Will Higham
Will Higham
CONSUMER FUTURIST, AUTHOR, SPEAKER & FOUNDER, NEXT BIG THING – Will Higham is a global authority on Innovation and Strategy. Will predicts how future customers are going to behave, and recommends the best strategies clients should use to reach them.
Speaker Topics
Will Higham speaks on the following topics:
Consumerism | Futurist | Innovation | Recruitment
Will Higham is a global authority on Innovation and Strategy. Will predicts how future customers are going to behave, and recommends the best strategies clients should use to reach them.
He’s the man who championed Strictly Come Dancing to the BBC, warned the drinks industry about the New Sobriety, and saw the Wellbeing Consumer coming a mile off.
His engaging and inspiring talks leave audiences excited to face the future: armed with new, smarter ways to handle tomorrow’s consumers; and an arsenal of opportunities for innovation-led growth. His keynote talks have inspired thousands globally: from conferences organised by the Financial Times and Harvard Business Review to corporate events for Walt Disney, Barclaycard and Primark.
Will runs strategic consultancy Next Big Thing, helping clients from Amazon to HSBC understand what their customers (and employees) will think, do, expect, demand and buy in future.
He wrote the first practical handbook for trend strategists: ‘The Next Big Thing: Forecasting Consumer Trends For Profit’ (Kogan Page, 2009), which has since been translated into five languages.
He’s been interviewed across media: BBC to Bloomberg TV, Fast Company to The Times. He presented a TV show for CNBC, and written for The Economist, Advertising Age and Huffington Post.
He’s taken part in academic programs like Cambridge University’s Open Innovation Forum and been a judge on panels such as WARC Innovation Awards and this year’s IoD Innovation Awards.
Will made his name in the Music industry. Working at Sony, Virgin and Universal, he marketed artists from Michael Jackson to The Rolling Stones. His fascination with music fans led him to the Research industry, as a consumer trends consultant for brands from Levis to BT: and later as managing director of research company OnePoll, whose clients include Kelloggs and Findus.
Will’s most popular keynote topics:
Building a Faster Horse: Five reasons consumer-led innovation is the easy way to boost your bottom line.
Three BIG Words: Why Control, Comfort and Community are what your customer will want tomorrow – and what it means for your business
Securing the ‘Smart Employee’: How to hire, and retain, the right talent to make your company fit for tomorrow.
Culture Club: You can’t profess without innovation, and you can’t innovate without an Innovation Culture.
Speech topics
Innovation
Futurist
Consumerism
Recruitment
“Will gave us great insights into how consumer attitudes are changing, and how companies will need to adapt to better appeal to tomorrow’s new ‘smart’ shopper.” Senior Editor, Financial Times Global Conferences
“Will’s insights into the changing attitudes and behaviour of consumers proved really useful.” Head of Entertainment, BBC
“Will has the unique skill of being able to identify those trends which are important and those which are just fads, then translating them into a commercial opportunity for your business.” Head of Insight, Sainsbury’s
“Will’s talk was a great way to start our strategy conference. He brought new, provocative insights into evolving consumer behaviours, inspiring the audience to think of new ways to serve tomorrow’s consumer.” Director of Strategy & Business Transformation, Primark
“Will offered a unique perspective on how companies can remain competitive in the 21st century, in a compelling, entertaining and convincing manner: encouraging delegates to rethink their approach to consumer behaviour.” Department for International Trade, South West
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