meet the founder

Brand The Change was founded in 2014 by award winning designer and brand strategist Anne Miltenburg (the Netherlands, 1981). She is best known for creating the Brand Thinking Canvas and Brand the Change, the guidebook, as well as her outspoken opinion on all things at the intersection of impact and brand.

Anne graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts on the design of health care campaigns in low income countries. Disillusioned by the realities of the development sector, Anne embraced a career in the brand space instead.

At famed brand agencies Studio Dumbar, Lava and Interbrand, Anne rose from designer to strategist and creative director on major brand development projects.

After twelve years in the industry, Anne missed the social purpose that was so important in her personal life. She wondered if her professional skills could be used to advance ideas, products and services for social and environmental change.

She went on a one-year journey to speak to social entrepreneurs and changemakers around the world, and prototyped tools and training formats with the aim of democratising high quality brand knowledge.

During her work with changemakers, Anne noticed that most enterprises invest most of their resources in building a great product or service, and very little on finding and growing their audience base.

‘Brand The Change!’ became her call to action invest in the brand and marketing skills needed to get these initiatives to thrive.

In 2015, Anne set up ‘Brand The Change’ as an educational organisation in Nairobi, Kenya: the world capital of social innovation. It’s her home base till this day.

Read about Anne in her own words on her personal website
Find her profile on Linkedin and writing on Medium

Watch Anne in action