Sara Riis-Carstensen

Brand Transformation Leader Behind Global Icons Including LEGO, Carlsberg, Lufthansa & De Beers

Sara Riis-Carstensen

Brand Transformation Leader Behind Global Icons Including LEGO, Carlsberg, Lufthansa & De Beers

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Biography

Sara Riis-Carstensen is the strategic driver behind LEGO’s rise to global brand supremacy. With a career spanning some of the world’s most iconic brands, including Carlsberg, De Beers, Giorgio Armani, and Lufthansa, Sara has earned acclaim as a pioneering figure in brand transformation and in harnessing the power of culture to drive growth.

With a career spent revitalizing and elevating some of the world’s most iconic brands, Sara brings unmatched, real-world credibility to the stage. At LEGO, she built the brand strategy that propelled LEGO to become the most powerful brand in the world.

Following her success at LEGO, Sara later brought that same transformational lens to the world’s largest diamond company, De Beers, modernizing a 130-year-old heritage brand for a digital, always-on world – and proving that even the most traditional organizations can reinvent themselves when culture and brand move together.

After a period working as a management consultant in New York, Sara took on her current role at Europe’s largest aviation group, Lufthansa Group. Here she is driving a major brand transformation – aligning a diverse portfolio of B2B and B2C brands including Lufthansa, SWISS, and ITA Airways, into one cohesive brand narrative.

Her keynotes are energizing, creative, and deeply inspiring. She challenges leaders to rethink what a brand truly is: not a marketing function, but a strategic discipline. Not a campaign, but a way to stay culturally relevant. Not just a promise on the outside, but also behavior on the inside.

Sara combines boardroom experience with magnetic stage presence. She doesn’t speak in theory – she speaks from the inside of bold brand transformations; she has lived them, shaped them, and continues to define them.

For organizations navigating change, redefining cultural relevance, or seeking to build iconic brands, Sara delivers the clarity and momentum leaders need.

Speaker Videos

Building a Brand Brick by Brick

Speech Topics

Building a Brand. Brick by Brick.

In this keynote, Sara Riis-Carstensen takes you inside the making of LEGO’s first global brand strategy – brick by brick. At a time when LEGO stood on the edge of bankruptcy, the company chose reinvention over retreat. Join Sara as she reveals the bold thinking that helped transform LEGO into one of the most beloved brands in the world. It’s a behind-the-scenes story of strategy, creativity, and how a brand can rebuild itself to capture hearts across generations.

Authenticity in the Age of AI

In a world where algorithms talk and chatbots sell, authenticity has never been more powerful. Sara Riis-Carstensen reveals how brands can stay true, human, and relevant in an era defined by artificial intelligence and growing consumer skepticism. Discover how authenticity isn’t just a differentiator – it’s the ultimate competitive advantage.

How Brands Become Icons

Why do some brands fade into the background while others become part of culture? In this keynote Sara Riis-Carstensen explores how the most powerful brands earn relevance by tapping into cultural movements, tensions, and conversations that people actually care about. Through compelling case studies and sharp insights, Sara reveals how brands can move from simply communicating to truly participating in culture. The result: brands that people talk about, share, and carry with them far beyond the product.

Mindset to Be Disruptive

In a world where disruption is constant, the real competitive advantage lies not in reacting to change, but in becoming the disruptor. This keynote explores how leaders can fundamentally shift their mindset, challenge sacred assumptions, and redefine the rules of their industry before others do.

Standing Out in Sameness

How do you stand out when everyone plays by the same rules? Sara Riis-Carstensen shares how she redefined branding for the Lufthansa Group and Zurich Insurance by daring to think differently. In this keynote, she unveils how creativity, courage, and customer obsession can revolutionize industries trapped in conformity.

Testimonials

"Sara’s presentation gave me a glimpse into the best in-class brand strategy development. This was an excellent presentation that gave me a lot to think about in the way we approach brand building strategically and creatively."

- Burberry

"Sara helped us kick off the internal implementation of our corporate brand. She infused us with great energy and motivation. Thank you!"

- Danske Bank

"Sara is an inspiring and captivating speaker!"

- Creative Strategist, Facebook

"Building on her extensive knowledge about branding, Sara provided a wealth of real-life examples and stories, which all served as inspiration to consider branding in a new way."

- Coca-Cola

"We were honored to welcome filmmaker, author, and environmental storyteller Céline Cousteau to the stage with a keynote that moved far beyond travel. She shared a powerful reminder that travel is more than an external experience, it is an inward journey of reflection, perspective, and reconnection. Her words were a powerful finale to a week of insight, collaboration, and future-focused thinking."

- HBX Group