GET TO KNOW US
Douglas Van Praet
Founder, Partner
Douglas is a leading brand strategist, management consultant, keynote speaker and author. He is widely recognized as a pioneer in the application of behavioral science to marketing challenges. Inc. Magazine named his book, Unconscious Branding: How Neuroscience Can Empower (and Inspire) Marketing one of the “Top Ten Marketing Books.”
In 2020 he was named a top 10 US branding leader by Superbrands Worldwide, the world’s largest independent arbiter of branding. In 2018, 2019 and 2020 Doug ranks as a leading worldwide Brand Expert by Global Gurus Top 30, based upon an annual poll sent to 22,000 business people, consultants, academics and MBA’s around the world. He is a blogger for Psychology Today and a contributor for Fast Company. His approach to marketing draws from unconscious behaviorism and applies neurobiology, evolutionary psychology, and behavioral economics to business challenges.
Doug has positioned some of the world’s most iconic brands through effective, award winning, engaging campaigns. His unique proprietary methods for creating content and advertising have generated earned media and viral hits for leading brands that have also driven significant growth in revenue. Notably, he is the brand architect behind the wildly successful Volkswagen “Mini Darth Vader” ad, which leveraged his principle of “pattern interruption,” becoming the most shared Super Bowl ad in history. This video sparked a global cultural phenomenon and earned a reported 6.8 billion impressions worldwide and more than $100 million in earned media. This effort contributed to the highest brand share stateside in 30 years.
Doug has been featured in international news media including: Time Magazine, Forbes Magazine, Inc., Fast Company, Business Insider, Psychology Today, UK Telegraph, BBC News, The Economic Times, The Chicago Tribune, NPR, Big Think, SiriusXM, Contagious Magazine, Communicate, Advertising Age, the Huffington Post, Khaleej Times, NonProfit Times, etc.
Doug is also a sought after global speaker on the topic of human insights and the role of emotions in branding and media. These keynotes have included venues like: Neuromarketing World Forum in Barcelona, South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Content Marketing Conference in Las Vegas, the Association of National Advertisers Creativity Conference in New York, the ANA Nonprofit Conference in Washington D.C. and the American Marketing Association Account Planning Conference in Miami.
Douglas is presently working on his next book. When he has some free time, which is rare, he’s long boarding and motorcycle riding.
Anna Villano
Partner
Anna has worked at top-tier agencies such as Deutsch, FCB and VaynerMedia, working with big name clients like Volkswagen, Taco Bell, Microsoft, Neutrogena, Unilever, Naked Juice, Sonic Drive-In, Toyota and P&G, to name a few.
She’s been on the forefront of the ad industry’s evolution from pre-digital to post-digital and was one of the first to use various social media platforms for ad campaigns. She was a Creative Director at VaynerMedia, an award-winning social media agency headed up by social media guru Gary Vaynerchuk.
At VaynerMedia, Anna led multiple creative teams to create some of the most innovative and successful ad campaigns. She’s an expert in understanding how the social media and ad machine really work and how they influence viewers’ buying decisions.
She specializes in branded content, rich media ads, social apps, mobile apps, page takeovers, blogs, information architecture & user experience, social media, TV and video content, packaging and branding, and ideating and developing experiential spaces. She oversees vendor selection, planning & strategy support, product branding, graphic design and collateral design.
Anna speaks about the power of design, social media and smart branding at leading design conferences. She was a judge for The Addy Awards, one of the leading award shows in advertising.
She received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Berkeley in Architecture, and a Master of Fine Arts in New Media from Art Center College of Design. In addition, Anna was a professor at the University of California Los Angeles teaching graphic design and digital media.
In her spare time, she’s practicing yoga, taking photos, pinning on Pinterest, collecting cookbooks and walking on the Venice Beach boardwalk with her dog Samie.