Hi, I’m Hovgaard.
I don’t follow my dreams, I chase them!
As a consultant at Creuna, the leading full-service digital agency in the Nordics, I help businesses with strategies and solutions to compete and communicate effectively in this new digital reality. I previously worked at Webvindu and I’ve got my Management education from Cass Business School in London. Thanks for visiting my site!
My professional passions are: digital strategy; business model innovation; customer experience management; cross-channel communications; branding; trends in digital behaviours and attitudes; as well as innovations and business trends within industries like technology, marketing and media (yeah, I know, I’m passionate about a lot).
My professional flair is characterised by three things above all other: 1. I believe the brand is the customer experience. So marketers should work tightly with service designers and others to build great customer experiences continuously and holistically, rather than in isolate trying to manipulate people’s view of a brand without providing added value. 2. Brands can make a positive difference in the world by taking a stand and let themselves be driven by a genuine higher purpose (no, money is not a purpose, it’s a result), like people are. 3. For most brands it’s really much more important to be loved by a few than being liked by many – so stop trying to be everything and please everybody. Define your focus and nurture it.
In my precious time off I ferociously devour HBO-series (The Wire is honestly the greatest piece of art ever shown on a screen), The Economist, HBR, Mashable, TED and books by visionaries like Seth Godin. I’m definitely a connoisseur of sorts, I love live concerts, food, wine and whisky, as well as hiking and cycling in the mountains. I’ve previously done lots of music, film and theatre and until 2009 I sang in the band The Micropops, now called HndS. Btw, Ragnhild Holmås is the love of my life.
Get in touch: erlend.hovgaard(at)gmail.com, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+ or +47 993 59 389.
Thought I’d also share with you this picture of my awesome siblings and me playing around near the fish market in Bergen, my hometown:
