Joshua Luca Kirkland
I take products to market, for a brand I helped build.Principal Manager for Brand & Product Marketing and Sales Enablement at simpleclub, the platform for school and vocational training. With the company since 2019.
Principal Manager (Brand & Product Marketing, Sales Enablement)
What I do
Four disciplines that work together. Three of them are my job, the fourth is how I work.
Product Marketing
I turn complex products into clear messages. That means launch plans, competitive analysis, and the question of who a product is actually built for.
- Go-to-market strategies and launch plans
- Competitive analysis and positioning
- Audience segmentation and messaging
Sales Enablement
Sales should not start from scratch in every conversation. I provide the material, frameworks and tools for that. Pitch decks, one-pagers, proposal documents, and calculators that make a business case visible.
- Pitch decks, one-pagers and proposal documents
- ROI and business case calculators
- Alignment between marketing and sales
Brand Marketing
I build brand strategies that stay consistent across channels and years. Positioning, visual identity, guidelines and campaigns. That includes keeping the brand protected. I had the simpleclub word and figurative marks registered together with our lawyer and have owned brand protection since.
- Brand positioning and identity
- Integrated campaign development
- Trademark registration and brand protection
Building it myself
What I need, I often build myself instead of briefing it and waiting. Landing pages, internal tools, automations. It turns an idea into something that works much faster.
- Landing pages and web apps with Lovable and Claude
- Internal tools such as an ROI calculator and a proposal generator
- Automations with n8n
What I have worked on
A selection from seven years at simpleclub.
since 2023
From B2C to B2B marketing
When simpleclub shifted its focus from schools to vocational training, I built the sales enablement for it: pitch decks, one-pagers, ROI calculators, proposal documents. That grew into today's product marketing function, with positioning, messaging and a defined launch process.
since 2021
Brand identity, guidelines and brand protection
I co-developed the 2021 brand redesign, including logo and corporate identity, along with the guidelines, tone of voice and brand safety policies. Since then I have owned brand protection. The EU trademark is registered, the extension to further markets is under way, alongside brand safety and legal safeguarding.
ongoing
Tools and pages I build myself
I build a lot of what I would otherwise have to brief out: landing pages, internal tools such as an ROI calculator and a proposal generator, and automations with n8n. This website is one of them.
since 2022
Trade fairs and events
I own simpleclub's trade fair presence, including LEARNTEC, Zukunft Personal Europe, DALK and Deutscher Pflegetag. That covers booth design, positioning, messaging, schedule and budget.
2019 to 2023
Campaigns, trailers and TV commercials
I ran several back-to-school and Black Friday campaigns, from the idea to the finished trailer. Three TV spots aired across the ProSiebenSat.1 network. I also built the influencer marketing programme behind these campaigns, including contracts, briefings and relations.
2020 to 2023
Social media in the B2C years
During the B2C years I developed the social media strategy and built the team behind it. Together we reached millions of people, with more than 500,000 followers on TikTok and more than 100,000 on Instagram. After the shift to B2B, the channels were deliberately paused.
About me
From the first marketing video to a product marketing function.
I joined simpleclub in 2019 as one of its first employees, back when the company was still pre-seed. Since then I have moved through six roles: Marketing Video Director, Creative Director, Brand Strategist, Brand Manager, Team Lead Brand Marketing, and today Principal Manager. Before that I worked self-employed as a creative director under the name kirklandmedia.
In that time, a learning app for schools grew into a provider for both school and vocational training, with more than 50 apprenticeship professions on the platform. I helped build the brand, carried marketing through the move into B2B, and then established product marketing and sales enablement as functions. The next step is under way. simpleclub is growing from a learning offer into the system where apprenticeship training is organised and takes place. Translating that shift into positioning and go-to-market is a focus of my work.
A large part of my work is translating between product, sales and the education team. What comes out of it should be something people understand and buy. I live and work in Munich.
Career stations
June 2025 to today
Munich
Principal Manager (Brand & Product Marketing, Sales Enablement)
Built product marketing as a function, with positioning, messaging and a defined launch process. Also sales enablement, the trade fair presence and simpleclub's brand protection.
May 2023 to June 2025
Munich
Team Lead Brand Marketing
Led a team of four. Carried marketing through the shift from B2C to B2B and built the sales enablement for it. Owned the first LEARNTEC.
May 2022 to May 2023
Munich
Brand Manager
Co-developed the simpleclub company values, reworked App Store marketing and delivered the first own trade fair booth.
March 2021 to May 2022
Munich
Brand Strategist
Co-developed the 2021 brand redesign, along with guidelines, tone of voice and brand safety policies. Built influencer marketing and the social media strategy.
August 2020 to March 2021
Munich
Creative Director
Conceived Back to School 2020, produced the second TV campaign with two spots and built the first simpleclub website.
December 2019 to August 2020
Berlin
Marketing Video Director
Ran the founders' podcast and produced the first video ads and the first TV spot.
Where this comes from
I started on YouTube at 14 as kirkity and stayed a creator until I was 19. I released my own songs and covers, streamed live regularly, and built a community that eventually turned up at the shows. I played the VideoDays at the LANXESS arena in Cologne several times, in front of 15,000 people.
After school I turned that into a job. With kirklandmedia I produced videos and marketing concepts for other people, and I was well connected in the Creator Economy. That is how the contact to simpleclub came about, through a mutual friend. The founders were looking for someone to run their personal brand.
The experience and the contacts from back then are still what I work with today, from the first TV spots to the influencer marketing I later built on top of them.
Skills
Go-to-market
Sales enablement
Brand
Building and execution
Tools
Figma
Adobe Creative Suite
HubSpot
Braze
n8n
Lovable
ClaudeLanguages
German
Native
English
Fluent
Italian
Good proficiency
French
Basic
Memberships
Member of the Product Marketing Alliance, the world's largest community for product marketing professionals.
Academy member of the 9:16® Awards Academy, recognising outstanding 9:16 content on TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels across 16 categories for creators and brands.
© Flemming-Ole FriesFrequently asked questions
- Who is Joshua Luca Kirkland?
- I am Joshua Luca Kirkland, Principal Manager for Brand & Product Marketing and Sales Enablement at simpleclub, a platform for school and vocational training. I live in Munich and have been with the company since 2019.
- What do you work on?
- I own product marketing, sales enablement and brand marketing: positioning and messaging, go-to-market strategies, the material and tools sales uses, brand guidelines and brand protection, and the company's trade fair presence.
- Which roles have you held at simpleclub?
- Six: Marketing Video Director from 2019, Creative Director from 2020, Brand Strategist from 2021, Brand Manager from 2022, Team Lead Brand Marketing from 2023, and Principal Manager since June 2025. Before that I was self-employed as a creative director under the name kirklandmedia.
- What have you built at simpleclub?
- I helped build the brand from its pre-seed days and carried marketing through the move into B2B. After that I established product marketing and sales enablement as functions, and took over brand protection.
- What does vibe coding mean in your case?
- I build landing pages, internal tools and automations myself, using Lovable, Claude and n8n. Among them are an ROI calculator, a proposal generator and this website.
- How can I reach you?
- Best via LinkedIn. That is where I reply fastest.
- What is kirkity?
- kirkity is the name I used as a musician and creator on YouTube from 2014 to 2019, and the handle I still use on Instagram, TikTok and X. That period is also how I came to simpleclub.
Get in touch
Whether it is go-to-market in vocational training, an invitation to a panel or a podcast, or the question of how a marketer builds their own tools: feel free to reach out.