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Tobias Dahlberg

Tobias Dahlberg

Tobias is the Founder of Original Minds. Tobias started in marketing roles at Nike and Coca-Cola, later he founded a brand consultancy and eight other professional service firms. He has consulted ad advised 1000+ creative entrepreneurs.

From Wonder Design Lab // my former design & innovation studio

Brand

The Five Brand Dimensions –Why Almost All Branding Is One-Dimensional

For decades, branding has been treated like a communications exercise. You define your positioning, craft a visual identity, make a brand book, and hand it off to marketing. The result? A nice logo, a color palette, a few tone-of-voice examples — and a brand that looks great on paper but struggles

By Tobias Dahlberg • 5 min read

Reinvention vs. Optimization

Journal

Reinvention vs. Optimization

By Tobias Dahlberg • 4 min read

The author on stage with his biggest influencer - Marty Neumeier

Brand

The Future of Brand Strategy –From Brand Books To Brand Brains.

For years, “branding” has been a ritual. A company hires an agency. The agency arrives in black turtlenecks. Everyone nods gravely through a workshop about purpose, pillars, and archetypes. A few months later, someone sends out Brand Guideline v.6 FINAL_FINAL_2b.pdf. Inside: a handful of lofty sentences

By Tobias Dahlberg • 3 min read

LinkedIn Is Eating Marketing: 31% of Business Marketing Now Happens There

Marketing

LinkedIn Is Eating Marketing: 31% of Business Marketing Now Happens There

LinkedIn used to be the world’s most boring social network — a graveyard of résumés, jargon, and humblebrags. Today, it’s the hottest stage in B2B marketing. What was once a platform for job hunters has quietly become the go-to arena for thought leadership, community building, and lead generation. The

By Tobias Dahlberg • 2 min read

Brand

Culture-First Branding: Join, Don’t Invent

In Brief Culture is no longer a backdrop — it’s the battlefield. The signal: the most resonant brands aren’t creating culture, they’re participating in it. The deeper truth? Audiences no longer reward invention, they reward fluency. The shift is from “brand as creator” to “brand as collaborator.” The

By Tobias Dahlberg • 2 min read

u1492637478_A_fluid_branding_system_--ar_21_--v_7_e07444a9-ee6b-471e-948f-5b1b645eeb4f_2

Design & Experience

Living Brand Systems: Identities Built for Motion, Not Manuals

Executive Summary The static logo is dying. The signal: modern brands are built as living systems—fluid, reactive, and designed to move. The deeper truth? Distinctiveness now depends on adaptability. The shift is from rigid “brand guidelines” to dynamic “brand behaviors.” The opportunity? Build modular systems that flex across platforms,

By Tobias Dahlberg • 2 min read

Design

Living Brand Systems: Identities Built for Motion, Not Manuals

By Tobias Dahlberg • 2 min read

Brand

AI-as-Co-Creator: When Brands Learn to Think With Machines

By Tobias Dahlberg • 2 min read

AI-as-Co-Creator: When Brands Learn to Think With Machines — u1492637478_Creative_work_handled_by_algorithms_--ar_21_--v_7_af27a8e2-2b2c-446c-9814-75b7b16080cd_0

Global

AI-as-Co-Creator: When Brands Learn to Think With Machines

In Brief AI isn’t replacing creativity — it’s industrializing it. The signal: by 2026, creative work will be defined not by who makes it, but by who directs it. The deeper truth? AI has made execution a commodity and taste the new scarcity. The shift is from production power

By Tobias Dahlberg • 2 min read

The New Rural Advantage – Logistics, Loyalty, and the Last-Mile Reversal — u1492637478_A_massive_logistics_center_in_the_foreground_of_C_9298cb5b-db9c-42d6-ac68-7f4e8d5381cb_0

Macro Trends

The New Rural Advantage – Logistics, Loyalty, and the Last-Mile Reversal

Category: Retail & E-Commerce / Grocery & General Merchandise / Midwest U.S. Classification: Macro Trend – Structural Shift (2026 and beyond) In Brief For decades, urban centers were retail’s gravitational core — scale, talent, infrastructure, and demand. But by 2026, the advantage is quietly flipping. The new retail frontier is rural — where

By Tobias Dahlberg • 4 min read

The Case for Radical Simplicity: Why Cutting 80% of Your Clients And Services Is How You Scale Profitably

Entrepreneurship

The Case for Radical Simplicity: Why Cutting 80% of Your Clients And Services Is How You Scale Profitably

Most agencies and consultancies aren’t failing because they’re bad. They’re failing because they’re busy. Busy chasing revenue. Busy adding services. Busy saying yes to everything. But here’s the uncomfortable truth: growth doesn’t come from addition — it comes from subtraction. If you want to scale,

By Tobias Dahlberg • 4 min read

Budget Chic – The Reinvention of Discount Retail Branding — u1492637478_Fashionable_people_in_front_of_a_Lidl_store._Edit_01cd771b-4bbb-4838-8e3f-9d41857dda93_3

Branding

Budget Chic – The Reinvention of Discount Retail Branding

Type Macro Trend Category Retail & Branding / Europe, UK & Ireland In Brief – When Cheap Became Clever The discount store has gone from shame aisle to style icon. In 2026, “budget chic” defines a new aesthetic where affordability meets aspiration. Aldi, Lidl, and B&M aren’t just bargain

By Tobias Dahlberg • 3 min read