Michael Behnke

A native German, Michael Behnke has spent his entire professional life building and managing global brands through marketing and advertising. Educated in marketing and economics at Oklahoma City University, Michael Behnke has been overseeing the strategic development and management of numerous global brands, working in international agencies such as Ogilvy, Young & Rubicam, TBWA and Publicis out of New York, Sao Paulo, Frankfurt and Paris. Since 2005 Michael Behnke has been running his own company by the name of Belly Button Paris, a brand consultancy specializing in brand strategy and operational marketing. Among his past and current clients are many leading FMCG brands such as Danone, Nestlé, L'Oréal, Channel Group, Unilever, Colgate/Palmolive, Pernod Ricard and McCain as well as industrial brands such as Mercedes Benz, Volvo, Siemens, Caterpillar, Tarkett, Ciba Geigy and services companies like American Express and ITT Sheraton. 

Michael Behnke has been a part-time professor at AUP since September 2014 and teaches two classes in brand & competitive strategy and advertising. Both classes combine essential branding and advertising theory with a large number of real brand cases and illustrations, using the Harvard Business School teaching methods.