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According to the World Bank, 95% of Indonesian firms sell only to their domestic market. Despite having 64 million small and medium businesses, the most in ASEAN, Indonesia’s SMEs contribute just 14% of total exports, compared to 41% in Singapore and 60% in China.
The opportunity is enormous. But most brands fail when crossing borders.
Whether you are an Indonesian brand ready to go global or a Singapore company expanding into Southeast Asia’s largest consumer market, the problem is the same: you need a brand strategy built for the market you are entering, not the one you are leaving.
I have spent 15 years on both sides of that bridge. I know what works and what does not.
Why Strong Brands Still Fail to Travel
The problem is rarely effort. More often, it is truth.
The brand may look polished, but the positioning is weak, the signal is unclear, and the market does not feel the value fast enough.
Your team keeps producing content, but the brand still feels weak
Your positioning sounds polished but not believable
Your visual identity looks good but does not signal the right value
Your brand works at home but loses meaning in a new market
Your leadership story is not supporting business growth
You are visible, but not distinctive
Brand Passport™
When a brand crosses borders, not everything deserves to survive. Some things must stay. Some things must adapt. Some things were never strong to begin with.
BrandPassport™ is my proprietary five step framework for helping brands grow across cultures with more clarity, relevance, and credibility, shaped by 15 years of helping businesses navigate Singapore, Indonesia, and Europe.
Cultural Audit
We assess how your brand is perceived in its home market, and how those perceptions may translate, or fail to translate, in your target market. What signals trust in Jakarta may create confusion in Singapore, and vice versa.
Brand Core
We identify what is universal about your brand, the core value that travels across markets, and what is culturally specific. This becomes the foundation for everything that follows.
Market Fit Positioning
We shape positioning that resonates in the target market without losing the authenticity of your brand. This is where many brands go wrong: they either transplant their home market strategy unchanged, or over localise until they lose what made them compelling to begin with.
Cross Cultural Brand Architecture
We build the visual identity, messaging framework, and brand guidelines needed to work across markets. Not a direct translation, but a brand system designed to hold together across different cultural contexts.
Launch and Activate
We bring the brand to market with a strategy that has been pressure tested across cultures. I stay involved through the critical first 90 days to course correct in real time.
How I Can Help
I’ve sat with CEOs in Jakarta who want their brands to be taken seriously in Singapore. And I’ve worked with Singapore founders who know Indonesia is their next growth market, but do not yet know how to enter it with the right signal, story, or strategy. As a brand consultant based in Singapore with deep roots in Indonesia, every engagement starts in the same place: understanding where you are, where you want to go, and what your brand needs to do to close that gap.
Brand Internationalisation Advisory
For Indonesian brands going global, and for Singapore or European brands entering Indonesia or the wider ASEAN market.
The challenge is rarely ambition. It is translation, market fit, and trust. Too many brands assume what worked in one market will work in another. It will not.
I help you identify what your brand must protect, what it must adapt, and how to position it so the market understands and values you faster. What makes my approach different is that I do not treat expansion as a branding exercise alone, but as a business, cultural, and market credibility challenge. That is why my work goes beyond messaging and identity to address how your brand will actually be received, understood, and trusted.
Keynote Speaking
For conferences, leadership events, and organisations looking for a speaker who brings both inspiration and substance. I have delivered 70+ keynotes and workshops across Singapore, Indonesia, and Europe, including 3 keynotes at the Indonesia Retail Summit, Southeast Asia’s largest retail conference.
Many talks sound good in the room but leave little behind. I speak to challenge thinking, bring commercial and cultural insight, and give audiences something they can actually apply.
My keynote topics include brand internationalisation, cross cultural branding, CEO branding, and ASEAN market strategy. I speak from lived experience, not theory alone, and I am known for bringing hard truths with warmth, clarity, and commercial relevance.
Brand Strategy and Consulting
For businesses that have outgrown their current brand, lost clarity in the market, or need a sharper foundation for growth.
Often, the problem is not marketing. It is that the positioning is weak, the architecture is unclear, or the identity no longer reflects the value of the business.
I work closely with leadership teams to clarify brand strategy, sharpen positioning, and build a brand that can compete on more than price. What I bring is not just design thinking, but strategic judgment shaped by years of working across industries, markets, and business stages.
Workshops and Masterclasses
For leadership teams, companies, and organisations that want practical learning, not just passive listening.
The issue with many workshops is that they energise people briefly but do not shift how they think or act. My sessions are designed to create sharper understanding, stronger alignment, and more useful action.
These include the CEO Branding Masterclass, Brand Passport™ Workshop, and tailored sessions on branding, positioning, and cross border growth. What makes them different is that they are grounded in real business context, not generic brand exercises.
CEO Brand Coaching
For founders and executives whose personal brand needs to evolve alongside the business.
When the person, the company, and the market narrative are misaligned, growth becomes harder. You may be visible, but not trusted in the right way. Or respected internally, but not clearly understood externally.
I help leaders align how they show up with where the business is headed, so their presence builds trust, authority, and commercial confidence. What makes this work powerful is that I do not coach for image alone. I coach for clarity, credibility, and strategic influence.
Brands I Have Worked With
Marketeers
Co-branding is emerging as a smart marketing strategy for retail brands to expand market reach and create stronger consumer appeal.
Lawe Indonesia
Repositioned Indonesia’s artisan fashion brand for international retail expansion across ASEAN and Europe using the Brand Passport™ approach.
PacificLight
Rebranded Singapore’s independent electricity retailer to differentiate in a commoditised market.
Phillip Capital Management
Brand strategy for regional expansion across Southeast Asian markets.
Media Indonesia
Strategic branding and internationalisation to help Indonesian retailers and businesses strengthen their brands and compete in the global market.
It was a wonderful meeting, and we gained valuable insights on how to improve our brand at Delamibrand. We are also very grateful to the outstanding facilitator who guided the meeting and made this session so meaningful for all of us.
At the Indonesia Retail Summit & Expo (IRSE) 2025, Yulia Saksen shared valuable insights during her session, “Brand Collaboration Over Competition: The Smart Business Strategy.” highlighting how strategic brand collaborations can drive growth, expand market reach, and create long-term value.
I attended a branding masterclass by Creativeans conducted by master trainer Yulia Saksen. The class was very exciting. The lessons are not something that can be found on Google. The learning materials were not only theoretical-based but also very practical.
About Yulia
I do not believe in branding that only changes the skin.
I believe in branding that communicates value, builds trust, and gives a business the clarity to grow with credibility.
Over the years, I have seen smart companies pour effort into marketing, design, and visibility, yet still fail to be understood in the right way. More often, the brand is signalling the wrong value, telling the wrong story, or lacking the clarity needed to earn trust in the market.
Over 15 years, I have worked with more than 60 brands across FMCG, healthcare, retail, tech, and finance, from multinationals like S.Pellegrino, Samsung, and Charles & Keith to ambitious Indonesian and Singapore businesses ready to scale. I have delivered 70+ keynotes and workshops including 3 appearances at the Indonesia Retail Summit, and I currently serve as a Council Member of the Institute of Management Consultants (Singapore).
Whether advising a company entering a new market, coaching a leader whose personal brand must evolve, or speaking to an audience about cross cultural branding and brand clarity, my role is the same:
to bring clarity where there is noise, and truth where there is assumption.
Are You Brand Dead?
The Creativeans BrandBuilder® Approach to Building Brands That Matter
A practical guide for business leaders who want to build stronger brands without getting lost in industry jargon. This book is designed to introduce a clear step by step methodology, backed by real case studies, self assessments, and the BrandBuilder® framework applied by hundreds of leaders across Asia and Europe.
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