Richard Mertens · Portfolio

Ideas in rotation.

Creative Brand Strategy
Hover to set ideas in rotation
Visual work

Craft, motion and new creative workflows.

Only selected executions — separated from the strategic case studies above.

Photography

A concise edit of product and lifestyle photography across distinct hi-fi brand worlds.

Pro-Ject · Sub Box 50 E
PhotographyPro-Ject · Sub Box 50 E
Videography

Music-led product, collaboration and event films built for social-first viewing.

VideographyTONE · Back to School Sale
AI Creative Lab

Creative direction, generative production and post-production developed around campaign needs.

AI Creative Lab · Product world
AI Creative LabAI Creative Lab · Product world
About me

I build brands where strategy, culture and visual craft meet.

Richard Mertens holding a loudspeaker

I work at the intersection of creative strategy, brand marketing and visual communication, with a particular interest in design-led products and brands with a strong cultural identity.

My background combines hands-on creative work with strategic and analytical marketing. I started developing independent music and event concepts in Vienna at 17, building their identities, websites, promotional campaigns and social presence from the ground up. These early projects taught me how to translate an idea into a brand experience and how creativity, audience understanding and commercial thinking need to work together.

Since 2023, I have been working in Brand Marketing and Art Direction at Audio Tuning, contributing to the communication of international audio and hi-fi brands including Pro-Ject Audio Systems and TONE Factory. My work spans campaign strategy, product launches, art direction, photography and video production, paid social, newsletters, web content, brand collaborations and performance analysis. I regularly take projects from the initial strategic idea through creative production to the evaluation of campaign KPIs.

Alongside my professional work, I completed an MSc in Marketing at WU Vienna, where I focused on connecting marketing theory with real business challenges. My projects included AI-driven search behaviour, Gen Z advertising and creative performance testing. For my master’s thesis, The Slow Playback, I conducted a 2×2×2 Meta field experiment investigating how video pace, retro aesthetics and heritage versus modern brand positioning influence advertising performance.

What interests me most is the space where product, design, culture and communication come together. I want to create distinctive brand experiences that are strategically grounded, visually compelling and measurable, particularly for physical products and lifestyle brands people can see, use and remember.

T-shaped profile

Broad across creative execution. Deep in strategy, ideas and concepts.

Event MarketingPhotography & VideographySocial Media & Performance MarketingGenerative AIBrand Design
Core depthCreative Marketing Strategy, Idea & Concept

Brand positioning · Audience insight · Campaign concepts · Product storytelling · Creative effectiveness

Selected experience & collaborations
Pro-Ject Audio Systems logo
TONE Factory logo
Musical Fidelity logo
mo° sound logo
Platine Verdier logo
E.A.T. European Audio Team logo
Vöslauer Mineralwasser logo
REQS logo
WU Vienna logo
Volksbank logo
BAKUBA logo
SWIP logo
Pulsation Recordings logo
DISTRICT BASS
Absolut logo
Beefeater logo
Malfy Gin logo
MAKAvA logo
Contact & curriculum vitae

Experience, education and skills.