Once upon a time …

It all begins in 1988 in a basement just north of Copenhagen.

At this time Jesper Kunde, founder of Kunde & Co, already has the roles of Marketing Manager at Tuborg and Sales and Marketing Manager at Lauritz Knudsen under his belt. His experience working with advertising agencies has given him the opinion that they typically don't put themselves into the clients' shoes enough to truly understand or solve the challenges facing them. The upshot is too little strategic emphasis and too many unsubstantial creative ideas.

In reaction Jesper Kunde founds Kunde & Co. His goal is to create real results for his clients by focusing on the strategic framework before developing the creative material. He uses a hurdle race to illustrate his philosophy that marketing is not just about communicating to end-users; it is a discipline involving the company's entire value chain. Each link is a hurdle that must be passed in order to reach the desired outcome.

Kunde & Co's first consultant is Gaute Høgh. He and Jesper will run the agency together for the next 14 years.

"I was convinced that marketing would become an important management tool in the future - and that the companies who realised that would be the winners."

- Jesper Kunde, Founder of Kunde & Co

Read more:
Growing pains, The culture, The clients, The books.

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