Zach Duenow

About Zach Duenow

My starting place for any work is grounded in gratitude, compelled by contagious curiosity, and sustained by kindness and humility.I’ve been the architect behind some of the world’s largest and most inspired brands. The blueprints I’ve helped build have a proven track record of driving growth, transforming teams, and delighting consumers.I think my approach as an executive is distinctive because I come from a family of world class studio artists. Art is my family’s religion; the studio is where we all go to connect with our higher power and our deeper intelligence. I’m essentially a studio artist who’s learned to speak business.I\'ve been privileged to hold senior strategy positions at some of the best ad agencies, design firms, and clients in the world. So, I’m at home when directing global, interdisciplinary teams through the theory and practice of growing high-performing, meaningful brands.My most fulfilling work comes from collaboration and facilitation. My flow moments are when a diverse group of people are firing on all cylinders to untie complexity and feel the buzz of possibility.I\'m an active artist. As I create, I’m reminded how vast our imaginations become when we allow ourselves to be free from our conditioning. I’m inspired to help unlock this force with organizations, so people and business can connect at the heart.

Experience

1. Co-founder

   Muze

   Jan 2024 — Present · Chicago, IL, US

   For two decades I\'ve been orchestrating transformative brand building workshops around the world with some of the most iconic consumer brands. I\'ve seen a consistent pattern: brands get stuck when teams lose the story. This inevitably cues the creative stagnation and the commercial constipation. But when we reignite the narrative, we catalyze growth on all fronts – personal, professional, and commercial.I\'m excited to be a co-founder of MUZE, a brand consultancy at the intersection of brand building and capability building. We orchestrate the world\'s more inspiring brand building workshops, and are relentless in refining your brand strategy until it has a distinctive melody that ignites creative and compels commercial success. Teams are transformed when they work with Muze.

Education

• University of Oregon

  Psychology, Social Psychology, Cognitve Psychology, Quantum Physics

  1992 — 1996

Skills

• Brand Story
• Creative Strategy
• Strategic Thinking
• Idea Generation
• Brand Equity
• Brand Positioning
• Moderation
• Concept Generation
• Design Strategy
• Fmcg
• Brand Development
• Archetype Analysis
• Marketing Research
• Qualitative Research
• Metaphor
• Customer Insight
• Design Thinking
• Brand Architecture
• Workshop Facilitation
• Online Moderation
• Brand Equity Planning
• Shopper Marketing
• Creative Briefs
• Architecture
• Ethnography
• Creative Brief Planning
• Consumer Products
• Focus Groups
• Positioning
• Product Innovation
• Project Planning
• Business Insights
• Brand Character
• Making Smiles in Hard Meetings
• Brand Management
• Audience Segmentation
• Analysis
• Graphic Facilitation
• Brand Visioning
• Divergent Thinking