The Brand Book
Guides expression.
Defines how the brand presents itself to people: its positioning, identity, messaging, visual language, tone of voice and principles for consistency.
Strategic AI Marketing & Brand Consultancy
Brand Building
for Humans and AI
You know what your Brand Book says. Do you know what AI says?
We help you define how your brand should be understood, find where AI gets it wrong, and lead the program that addresses the difference.
Closing the AI Brand Gap™
Based in Cambridge, MA20+ years international expertise
Our positioning
One brand. Across every audience.
Companies need one clearly defined brand that can travel across markets, marketing, sales, service and AI.
KVD defines that strategic foundation. We establish what your company stands for, whom it serves, what makes it different and how it should be understood. That foundation guides your Brand Book, AI Brand Book, go-to-market decisions and the programs that put the strategy into practice.
The challenge
Your brand has another audience.
Your customers increasingly use AI to discover, understand and compare brands. Those answers can shape their view of your business before they reach your website.
If the positioning in your Brand Book and the way AI represents your company do not match, you have an AI Brand Gap™. Your strengths may be overlooked, your offer misunderstood, or your business associated with the wrong alternatives.
We help you identify that gap and address the information and signals contributing to it.
The AI Brand Gap™
- The brand you intend
- The brand you communicate
- The AI Brand Gap™
- The brand AI understands
- The brand AI presents
- The brand your customer understands
Our approach
Brand strategy first. A coordinated program follows.
Before choosing tools or commissioning activities, we establish what your company stands for, whom it serves, and how it should be understood.
Together, we create your AI Brand Book: a shared reference for brand understanding, coordinated campaigns and ongoing action. We then assess how AI represents your business and lead the program that addresses the AI Brand Gap™.
Two complementary brand references
One brand strategy. Two complementary books.
Your Brand Book and AI Brand Book work from the same strategic foundation. One guides how you express the brand. The other defines the understanding you want AI to reflect.
The AI Brand Book
Defines intended understanding.
Documents how the brand should be understood by AI platforms: its category, audiences, competitive associations, relevant problems and use cases, supporting evidence, authority and brand signals.
It also establishes priorities for AI activation, relevant tools and channels, a structured prompt-testing framework, and measurement and governance.
Together, the books give internal teams and specialist partners a shared reference for decisions and action.
The AI Brand Campaign
Turn the AI Brand Gap into a program of action.
We assess AI responses against your intended brand positioning, using questions and buying situations relevant to your customers.
The AI Brand Gap™ guides the prompts we test, the sources we examine, and the information we correct, enrich or build. We coordinate specialist partners, content, websites and tools around those priorities.
We track changes, assess what is working and refine the campaign over time. This is a sustained program that evolves with your market, your brand and AI systems.
- 01
Define
Establish the intended brand understanding.
- 02
Assess
Examine AI responses across relevant questions and buying situations.
- 03
Activate
Coordinate information, content, website and specialist work.
- 04
Evaluate
Assess changes and refine priorities.
The AI Brand Book establishes the strategic reference.
The AI Brand Campaign provides the subsequent evaluation, activation and ongoing program.
Led by KVD’s founders, our programs bring together expertise in brand strategy, marketing effectiveness, AI and program management.
Explore the program and teamWho we help
For companies whose brand needs to be understood more clearly.
Your brand is established, but AI describes it inaccurately or incompletely.
Your positioning, offer or market is changing, and your public information needs to reflect it.
Your teams and partners are using AI but lack a shared strategic reference.
Client benefits
A clearer brand. A shared direction. Better-informed action.
Clearer positioning
Define whom you serve, what makes you different and the evidence behind your claims.
Shared direction
Align leadership, marketing teams and specialist partners around one brand reference.
Focused investment
Prioritise work against observed gaps and relevant buying situations.
Consistent representation
Strengthen the information supporting your brand across content, channels and AI touchpoints.
Ongoing learning
Use repeated evaluation to guide the next decisions as markets and AI systems change.
The aim is to improve the accuracy, relevance and consistency of how AI represents your brand. Individual AI responses remain variable; recommendations and rankings cannot be guaranteed.
Selected client work
The international experience behind our work.
Our international marketing and market-entry work for companies entering the U.S. is part of the expertise we bring to building brands for humans and AI.
Byewaste
Supporting Byewaste's U.S. market entry
Circular economy and textile technology
KVD announced its engagement to support Byewaste's U.S. market entry and go-to-market strategy.
Read the Byewaste storyGradyent
Supporting Gradyent's expansion into the U.S.
Energy technology and software
KVD announced its engagement to support Gradyent's U.S. market entry and go-to-market strategy.
Read the Gradyent storybiotactical
A strategic marketing partnership for biotactical's U.S. expansion
Biotechnology and life sciences
biotactical announced a strategic marketing partnership with KVD to support bringing its rapid microbial detection technology to the U.S. market.
Read the biotactical storyAbout KVD
Based in Cambridge. International in outlook.
What is KVD?
KVD is a strategic AI marketing and brand consultancy based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. We help companies define how their brands should be understood by customers, markets and AI systems.
Our work combines brand strategy, AI Brand Books, AI Brand Campaigns, go-to-market strategy and international market-entry expertise. We help leadership teams define whom they serve, what makes them different, the value they create and the evidence supporting those claims.
The result is one strategic brand foundation that can travel across markets, marketing, sales, service and AI.
Brand & Marketing Strategy
Nathalie van Doorne
15+ years in strategic brand management, digital marketing and business development across global markets.
AI Brand Strategy & International Markets
Wilbert Kragten
20+ years in international marketing and business, and author of a practical playbook for U.S. market entry.
Our founding story
From Dutch bicycles to business strategy.
KVD began with a shared bicycle ride in Cambridge, Massachusetts. After moving from the Netherlands, Wilbert and Nathalie connected through cycling and conversations about international marketing, business growth, and the challenges of entering new markets.
Those conversations became Kragten & Van Doorne Consultancy: a partnership combining their experience in brand strategy and market entry to help companies enter and grow in the U.S., and support American businesses expanding internationally.
FAQ
Questions about KVD
- What is KVD?
- KVD is a strategic AI marketing and brand consultancy based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. KVD helps companies define how their brands should be understood by customers, markets and AI systems.
- What does KVD specialize in?
- KVD specializes in brand strategy, AI Brand Books, AI Brand Campaigns, go-to-market strategy and international market entry. Its work connects brand positioning with marketing, sales, service and AI.
- What is an AI Brand Book?
- An AI Brand Book is a structured strategic reference that defines how a company should be understood by both people and AI systems. It brings together positioning, audiences, differentiation, value propositions, evidence and other core brand information.
- What is the AI Brand Gap™?
- The AI Brand Gap™ is KVD’s term for the difference between the brand a company intends to build and how AI systems currently understand and represent that company.
Synfiny
International expertise. New England connections.
KVD is part of the Synfiny network, supporting its business development efforts in New England. From our base in Cambridge, Massachusetts, we help build regional relationships and identify opportunities to connect businesses with the network’s expertise.
This role brings together our international marketing perspective and our presence in the New England business community.
Insights & perspectives
The book, the thinking, and where you can meet us.
New article · October 7, 2026
What Is the AI Brand Gap?
AI can describe your business accurately yet miss what makes it relevant. Learn how to recognise the AI Brand Gap and turn it into priorities for action.
Read the article Our new book
Closing the AI Brand Gap™: The AI Brand Book
A framework for aligning brand strategy with AI understanding, by Wilbert Kragten and Nathalie van Doorne.
Explore our books Published on Medium
You Know What Your Brand Book Says. Do You Know What AI Says?
An introduction to the AI Brand Gap™: the difference between intended brand positioning and how AI represents a business, and how an AI Brand Book can guide coordinated action.
Read on MediumExternal article. Opens on medium.com.
Strategic marketing insights
Perspectives on international marketing
Explore our latest observations on positioning, market entry, and international growth on LinkedIn.
Read our perspectives on LinkedIn Speaking & events
U.S. market entry at Invest in Resilience
Wilbert Kragten presented on U.S. market entry for medtech and digital health companies at Invest International's event.
Read the recap See events and updates CMOtalk USA
Transatlantic marketing conversations
Conversations with marketing leaders on both sides of the Atlantic about brands, markets, AI, and growth.
Listen to CMOtalk USAClosing the AI Brand Gap™
You know what your Brand Book says. Do you know what AI says?
If the two do not match, you have an AI Brand Gap™. Let’s discuss how to close it.
Discuss your AI Brand Gap