WHITES · RIYADH / SAUDI ARABIA
AK WORKS · BRAND EXPERIENCE
There is usually more potential in a brand than its current experience reveals.
Senior retail brand experience, applied to the stores, flagships, hospitality venues and rollouts where brands host their customers.
AK Works is the independent brand experience practice of Ales Kernjak, built on senior roles at Aesop, PUMA and Timberland.
30+
Years inside brand experience
1,600+
Branded spaces shaped, developed or delivered
6
Continents of project experience
EXPERIENCE IN PRACTICE
Proof across scale, service and systems.
AESOP · MELBOURNE / GLOBAL
One global retail function across stores, service and training.
PUMA · ZURICH / GLOBAL
A global retail concept system for multiple formats.
See the work
Image credits are listed on the Work page.
SERVICES
Think. Shape.
Build. Scale.
Four routes, depending on what already exists, what needs deciding and what has to happen next. Each one is a valid place to start.
Think · 01
Brand Experience Diagnostic
See what is working, what is drifting and what to address first.
Shape · 02
Brand Strategy & Experience Direction
Find the part of the brand worth building around.
Build · 03
Retail & Hospitality Concept Development
Protect the idea while making it buildable.
Scale · 04
Playbooks, Standards & Rollout Systems
Make it work on the hundredth site, not just the first.
THE SWEET SPOT METHOD™
A simple way to see where brand experience is working, drifting or being diluted.
The Sweet Spot Method™ looks at Product, Service and Culture together, so decisions are made as one connected system rather than a set of separate initiatives.
EXPERIENCE BEHIND AK WORKS
Thirty years inside brand experience.
Ales Kernjak’s work connects brand strategy, service, space, teams and rollout, the places where brand intent is usually strengthened, diluted or lost. AK Works stays senior and direct, with specialist collaborators brought in where the work needs them.
THINKING
CURRENT SERIESThe Experience-Led
Hospitality Playbook.
A current article series on hospitality and competitive socialising: venue concepts, guest journeys, service culture and the brands people return to.
Written with Zachary Pulman Studio.
GET IN TOUCH
Start with what is already there.
The first conversation is usually the most useful place to begin: what is working, what feels underused and what deserves attention next.