William Higham

Will Higham is a consumer futurist: which means he predicts how people will think and act in future. As well as an author, he is a popular conference speaker and the founder of strategic consultancy NextBig Thing.

William's clients range across sectors: media (BBC to News UK), technology (AOL to Telefonica), FMCG (Budweiser to Sainsbury’s), finance (HSBC to Nat West), entertainment (MTV to Universal Music) and advertising (Omnicom to Ogilvy).

He’s spoken at, chaired and facilitated conferences and internal events for brands, media and industry bodies: Barclaycard to Virgin, Retail Week to FHM.

He’s been interviewed across media - BBC to Bloomberg TV, Cosmopolitan to The Times – and written for The Economist, Ad Week, New Statesman and Viewpoint. He currently writes consumer trends columns for Huffington Post and the UK Institute of Directors (IoD) magazine Director.

He gained his initial experience with consumers in the entertainment industry in the 1990s. He began in Communications at Sony, then Marketing at Virgin and Universal, running campaigns for artists from The Rolling Stones and Michael Jackson to Motorhead and The Cure. He worked as consultant for trend forecasters Breaking Trends (clients incl. BT and Levis) and as managing director of online research agency OnePoll (clients incl. Kelloggs and Findus).

“'I’ve worked with William several times over the years, and he really stands out from other future specialists. He has the acute skill of identifying key trends and translating them into commercial opportunity for your business.' Alex Owens, Head of Insight, Sainsbury’s

"William’s an unfailingly reliable source of clever, provocative insights into business and cultural trends.” Josh Sims, Financial Times

“William really understands trends and what businesses need to do to act.” Chad Wollen, Head Consumer Futures, Vodafone

“William’s insights into the attitudes and behaviours of UK viewers proved really useful.” Wayne Garvie, Head of Entertainment, BBC

“William is really proficient in understanding patterns and tendencies in youth culture.” Helen Venge, Head of Digital, Levis

“William’s presentations provide real food for thought." Charlie Gower, Head of Insight & Research, Hiscox Insurance