Keynote SpeakersWilliam Higham is a consumer trends futurist, consultant, author and keynote speaker.
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.
His engaging and inspiring talks leave audiences excited to face the future.
He arms delegates 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 Higham runs strategic consultancy Next Big Thing. They help 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, which has 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 wrote for The Economist, Advertising Age and Huffington Post.
Will first 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. He was a consumer trends consultant for brands from Levis to BT, and MD of OnePoll with clients such as Kelloggs and Findus.
William Higham – Future Trends Speaker:
Will has delivered talks on how to monetise trends in Travel, Finance, Leisure, Technology, Fashion, Media, Music, Books – and even in Beds!
He has spoken at numerous events organised by global brands, organisations and media agencies.
Popular speaking topics include:
- Meet the Post-Pandemic Consumer: One thing every organisation needs to understand is what their ‘new normal’ customer will want and expect from them.
- Building a Faster Horse: Five reasons why consumer-led innovation is the easiest 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 progress without innovation, and you can’t innovate without an Innovation Culture.
- Loyalty Seekers and Brand Families: The Future of Customer Loyalty
- Why tomorrow’s consumers could actually prove more loyal than today’s.
- Identify practical ways brands can build a more loyal future customer base.
New talks:
What Happens Next: 4 Practical Ways to Prepare for the Post-Covid Future
It offers four practical things that any company can do to better prepare them and their company for a very different consumer and business landscape once lockdown ends:
- Track the Trends: Determine how your customers’ behaviours are changing.
- Identify New Needs: Create products & strategies based on what your customers will actually want.
- Become Change-Ready: Build adaptability into your structures & culture.
- Diversify What You Do: Avoid future threats by finding new revenue streams & models.
Three ways to reach the Post-Covid Consumer
With the end of the pandemic in sight, Will Higham has put together a brand new talk for 2022. It’s designed to help UK businesses create successful, future-proof post-Covid strategies.
The new talk explores the three macro trends which he predicts will drive the behaviour of the ‘Post-Covid Consumer’:
- Analysing each trend: what’s behind it and how it will manifest.
- Exploring the implications of each for the individual audience’s specific industry
- Identifying the opportunities the trends offer to boost sales, build customer loyalty and acquire new customers
When Money Can’t Buy You Engagement: 3 Ways to Grow & Inspire a Post-Covid Workforce
This new talk is designed to help senior HR executives navigate their way in the post-Covid landscape.
In a nutshell, the pandemic has changed the way people approach their work
- from demanding the much-talked about hybrid work models
- to being prepared to resign in order to pursue their own business ideas.
As a result, it’s never been more important to engage employees and contractors alike:
- making sure the best talent arrives, stays and grows with you
- working in a way that minimises friction within the HR function for the coming years
Audiences will leave the talk:
- fully understanding the post-Covid employee; their needs and expectations
- equipped with ideas to attract and inspire employees over the next 2-5 years
- able to create a much more future-proof HR strategy
