We’re living through a period of almost unprecedented technological, economic and social change. We can clearly see the impact this is having on the advertising, media and marketing industries. But the question every brand wants to know is: what impact is it having on the consumer? How’s it likely to affect their future attitudes, behaviours, needs and demands? And how can we anticipate and cater to them? Consumer Futurist William Higham – who has consulted for companies from BBC to Sainsbury’s – looks into his crystal ball to give us the answers.
William Higham, consumer strategist, futurist and author & founder, the Next Big Thing (London) addresses The International Advertising Association Leadership Forum 2015.
The theme this year was: WHAT’S COMING NEXT? BEHIND THE HEADLINES and was a one-day global IAA signature conference providing the latest insights behind the headlines into the multiple topics and issues facing today’s marketers from a truly international angle.
WILLIAM HIGHAM
Next Big Thing
William is a consumer futurist, author, speaker and founder of strategic consultancy Next Big Thing. He creates consumer strategy reports, runs management planning and innovation workshops, writes and presents on trends.
He launched Next Big Thing in 2002. His clients have ranged across industries: media (BBC to News Corp), technology (AOL to Telefonica), FMCG (Budweiser to Sainsbury’s), finance (RBS to HSBC), advertising (Omnicom to Ogilvy) and music (Universal to MTV),
Higham is an authority on consumers and consumer trends, – has been interviewed across the media: from the BBC to Bloomberg TV, Cosmopolitan to The Times, The Economist to Al Jazeera – and has written for ‘The Economist’, ‘Huffington Post’ and ‘Director’.
He wrote one of the first handbooks for consumer trend forecasters: ‘The Next Big Thing: Spotting & Forecasting Consumer Trends For Profit’ (Kogan Page, 2009), which has been translated into four languages.
He’s spoken at, chaired and facilitated conferences for brands, media, and industry bodies – FHM to Barclaycard – and internal events for clients from Hiscox to Sainsbury’s. He can speak on all aspects of consumer futures: recent topics have ranged from ‘Five Global Behaviour Disruptors’ to ‘Key Trends Set To Impact the Pet Industry’!
His career began in Music, first as a PR executive at Sony, then as marketing manager at Virgin and Universal, running campaigns for artists from The Rolling Stones and Michael Jackson to Smashing Pumpkins and The Cure. He worked as a consultant for trend forecasters Breaking Trends (clients included. BT and Levis) and later as managing director of online research agency OnePoll (clients included Kelloggs and Findus
International Advertising Association – Leadership Forum
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