The Brand Sensei

The Brand Sensei is a growth partner for small and mid-sized businesses who want to build effective, AI-powered marketing and brand systems that drive sustainable growth - all without the big team or big budget.

We offer:

- The SMTR BRND Method: A proven step-by-step framework for developing your brand strategy, maximizing customer engagement, and accelerating revenue growth using AI and digital marketing.
- Monthly Strategy Sessions to review your progress, solve challenges, and optimize your brand and marketing performance.
- A community of growth-focused business leaders who are implementing advanced marketing strategies to scale their companies.
- Access to AI marketing training, tools, brand templates, customer insight frameworks, and our annual Brand Masters Summit.

Book a discovery call at https://brandsensei.com to learn if you qualify.

Founder / Fractional CMO

Annansi

RECENT: Future of Retail Sessions • CSU College of Business Fall Speaker Series • Retail Innovation Week • Global South Tech • Global Entrepreneurship Week • The United Nations • Columbia University • Harvard University (2010) • SXSW Interactive Conference and Festival • The Smithsonian Museum • Google.org

Keynote Speaker

• Developing strategies for emerging brands to grow their visibility, engagement and sales by using customer insights, data, and digital tech including AI

• Workshops and training for founders and marketing teams on the strategic use of Artificial Intelligence (A)I for brand and business growth

Clients include:
→ SwatchOn (retail B2B ): brand strategy, customer research & segmentation, Web3 engagement strategy
→ PUMA (retail B2C): customer research and profiling, engagement strategy
→ Bayer (health B2B, B2C ): Product positioning, messaging, go-to-market strategy, launch
→ Sysdyne Technologies (construction B2B): re-branding
→ Party City (retail B2C): digitization
→ Novartis (health B2B, B2C): division branding, positioning

Digital Brand Strategist & Customer Experience Specialist (on demand)

Various Startups

✛ Streamlytics
✛ PopCom
✛ CRE Capital
✛ The Bridge Fashion Incubator (TBFI)

Startup Investor & Advisor

IPG Health

Drove strategic initiatives resulting in the successful launch and growth of domestic and global brands, overseeing $8+ million in business. Assessed market opportunities and crafted brand strategies to achieve objectives.

VP, Engagement Strategy

JUICE

Guided clients and department leads (creative, account, project management, etc.) to conceptualize, adopt, and optimize fully integrated marketing campaigns.

VP, Director of Customer Experience

Ogilvy

Served as strategy lead for diverse B2B and B2C brands, orchestrating the planning and execution of fully integrated multi-million-dollar campaigns.

Director, Digital Strategy

McCann Health

Senior Digital & Content Strategist

Saatchi & Saatchi

Digital Supervisor

Dress Barn

Manager, Digital & Content Marketing

Various

Clients: Captain Morgan, Hugo Boss, Giorgio Armani, Party City, PUMA

Digital Marketing Consultant

Helping brands to grow Visibility, Engagement, and Revenue using AI and Digital Tech || Strategist, Technologist, Data/Insights Nerd || Ex- @Saatchi, @Ogilvy, @McCann

Ever feel like everything is moving fast and your business is two steps behind? 

Forget surviving, you still want your brand to connect with the right people and soar! That’s where I come in.

As a seasoned marketing executive with over 15 years of experience, I have dedicated my career to driving business growth through innovative, data-driven marketing strategies. 

My passion lies in 

I've been in the trenches with big players like Mercedes-Benz, PUMA, and Pfizer and also bold startups like SwatchOn, guiding them in developing and executing multi-channel campaigns that not only generate qualified leads but also accelerate sales cycles and maximize customer acquisition.

Challenges I Understand:
❗️Struggling to stand out in a crowded market.
❗️Ineffective brand messaging that doesn't resonate with your audience.
❗️Difficulty integrating cutting-edge technology into your marketing strategy.
❗️Need for a data-driven approach to understand and engage customers.
❗️Desire to increase revenue while building a sustainable, beloved brand.

How I Help My Clients & Partners:
✅ Data-Driven Insights: Unlocking the power of data to create compelling, personalized brand stories.
✅ Digital Technology Integration: Seamlessly blending technologies into your marketing strategy for impactful customer engagement.
✅ Customized Brand Strategies: Crafting unique solutions that resonate with your audience and drive business growth.

Technical Proficiency:
From Adobe Creative Cloud to Google Analytics to ChatGPT to Web3 tolls, I help leaders understand and use the right technologies to drive brand growth.

I am excited about the intersection of creativity and data-driven decision-making, and am always open to connecting with like-minded professionals, discussing potential collaborations, or sharing insights on the ever-evolving landscape of marketing.

Eager for your brand to gain a competitive edge and dominate your market?

Let's chat!

G. Kofi Annan

What if everyone who rejected you was actually... right?

Hear me out.

My granny flew 5,000 miles to tell me I was ruining my life.
My professor compared me to an alcoholic.
My friends said my work wasn't worth $10.

They were all correct.

I spent years trying to conform.
Until my same rejected work sold for 6X more...to strangers.

The rejection was never about me.

This changed how I see every "NO" forever →

I help health brands grow clients/patients & revenue using a AI-enhanced acquisition system ✪ Fmr @Saatchi, @Ogilvy, @McCann

Finding Value in Rejection

The more you outsource your thinking to ChatGPT, the lazier you get and the more you risk losing your credibility. 

Customers, clients, and readers have access to ChatGPT too. 

They want your expertise, taste, and judgment. 

Don’t let one lazy tweet, post, or paragraph be the reason you lose their trust and kill your business.

Too many founders and owners wear exhaustion like a medal.

You built a business to help people. Now it's the thing breaking you.

60-hour weeks.
Answering texts at dinner.
"Always available" as a selling point.

But here's the truth:

Your clients and patients don't respect you more for being accessible.
They respect you more for being excellent.

And excellence requires edges.

The massage therapist who doesn't book past 6pm?
3-month wait list.

The nutritionist who doesn't answer weekends?
40% price premium.

The doctor who doesn't rush consultations?
Highest satisfaction scores in the city.

They're not working less.
They're working on what only they can do.

Everything else? It's noise disguised as necessity.

The highest-paid, most effective practitioners aren't the most available.
They're the most intentional.

What tasks are stealing your excellence?

My friend Camille is brilliant. MBA from Wharton. Built campaigns that saved millions.

But she gets ignored while people with less experience get the opportunities she wants.

It's not fair.

But in a world drowning in noise, intelligence without authority is just expensive advice nobody asks for.

That's why I'm partnering to launch Scaling Authority, a 4-month program to help seasoned professionals and ambitious entrepreneurs build authority at scale.

Your expertise is your most valuable asset. 

But if you can't make it land with authority, it might as well not exist.

If you're tired of being the best-kept secret in your space, this is your permission slip to finally change that.

Scaling Authority is limited to only 10 participants.

Early bird closes next Wednesday, Dec. 10th.

Read more ↓

View newsletter: Digital Brand Tips | By Kofi

My friend Camille is brilliant. She's got an MBA from Wharton. Built three successful marketing campaigns that saved her last company millions. Can di

Open article: The smartest person in the room often gets ignored. Let's change that! by G. Kofi Annan • 3 min read

The smartest person in the room often gets ignored. Let's change that!

Lucia Kanter St. Amour

Under the Sisterhood

UTS is a social impact company that addresses the critical gaps in women’s health education, diagnosis, and treatment. As CLO, I'm responsible for: legal guidance on general business operations, partnerships, and organizational practices; contract review and negotiation with vendors and partners; policy development ensuring legal, ethical, and privacy compliance; risk awareness and mitigation; recommending practical strategies that project the organization’s integrity and vision; addressing potential legal issues related to employment and board members; liaising and supervising outside counsel; partnering with cross-functional teams to effectively communicate the organization’s mission, support its programs, and amplify its social justice initiatives.

Chief Legal Officer

Pactum Factum

Chief Legal/Negotiation Officer for various corporations, NCAA athletes, and organizations; U.S. mediation liaison to Supreme Court of India 2022-2023; have mediated/negotiated 1000+ cases; host of "Forces of Good" podcast. Seasoned employment law and negotiation expert. Pactum Factum Press publishing.

Attorney | CLO | Publisher

UN Women

VP, San Francisco  - the birthplace of the United Nations in 1945. UN Women USA is the official, membership-based non-profit organization that raises funds and awareness for UN Women, the United Nations agency that advances gender equality and female empowerment globally.  Events and projects include: Cities for CEDAW a nationwide, grassroots effort to encourage local governments to become more gender equitable; EVAW - an effort to End Violence Against Women; The Gender Equal Pay coalition; HeForShe, a social movement campaign providing a systematic approach and targeted platform through which men and boys become agents of change for the achievement of gender equality; Women In Climate Change Gender Action Plan; Bi-annual Global Voices Film Festival

Vice President - UN Women USA

Spectrum Strategies for Autism

501(c)(3) non-profit organization providing sibling programming; and rescue dog matching, placement and training to families with children with Autism and other special needs.

University of California, College of the Law, San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings)

Teaching:  Negotiation / Mediation Clinic / Mediation Certification for Professionals / Special Education  Law. 2003-2012 taught regular course(s) on-site each semester. I tried to retire, but noooooo. They wouldn't let me 😂 2013-present continue on faculty as hybrid (remote and on-site) coach and instructor

Law Professor (Adj.)

International Chamber of Commerce

Serving as judge and mediator for ICC mediation competition in Paris, France

Mediator and Judge

University of California, Berkeley - School of Law

Teaching Negotiation practical skills course and supervising independent studies

Lecturer

EEOC

One of the small team of original designers of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s pilot mediation program in 1996 for the San Francisco Regional Office, and later mediated EEOC cases from San Jose to Sacramento

Mediator

Judicial Council of California

In-house employment law attorney for the Judicial Council of California, Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC), the policymaking body for the entire California court system for 58 counties and the Supreme Court of California. I advised the Judicial Council, the Chief Justice of California, and trial and appellate court judges and court officers, contributing to major policy and legal decisions on employment and labor issues that affect the entire judicial branch of California. During that time, I was also selected by the California Division for Judicial Education and Research (CJER) as a representative attorney for the judicial branch to conduct ongoing discrimination and harassment training through live, televised, satellite broadcast programming to court employees statewide. The target 20,000-member audience consisted of judges, human resources professionals, court directors and court staff. Broadcasting live with a studio audience, I also co-hosted CJER’s production of “Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:  A Celebration of Justice,” as part of the Division’s Continuing The Dialogue television series. The content of many of the broadcasts drew upon expertise in the field of Civil Rights and various discrimination and fair employment laws.

Attorney - Office of the General Counsel

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP

Upon dissolution of boutique labor & employment firm in San Francisco, joined Orrick's Employment Law group and handled all aspects of litigation and client counseling. Closest clients I worked with included Gap, Apple, Oracle, Electronic Arts

Employment Litigation Attorney

VP Emerita UN Women | Attorney Action Figure 🦸🏻‍♀️ | Arresting Author | Chief Negotiation Officer | Plucky Podcast Host | Irreverent Int'l Keynote | "What Box?" Bellwether

📚 World domination through literary seduction. Elegant. Defiant. Irresistibly true. Are you ready for what's next (October 13, 2025)? MY WRITING IS ORGANIC USING REAL INTELLIGENCE (AI wishes it could write like me)

I'm not bossy. I'm BOSS. A UN Women VP, provocatrice, attorney/law professor turned negotiation GOAT . . .

(Buckle up. This is ..."a lot")

🦸🏻‍♀️ I help women harness the power of everyday negotiation—from conning a toddler into eating peas to running the boardroom. I authored the Little Black Dress of negotiation books. Why?

Because negotiation isn’t just for business. It’s everybody’s business 🧐

(But you don’t need me to “empower” you. Nor do I sell a “masterclass” or certification from my own “institute”)

🌍 World Mediation Peace Activist. Benevolent & incurable explorer (dubbed “creative savant”—you know who you are). A bit wild at ❤️‍🔥, I struggle with purpose and disrupt with goodwill—through advocacy, teaching, writing, broadcasting, philanthropy, art & sports.

🗣️ Polyglot. Passionate about people & social progress. JEDI agent (not a Star Wars ref). I’ve practiced law in private, public & non-profit sectors; have taught internationally, including over two decades as faculty at two University of California law schools.

I get that people are messy multitudes—and how they actually behave in conflict & decision-making.
What makes me next-level? Decades of deep experience in negotiation, behavioral economics, game theory, plus dope training in:

✔️ Emotional micro-expressions
✔️ Lie detection
✔️ Neuroscience & decision analysis

Oh, and I know the #1 most stealth negotiation skill. 😎

(Kinda like x-ray vision. Hint: it’s NOT “speaking your truth.”)

WHAT I’M NOT:

❌ A sales/marketing bro who built my expertise off a “masterclass”
❌ A brand
❌ Your income stream
❌ After your 💰 or approval
❌ One to trademark words. Ahem™ 🙄 (you know the type)

Special needs parent & dog whisperer—chaos doesn’t faze me, and persistence is my default setting. CEO of a 501(c)(3) nonprofit providing dogs & sibling support for families with special needs kids.

🫶 Turn-ons: Cake, shoes, pour-over coffee, decent literature
🤢 Turn-offs: NIMBYism, vapid buzzwords, elitism, posers

💡 Meyers-Briggs type? ENFJ-A (same 2% club as Obama & Oprah).

🕸️See more on pactumfactum.com, but TLDR: 
I’m 95% human Labrador (begs the question: what’s the other 5%?). Find it endearing or annoying. That's on you. Either way, I’ll be me because, as Oscar Wilde said, “Everyone else is taken.”

P.S.
❌ I don’t do casual Zoom coffee chats
✅ I’ve already overpaid it forward

taplio

The Battle

G. Kofi Annan

S. Lucia Kanter St. Amour

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreG. Kofi Annan's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

G. Kofi Annan

S. Lucia Kanter St. Amour

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}G. Kofi Annan's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreG. Kofi Annan's LinkedIn Performance