1395: Zappi: How Multinational Companies Adapt and Succeed with Global Brand Strategist Nataly Kelly

Thursday, August 7, 2025

Growing a brand across borders sounds exciting until you realize how easy it is to get it wrong. What clicks with one audience might feel tone-deaf or confusing somewhere else, and it’s not just about language—it’s about values, habits, even colors and timing. Big names like Nike and Starbucks didn’t just push the same message everywhere—they listened, adapted, and blended in without losing who they are. When companies miss that step, even the best ideas can flop, not because they weren’t good, but because they didn’t fit.

Nataly Kelly is the CMO at Zappi and a global brand strategist with deep roots in tech and cross-cultural marketing. Today, she breaks down how top brands like Nike and Kit Kat tailor their messaging worldwide without losing their identity. She emphasizes the need for clear goals, personal branding, and adapting to an AI-driven market. Nataly also shares tips on navigating big career shifts with purpose and resilience. Her message: success comes from blending global vision with local insight. Stay tuned!

Quotes:

“Building global teams is a big part of building a global brand. So hiring—and everything around hiring great people and building a team—is really the secret to success in any business, especially global business.”

“Whenever things get tough, whether it's a people problem or a budget problem, it always helps to zoom out and ask, ‘Okay, where are we headed, and what's the most important thing we need to do?’”

“It's okay to set the bar a little lower, as long as the focus is on progress.”