at the University of Hamburg and psychology at the Université Lyon, and it was during these years that he developed the consulting approach that defines his work to this day: brand management understood not as a communication exercise, but as the management of trust.

This perspective shapes everything the Büro für Markenentwicklung does. Brand strategy, brand positioning, brand development — all of it grounded in the sociological substance of what a brand actually is, rather than in trends, campaigns, or surface-level rebranding. The result is brand consulting that works not just on paper, but in day-to-day business, in leadership decisions, and in the long-term perception of a company's customers.

Beyond consulting, Prof. Dr. Errichiello teaches at the University of Hamburg, the Hochschule Luzern, and internationally, including in China. He is the author of over 23 specialized and non-fiction books on brand management, and a regular expert contributor to ARD, ZDF, NDR, arte, and Deutschlandfunk. As the head of a company-owned innovation lab and a member of an advisory board for a major food and non-food company, he also brings brand sociology to bear at the executive level — demonstrating every day that brand sociology is not just a theory, but a management tool with real strategic consequences.