William Higham, a futurist and global authority on future business strategy, offers a practical approach to navigating the future. As an experienced marketer, he inspires audiences with actionable advice they can use immediately. His talks energize audiences to tackle future challenges with practical strategies for engaging tomorrow’s consumers and employees.
William reveals what customers, employees, and clients will expect from companies in the future. He outlines the strategies businesses need to attract and retain them. His data-driven insights cover the future of work, the ethical consumer, and the impacts of the Metaverse, Web3, and AI.
As an engaging speaker, William has inspired audiences worldwide, from Texas to Korea. He has spoken at conferences for FT and Barclaycard and at leadership events for Walt Disney, BT, Jaguar, and Colgate.
For 20 years, William has led Next Big Thing, advising clients like Amazon, Vodafone, HSBC, and MTV. He appears in Netflix’s ‘Future Of’ series and has predicted trends like the New Sobriety and Wellbeing Consumers. He also promoted ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ (‘Dancing With The Stars’) to the BBC.
William authored ‘The Next Big Thing: Forecasting Consumer Trends for Profit’ (Kogan Page, 2010), translated into five languages. He has been featured on BBC and Bloomberg TV and written for The Economist, Advertising Age, and The Director. He has also presented on CNBC and judged WARC and IoD innovation awards.
Starting in the music industry, William worked at Sony, Virgin, and Universal, managing PR campaigns for artists like Michael Jackson and Motorhead, and marketing for The Rolling Stones and The Cure. He won a Music Week Award for his campaign for Meat Loaf’s ‘Bat Out Of Hell 2.’
His passion for music consumers led him to the trends industry. He began as a trends consultant for brands like Levis and BT, then became MD of OnePoll, attracting clients like Kellogg’s and Findus. In 2003, he founded Next Big Thing.
