Praktikum Brand Strategy // Intern Brand Strategy (all genders)

Interbrand; Köln; On-site; EUR 11,000 - 17,000; Full time

Job summary

Interbrand in Cologne invites a Strategy Intern for a 6‑month program to learn how brands are built, positioned, and evolved. You will collaborate on real client projects, contribute to strategic thinking, and deepen your understanding of how brands create value and connect with audiences.

Under mentorship from experienced strategists, you will develop analytical and creative thinking that powers meaningful brand work.

Qualifications

• Final year student or recent graduate with a portfolio showing strategic thinking.
• Fluent in German and English.
• Branding interest and curiosity is a plus.
• Willing to learn from experienced strategists and work in a collaborative team.

Responsibilities

• Learn Interbrand's strategic methodology and apply it to real client projects.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to develop strategic concepts.
• Prepare client presentations and workshop materials.
• Participate in client meetings and observe how strategy is communicated.

Skills

Strategic thinking

Research

Insights

Brand understanding

Team collaboration

Communication

German & English fluency

Education

University student or recent graduate

Job description

About Interbrand

Interbrand understands what it takes today to build the world’s most iconic brands.

About Interbrand

Interbrand understands what it takes today to build the world’s most iconic brands.

To support our clients in an ever more complex and fascinating world, we have renewed our commitment to both common global standards and greater empowerment, experimentation and entrepreneurialism.

Interbrand is its people. We are a global team of highly diverse thinkers, makers and collaborators. We are proud of our heritage and often regarded as the university of branding. Over the past four decades, we have pioneered iconic work and invented many of the brand building tools that are now commonplace.

In collaboration with many of the world’s leading brands, we are pioneering the future of brand building. In a world where people’s expectations are moving faster than businesses, we give our clients the confidence to make Iconic Moves that create desire and utility, reshape the competitive landscape and drive extraordinary results.

The Interbrand Best Global Brands study/rankings are resources to our clients and the industry, providing proprietary data and insight for our role as client partner and commentator. We have published 18 books on brands and are often the reference point for university curriculum and professional associations. Today, through our own Academy, we aim to be the most impactful learning environment in the marketing world.

Our Behaviours

Our culture is informed by a set of behaviours we co-created as a business. Our behaviours give us space to experiment, permission to speak out, and a model of leadership that anyone in the business can adopt. Our behaviours are Lead with love, Be Brave, Listen First and Make it happen. We are proud of our behaviours. They make us, us.

LOCATION: COLOGNE, GERMANY

DEPARTMENT: BRAND SRATEGY

EMPLOYMENT TYPE: PAID FULL-TIME INTERNSHIP (6 MONTHS)

The Opportunity

At Interbrand, strategy is where insight meets possibility. As a Strategy Intern, you'll join our Strategy team for 6 months to learn how brands are built, positioned, and evolved. You'll collaborate on real client projects, contribute to strategic thinking, and develop your understanding of how brands create value and connect with audiences. Under the mentorship of experienced strategists, you'll help build the analytical and creative thinking that powers meaningful brand work.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Learn Interbrand's strategic methodology and approach to understand how we analyze brands and develop strategy that drives meanginful conversations with clients
• Learn how all disciplines collaborate to create iconic moves that can be measured in terms of brand value
• Support cross-functional project teams in building strategic concepts and brand thinking across a varying number of challenges. Specific tasks include e.g.
• Conduct benchmark analysis, trend-spotting, and competitive research to support the team in identifying insights.
• Help prepare client presentations and workshop materials
• Contribute ideas and perspectives in internal regroups and meetings
• Participate in client meetings and presentations, observing how strategy is communicated

What We’re Looking For

As this internship is located in Germany within an international working context, we are looking for fluency in German and English.

Experience

You are in your final year of university or freshly graduated. You have a portfolio of previous work (e.g. university projects, previous internship work, personal projects) demonstrating strategic thinking, research, insights and range of thinking. You are an active follower of branding across various channels and can articulate what makes brands interesting.

Not a must, but a plus: You already bring some experience in brand consulting, strategic marketing, market research, or similar fields (internships, projects, or coursework welcome).

Relationships

You are collaborative and eager to learn from experienced strategists and peers. You are equally comfortable speaking up with ideas and perspectives and not afraid to challenge conventional thinking. Overall, you have proven to work well in team environments and actively seek opportunities to work with others.

Curiosity

Naturally, you unpick brands, marketing or advertising to stimulate your thinking. You are fascinated by the combination of strategy, creativity, and insight and eager to learn and explore different industries and brand challenges, as well as develop strategic thinking. You are interested in understanding the business and commercial side of brands.

Ownership

You can understand the importance of deadlines in a client service environment. You take ownership of assigned tasks and follow through, show initiative and reliability.

Communication

You can articulate ideas with strong evidence or references. You are open to and actively listen to feedback and capable to incorporate it into your work. You are comfortable presenting work in progress to peers in German and English.

Why Interbrand

For over 50 years, we’ve been shaping the world’s most iconic brands. We solve brand challenges through our Thinking & Making approach, combining Human Truth, Brand Economics, and Experience to help our clients make the moves that unlock growth and define what’s next.

We nurture a global community of thinkers and makers with the curiosity and confidence to create iconic work. Here, you’ll find transparent career pathways, on-demand learning, honest feedback, real collaboration across borders, and a culture that champions difference and wellbeing.

We don’t do ordinary. And we don’t expect you to either.