Cross-cultural growth marketing

Grow your brand across Europe and East Asia

International digital marketing and growth, cross-cultural insights, and an expert network for companies expanding across Europe and East Asia.

50+ clients · 30+ industries · 15+ markets

Free 30-minute market insights, no sales pitch.

Patric Sawada, founder of Silkdrive cross-cultural growth marketing agency

Patric Sawada·Founder, 2015·Amsterdam, NL

Trusted by teams expanding across Europe and East Asia

We have run growth marketing and market-entry work for companies in a wide range of industries, in both directions of the corridor.

50+
Clients

Across Europe and East Asia, from founders to enterprise teams.

30+
Industries

Retail, automotive, energy, life sciences, logistics, and more.

Since 2015
Founder-led

Every engagement is led by Patric Sawada, backed by a vetted expert network.

Patric enables us to exceed the goals of our LinkedIn Ad campaigns. […] extensive knowledge of tooling and data-driven work.
Christian Crauwels
Christian Crauwels
Marketing Coördinator
A nice guy who integrated smoothly in the team, being pro-active and delivering much more than expected. Patric is data-driven […], not doing stuff for nothing, and a strong advisor. […] we made a lot of improvements during this 4 months.
Petra Vunderink
Petra Vunderink
Head of Marketing Communications, Exact
Patric's creative way of thinking is really inspiring and […] results with Linkedin (one of the hardest marketing channels to use out there) are absolutely staggering!
Simran Singh
Simran Singh
Head of Growth, Recruitee

How we work

Three steps, one goal: growth that holds up in a new market.

Connect

We map the market and bring in the right local experts, so you start with people who already know how it works on the ground.

Adapt

We adapt your product, message, and channels to how people actually decide and buy in each market, not a translated version of your home campaign.

Grow

We run and optimise the campaigns, then keep tuning until the numbers move. We execute, we don't just advise.

What we do

Full-service cross-cultural growth marketing, from your first market-entry plan to live campaigns in each market.

International Digital Marketing

Full-service international marketing execution, SEO, paid media, social, and performance campaigns across Europe and East Asia.

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Cross-Cultural Insights

Cultural adaptation, localisation, and training that help your team and campaigns connect authentically in unfamiliar markets.

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Growth Marketing

Market entry strategy, growth experimentation, and fractional leadership to turn international expansion into measurable results.

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Training & Coaching

Growth, marketing, and cross-cultural training plus executive coaching and market entry webinars for teams working across Europe and East Asia.

Browse Programmes
Takashi Kawatani, lead trainer for Silkdrive's Japan training programmes
Takashi Kawatani
35+ years · 20,000+ alumni · Diversity Management Institute (Tokyo)
Patric Sawada, founder of Silkdrive and growth and cross-cultural marketing trainer
Patric Sawada
11+ years · Founder · Growth & cross-cultural marketing trainer (Amsterdam)

Ways to work with us

Pick the shape that fits where you are. Not sure? Book a call and we will tell you straight.

Sprint

from €12K

scoped per engagement

A scoped engagement to solve one growth problem.

Discuss this engagement →

Workshop

€2,500-5,000

per 3-hour session

Cross-cultural training for teams working across the corridor.

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Fractional CMO

€6,000

per month, one day a week

Senior marketing leadership, embedded part-time.

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Advisor

€2,000-3,000

per month, light retainer

A light retainer for steady, senior input.

Discuss this engagement →

Cross-Cultural Insights

Latest thinking on EU ↔ East Asia growth marketing, cross-cultural strategy, and international expansion.

Japanese Business Etiquette: A Definitive Guide for European Executives
June 22, 202620 min read

Japanese Business Etiquette: A Definitive Guide for European Executives

Greetings, meishi, gifts, dining, omotenashi, and customer service in Japan, treated as one working protocol system, with a country-by-country delta table for Dutch, German, and French executives.

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Test your way into a new culture: the experiment loop behind cross-cultural market entry
June 21, 20266 min read

Test your way into a new culture: the experiment loop behind cross-cultural market entry

How to validate a new market and culturally adapt your marketing assets using a structured growth-experiment loop, with cultural dimensions as the source of testable hypotheses.

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Hofstede Insights vs Country Navigator vs Aperian Global: A Practitioner's Comparison
June 4, 202611 min read

Hofstede Insights vs Country Navigator vs Aperian Global: A Practitioner's Comparison

An honest practitioner-perspective comparison of the three dominant cultural intelligence tool stacks: Hofstede Insights / The Culture Factor, Country Navigator, and Aperian Global. What each one actually does, where each fits, and what is missing from all three.

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FAQ

Questions we get a lot

Our Story

Our name is inspired by the legendary Silk Road, a symbol of connectivity, cultural exchange and commerce.

Silkdrive aims to channel the spirit of the original Silk Road, transforming it into a digital force that drives sustainable growth, across Europe and East-Asia.

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