About BrandTwist and Me

I am a brand enthusiast, serial innovator and lateral thinker. BrandTwist is my philosophy and my business. It’s a platform to share my passion and my expertise in branding and to engage others in mutual discovery and dialogue. I feed my obsession with brand through consulting, brand workshops, speaking engagements, blogging/tweeting and my online Brand School for entrepreneurs. My point of view on brand has been influenced by my experiences working on both the Client and Agency sides. I spent five fantastic years at Virgin helping to build the brand in the US by launching new Virgin businesses. Prior to Virgin, I was the Executive Director of Consumer Branding and Head of Innovation and Insights at Interbrand. I also worked at Grey Worldwide both in the US and Paris. Oh, and I am the unofficial inventor of the Pet Rock…but that’s a story for another time.

Learn more about me: Living the Dream: Julie Cottineau

Click here for a video introduction to Julie 

Click here to download Julie’s professional bio

Click here to listen to Julie talk about branding on Deborah Shane’s Metropolis Radio Show

Read an interview with Julie on Virgin and Effective Brand Building

Professional Bio

Julie Cottineau 

Julie is the Founder of BrandTwist a brand consultancy focused on helping entrepreneurs and corporations build their brands and leverage them as actionable business assets. Julie brings to this venture a wealth of experience in brand building for some of the world’s best-loved and most successful brands.

Until August 2011, Julie was the Vice President of Brand at Virgin USA overseeing branding strategy for new Virgin companies in North America as well as providing strategic brand support for the established Virgin businesses.

Virgin is a leading branded venture capital organization and one of the world’s most recognized and respected brands. Conceived in 1970 by Sir Richard Branson, the Virgin Group has gone on to grow very successful businesses in sectors ranging from mobile telephony to transportation, travel, financial services, leisure, music, publishing, and retailing. Virgin has created more than 200 companies worldwide, employing over 50,000 people in 29 countries. Existing North American businesses include Virgin America, Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Mobile, and Virgin Hotels.

Prior to joining Virgin USA, Julie served as Executive Director of Consumer Branding at Interbrand, a leading global branding consultancy. At Interbrand she oversaw strategic development and implementation across a wide range of innovative brands such as Orbitz, Avon, Stolichnaya Elit, TD Ameritrade, Heinz EZ Squirt, AT&T U-Verse, Hallmark, Vitamin Water, Time Inc. New Ventures, and Subaru Tribeca. She is the creator of Interbrand’s proprietary Brand Tango® Innovation process which leverages out of category best practices to break through in competitive markets.

During her ten-year tenure at Grey Worldwide she led the development of iconic brands such as Pantene, Camay, Kool-Aid and Honeycomb. Fluent in French, Julie spent three years at Grey Paris as an International Account Director. She graduated Cum Laude from the University of Pennsylvania Annenberg School of Communications. She lives in Westchester County with her husband and two children.

Julie is a Visiting Senior Lecturer of Marketing at the Johnson School of Business at Cornell University. She is also a frequent commentator on brand innovation and inspiration through her popular branding blog (www.BrandTwist.com) on Twitter at @jcottin and on numerous expert panels and conference keynotes.