Markensprint® uncovers what your brand conveys unconsciously – and why people trust it.
Projects and Publications
MARKENSPRINT®
Markensprint® is the living, concrete application of my approach, described in my book Brand Magic. It unites three decades of experience in brand development, psychology, and resonance work into a unique format: three full days of deep engagement with your brand and its potential, a fresh and psychologically informed perspective – and a written exposé that endures and inspires.
My understanding of brands is rooted in the belief that they are resonances of the psyche – unconscious responses that make ideas come alive. It is the fascination and the sense of inner participation that a brand evokes at its core and through which it transforms its audience.
WHAT IS A MARKENSPRINT
It is a foundation paper that reveals the essence of your brand – with a psychologically grounded perspective on resonance, unconscious forces, and the true impact your brand has on people.
It shows which levers should be applied not just to reach people, but to touch them and invite them into inner participation. At the same time, it addresses core questions: What does our brand truly stand for? Where are we unique, and where do we appear interchangeable? Which scenarios open up for our future positioning?
In only three days, a thoughtfully crafted and compelling document is created – a compass for your next steps: clear, profound, and entirely independent.
This independence is intentional: the format is not tied to follow-up projects or hidden agendas.
BRAND FASZINATION
“Anyone who leads a brand must understand the belief in it and the trust it inspires. You know this: whenever belief confronts reason, belief prevails. The true power of a brand is the power of fascination and of unconsciously granted trust – not of rational decisions.”
— Thomas Zerlauth
WHY
Markensprint gets to the essence of your brand – without slides, without agency jargon, but with a precise professional eye and language that is both clear and accessible.
You will not receive another generic strategy paper, but a unique expertise, comparable to a deep psychological analysis and a concise positioning paper for your brand.
The document makes visible the unconscious patterns shaping your brand today, the potentials still hidden, and the codes that build trust. It shows why people resonate with your brand, why they feel inner connection – and how your brand creates fascination and participation.
What emerges is a framework of orientation that secures investments, avoids missteps, and builds the foundation for meaningful communication, aligned offerings, and inspired teams.
THE FOUNDATION
DAS FUNDAMENT
Process after commissioning:
STÄRKE VON INNEN
A Markensprint® is the distilled knowledge of 30 years of brand work – not consultancy, not an endless project, but a foundation that strengthens your brand from within.
It also serves as an ideal reference framework for your agency – enabling you to track, guide, and evaluate their implementation.
If you sense that your brand is more than marketing, then Markensprint® is the right beginning.
And if you feel you are currently stuck and in need of a fresh perspective, then Markensprint® is the right instrument.
Let’s talk about your brand.
info@thomaszerlauth.com
BRANDMAGIC
“Brands are not objective facts, but subjective realities – activated through deliberately shaped codes and memories. They are not simply ‘made’; they work unconsciously as mirrors of the psyche – and therein lies their true magic.”
— Thomas Zerlauth
UNDERSTANDING BRANDS IN DEPTH
Thomas Zerlauth is a brand strategist oriented toward depth psychology. For 25+ years, he has worked as a brand developer and author. Trained as a psychotherapeutic coach (NLP, hypnosis, systemic family therapy, among others), he published several standard works on NLP, mental training, mindfulness, and perception as early as the mid-1990s. He defines brands as multidimensional and coded frameworks of meaning that operate primarily in the unconscious… they are not simply “made,” but arise as a “resonance of the psyche.”
In 2023, Haufe Verlag published his books Brand Magic (Markenmagie) and Viral Branding (Virale Markenbildung). He lives in Vorarlberg, Zurich, and Bangkok.
Was Menschen unbewusst vertrauen lässt und Bedeutung vermittelt. Haufe Fachbuch, 2023
SPECIALIST IN THE UNCONSCIOUS
The magic of a brand, from the perspective of the consumer, lies in nothing other than our unconscious reaction to an inner gut feeling and the inexplicable spell it casts upon us. What truly matters is this: its magic is implicitly meaningful. Brands orient themselves to the possibilities of resonance with our unconscious – not merely to satisfying surface-level desires of the ego or logical purchase arguments.
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST IDEAS
In my view, brands are condensed fields of information that touch people unconsciously and invite an inner response. That is why brands must fascinate and elevate us!
Some ideas or brands spread across the globe in no time, while others do not. Thomas Zerlauth speaks here of a “competition of the fittest ideas.” He explains how brands spread from brain to brain, and what enables and accelerates this process.
You will learn how we should imagine mental content, ideas, or information in the first place – and what happens within people who are set in motion and seduced by these very impulses. His book invites you to shift perspective, to view the world through the lens of memes, and thus to understand which factors secure their survival and make them successful.
