aAanya Rao
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Marketing · Brand · Growth

I turn business problems into stories the market wants to tell back.

Eight years leading brand and growth for DTC, B2B and wellness companies. Every case study below follows the same five beats — problem, insight, strategy, execution, impact — because that's how the work actually happens.

Currently at NorthlaneBased in LisbonOpen to advisory work

Selected work

Three stories, told the same way.

Turning a quiet DTC brand into a weekend ritual.

iThe business problem
Repeat purchase had flatlined at 14%. Acquisition costs were climbing and the brand felt like a commodity next to louder competitors.
iiThe insight
Customers weren't buying coffee — they were buying five slow minutes on a Saturday morning. Nobody in the category was speaking to that moment.
iiiThe strategy
Reposition around the ritual, not the roast. Build a slow-Saturday content universe and shift spend from performance-only into a branded content flywheel.
ivThe execution
  • Rewrote the brand voice around "the pause," from packaging to paid social.
  • Launched a 12-episode short-form series featuring real customers' Saturday rituals.
  • Rebuilt the subscription flow around cadence, not discounts.
vThe projected estimated impact
2.6x
Repeat purchase
-38%
Blended CAC
+112%
Subscription LTV

Launching Dyson's first wet-line haircare into Asia's most crowded shelves.

iThe business problem
Dyson's new Chitosan pre- and post-style creams were entering a red ocean in India, China and Singapore — dominated by L'Oréal, TRESemmé and trusted local players, at a price point most shoppers had never paid for a styling cream.
iiThe insight
The premium Asian haircare buyer isn't shopping for hold or shine — she's shopping for hair she doesn't have to repair later. Non-damaging, biodegradable styling was the wedge nobody else could credibly claim.
iiiThe strategy
Enter as a premium, eco-first innovator using a differentiation-led red ocean play: one global product truth, three sharply localised go-to-markets — heritage-and-herbal in India, humidity-proof professional in Singapore, aspirational tech-beauty in China.
ivThe execution
  • Built a country-by-country segmentation and positioning model across behavioural, demographic and eco-conscious clusters.
  • Designed an omnichannel launch: Dyson.com flagship, premium e-tail, in-store demos, and creator-led tutorials mapped to each stage of the journey.
  • Sized a 3-year forecast and allocated a marketing mix — digital, influencer, retail activation — against CTR, ROAS and referral CAC targets.
vThe projected estimated impact
$21.6M
Projected marketing-driven revenue
3
Markets launched in parallel
6.6%
CAGR category tailwind captured

Turning a football club into an everyday entertainment brand for Gen Alpha.

iThe business problem
Inter was winning on the pitch but losing the next generation. Rival clubs and lifestyle brands owned the feeds where 10–14 year olds actually spend their time, and matchday alone couldn't build the fans of 2030.
iiThe insight
Gen Alpha doesn't fall in love with clubs through results — they fall in love through humor, creators, and culture. Inter didn't need more football content; it needed to earn a place in the daily scroll.
iiiThe strategy
Reposition Inter as a digital-first lifestyle brand built on three pillars — daily humor, deep fan community, and cultural reach through creators — powered by an in-house content engine, Inter Media House.
ivThe execution
  • Stood up Inter Media House: two creators shipping 15 pieces a day across TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat.
  • Launched "Inter Offside," a mic'd-up short-form series putting players in unscripted, meme-friendly moments.
  • Partnered with Gen Z/Alpha creators like Noah Beck across fashion, gaming and comedy to remix the Inter badge.
vThe projected estimated impact
2.0x
ROAS in media value
+10%
Follower growth across platforms
5M+
Creator-led unique reach

Repositioning a quiet icon as the most modern kind of luxury.

iThe business problem
Armani/Casa was admired for craft and heritage, but it was losing share of voice to louder rivals like Versace Home and Fendi Casa — and younger, digitally-native buyers were passing it by.
iiThe insight
The next luxury customer wasn't asking for more noise. They were trading up to longevity, wellness, and quiet conscience — and Armani/Casa already owned those codes.
iiiThe strategy
Reframe the brand around four values it already embodied — Timelessness, Adaptability, Wellness, and Consciousness — and make durability the ultimate sustainability story: furniture that lasts a lifetime.
ivThe execution
  • Rewrote Vision and Mission around precision-crafted interiors that adapt across life phases.
  • Built a values framework across product, procurement, retail, and digital — from wellness services to a multi-channel luxury concierge.
  • Created regionally-tuned messaging and an internal playbook so the platform lived inside the company, not just in campaigns.
vThe projected estimated impact
4
Brand pillars defined
9
Positioning axes reframed
1:1
Internal + external alignment

About

I've spent the last eight years building brands that are easier to believe in — from early-stage DTC to fintech I never thought I'd work in. I care about the sentence before the tactic.

Roles

Head of Brand · Growth Lead · Fractional CMO

Industries

DTC · Fintech · Wellness · SaaS

Recognition

Effie shortlist '24 · The Drum '23