Smart marketing is always WIP
How a one-man wrecking crew does things differently.
Sailors & Mermaids is a tiny content and marketing studio run by me, Jonas Strandell. I’m an award-winning marketer, designer, and writer based outside Stockholm, Sweden.
Growing up, I always wanted to be a “comic book person.” But that was a somewhat limited space to be in. Who knew!? My parents have always supported my decision to pursue a creative career. My mom used to draw as her job, and my dad’s title was Typographer; let that sink in. Later, I went to film school to become a screenwriter. It turned out there were about three jobs for writers in Sweden, and all positions had been filled by the same people, for the past 30 or 40 years.
Then along came the Internet.
I created my first website using Netscape and a 14.4k dial-up modem in the mid-90s, and I was hooked. I’ve been creating things online since.
I’ve spent over 20 years building marketing teams at tech companies. My time in the trenches has allowed me to lead marketing teams at companies such as Besedo, Pingdom, Dooer, and SolarWinds. I’ve built global teams and created content and marketing efforts around world-leading software and products. Those efforts won awards and deserve the spotlight, not me. I have been fortunate enough to work with companies like Ben Sherman, Sega Games, MTV, and more.
My wife Josefine and I reside just outside Stockholm, but we dream of someday living on or near a vineyard in northern Italy. You might as well dream big, right?
Jonas Strandell outside London Design Museum.
Not like the other kids
What we lack in size, we more than make up for in impression and impact. After all, it’s not the size of the boat but the motion of the ocean.
We obsessively take things from good to great, mainly because we can transcend your passion for your product and company to the end-user. But remember: if your fidelity to perfectionism is too high, you will never do anything.
Always add value
Working with Sailors & Mermaids will Always Add Value – AAV (Ding!) to you. The kind that drives real growth builds trust and makes people care about what you do.
Always dive deep, ask the right questions, and always be helpful. Because if we’re not, then what good are we?
Whether content, design, or brand positioning, the goal is always to make it clear, helpful, and matter.
Have any questions? Check out our FAQ.
Jonas Strandell and wife Josefine on vespa. Pixel art is forever.
Colophon
The current version of this website was created in fits and starts, with considerable delays and indecision. Most ideas spawned during evenings and weekends, and the previous versions of the website are in the bin, where they belong.
All design and development was done in-house (literally). The website itself is built from the ground up in Framer with some extra coding tweaks. Illustrations, patterns, animations, icons, and pixel art were created using a mix of pen & paper, Procreate, Figma, and Adobe Photoshop. Oh, and I have sprinkled some subtle easter egg animations all over, and they are all done in Lottie Editor.
I have used responsive design techniques to ensure the site is nicely readable on many devices. While the site has not been widely tested, it should be fine on all modern browsers.
Typography
The text on this site is set using typefaces from various sources. The wonderfully charming headlines are set in Moranga from Fontspring by Sofia Mohr. And the main body text is a beautiful typeface called Circular from Lineto.
Media kit
Short bio (50 words)
Jonas Strandell is an award-winning marketer and designer with over 20 years of experience in SaaS and digital-first companies. He’s led teams at Pingdom, Dooer, Lavendla, and Besedo, helping startups and scaleups grow with smart, data-driven marketing. Through his studio, Sailors & Mermaids, he helps teams create kickass marketing.
Medium bio (101 words)
Jonas Strandell is a Swedish designer, writer, and accidental marketer who has spent over two decades creating award-winning marketing for SaaS companies. He helped grow Pingdom from 30,000 to 900,000 users, scaled Lavendla into the #2 funeral services brand in Sweden, and doubled leads at Besedo while halving the budget. Through his content and marketing studio, Sailors & Mermaids, Jonas helps startups and scaleups be even better. He’s known for his candid, iterative approach and is a self-described Olympic-level potty mouth – fueled by rage and coffee. He loves an English football team that has rarely shown him the same affection.
Long bio (200 words)
Jonas Strandell is an award-winning marketer, designer, and writer based just outside Stockholm, Sweden. Over the last 20 years, he has helped SaaS companies and digital-first brands turn great products into growth engines. As CMO at Pingdom, he built and scaled a global marketing team, growing users from 30,000 to 900,000 and securing clients such as Apple, Instagram, Squarespace, and Spotify. At Dooer, he increased lead generation by 180% in just four months. As CMO and CPO at Lavendla, he led the company’s digital transformation, achieving 75% YoY revenue growth and making it Sweden’s #2 funeral services brand. Most recently, at Besedo, Jonas transformed marketing operations, nearly doubling inbound leads while reducing spend by 47%, bringing in clients like eBay, Voxmedia, and Rockstar Games.
Through his side project Sailors & Mermaids, Jonas works with startups and scaleups, offering strategy, coaching, and hands-on execution. A frequent speaker and writer, he’s passionate about making marketing accessible, iterative, and fun – and freely admits he’s an Olympic-level pottymouth fueled by rage and coffee. A hopeless romantic and optimist at heart, he has given his unwavering loyalty to a football club that has rarely shown him the same affection for 40 years.
Podcasts, interviews, etc.
Evo nordics
The Clean Feed
Precis Digital
Guldstänk
Dagens Industri: Årets Gasell
K10k
Pixelpushers
