Does every company really need a big emotional story?

In this conversation, host Mikkel Svold sits down with Fredrik Hillerbrand, creative producer at Open Door and head of growth at Connie, a company handling contracts mainly for the creative industry. With 18 years as CEO of Danish production companies and deep experience in television storytelling, he brings a different lens to branding.

They explore what storytelling actually is, when it works for brands, and when it becomes hollow. They also dig into consumer versus B2B brands, changing narratives when the world shifts, and why attachment might matter more than attention in a world flooded with AI content.

1. Storytelling requires real values, not boardroom inventions
2. Branding is strategy plus identity, storytelling is expression
3. Conflict drives emotional attachment
4. Multiple stories can orbit one core value
5. B2B emotions exist, they just look different
6. You can’t fake values without being exposed
7. Attention is abundant, attachment is scarce
8. Transparency and credibility will matter more

00:00 – Welcome to the Content Universe 02:16 – What storytelling actually means 06:40 – Branding versus storytelling 10:10 – One brand many stories 13:16 – Consumer brands versus B2B 18:16 – Building blocks of a strong story 25:59 – Changing your story without losing credibility 30:12 – From attention to attachment

“If you don’t have it, don’t try to get one.” “A stuffed story that is superimposed will get exposed.” “Branding is strategy plus identity, storytelling is expression.” “Conflict is the base of every story.” “You must prove that the story we told about you is bulletproof.” “Attention will drive everything from that.” “It has to be replaced by a true attachment.” “If you want to stand out, you have to be transparent.”

storytelling, branding, conflict, emotional attachment, brand values, purpose, Simon Sinek, consumer brands, B2B marketing, authenticity, attention economy, attachment, AI generated content, long form storytelling, credibility, strategy and identity, boardroom discussions, brand narrative

Marketing departments in large industrial companies are sitting on enormous untapped potential.

They have the engineering depth, the application knowledge, and the long-standing customer relationships that every B2B marketer dreams of. And yet many of them are still caught in a pattern that undermines all of it.

The big-bang campaign. A flashy product launch. A beautiful video production. Then silence. Then another campaign.

Dorthe Borup Sindberg has spent 14 years at Danfoss across different roles in marketing communications, with the last three years as Senior Director of Global Marketing Communications for Danfoss Drives, one of the most recognisable names in industrial technology.

In that time, she has watched the marketing function evolve from a product-first, campaign-driven discipline into something considerably harder to execute but far more valuable.

A consistent, always-on presence that earns buyer trust long before anyone is ready to talk to a salesperson.

In this conversation, Dorthe and Mikkel dig into the real shifts happening inside large industrial organisations.

• Why always-on content is still a genuinely difficult sell internally, despite the logic being clear.
• Why prioritisation matters even more in the age of AI than it did before.
• And why the companies getting thought leadership right on LinkedIn are not the ones posting most frequently.

They also get into the growing importance of showing up in AI search results, and why the tried-and-tested work of SEO turns out to be a solid foundation for that too.

This is a candid, experienced conversation about what B2B marketing in complex, long-cycle industries actually requires to work.

00:00 Introduction and Danfoss Drives context

00:55 The two big shifts in industrial marketing right now

04:18 Why marketing is becoming more human and less product-led

07:06 Opportunities Dorthe is paying attention to right now

10:03 Why consistent content is so hard to sustain internally

13:24 Whether AI removes the need for prioritisation

17:24 How to build and maintain a genuine point of view

19:02 How to produce content with subject matter experts

27:24 The biggest struggles ahead, including proving marketing's impact

36:50 Closing reflections

Questions, topic ideas, or guest suggestions: podcast@montanus.co

Find more episodes at montanus.co

What if the reason your content isn’t working has nothing to do with ideas, and everything to do with ambition?

In this episode of The Content Universe, host Mikkel Svold goes solo and argues that the superpower of content marketing in 2026 is a slightly uncomfortable combo, being overly ambitious, and then being brutally pragmatic about how you’ll pull it off. He uses a prospect conversation as the trigger, three to four blog posts in six months, and breaks down why that kind of ambition quietly kills content before it even starts.

This matters if you’re in a large B2B or engineering company, because your constraints are real, time, tools, quality checks, the whole thing. The point isn’t to ignore them. It’s to set the bar high enough that you’re forced to build a system that can actually keep up.

1. Ambition sets direction, pragmatism makes execution possible
2. Low output often comes from low ambition, not lack of ideas
3. Fresh content still matters, even when repurposing works
4. Global audiences require higher publishing frequency
5. Constraints help shape better, faster workflows
6. Perfection slows production more than it improves results

00:00 – The superpower of content marketing

03:04 – Rethinking publishing cadence for global audiences

05:59 – Time, quality, and practical compromises

09:27 – Daily podcasts, daily posts, and bullet thinking

11:35 – Competing with AI through output and personality