Simon Middleton has become one of the UKs most in-demand independent brand strategy advisors and is a popular keynote speaker on brand and marketing topics.

He is the founder and principal of specialist advisory firm Brand Strategy Guru, and he consults all over the UK and speaks at conferences internationally.

Recent speaking engagements include: Slovakia, Sweden, Germany, Spain, Italy, Serbia, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and he will soon be heard at a series of events in Australia. Recent speaking clients include: BP Castrol, Slovak Tourist Board, European Travel Commission, Deloitte, Jacob Fleming, Etisalat, Lovells llp, Office Products International.

Simon is the author of small-business bestseller Build A Brand In 30 Days (Capstone 2010) and What You Need To Know About Marketing (Capstone 2011) and is currently working on his third book Brand New You, to be published by Hay House in 2010.

Build A Brand In 30 Days was described as an invaluable read for anyone starting a business (DIRECTOR magazine) and a great read for anyone who already has a business or is thinking of starting up, its also highly useful for those in marketing (START YOUR BUSINESS magazine).

Simon speaks on a range of brand and marketing topics including:

Brand as a strategic driver of an organisation
Brand is a set of meanings in the minds and hearts of the audience
Using compelling stories to bring brand to life
The third age or marketing and the implications of the global horizontal conversation
Entrepreneurial approaches to branding and marketing for non-profit organisations

Simon has worked on brand, creative and training projects with a wide range of commercial organisations including: Aviva, Barclays, British Airways, Pret A Manger, Deloitte, McCann Erickson, Merial, Lovells, Xansa and Denplan.

He has also worked extensively with charities, including Comic Relief, St John Ambulance, London Youth, Voluntary Norfolk and Anthony Nolan, The Earth Trust and with public sector organisations including Wales Management Council, Norfolk County Council, Shaping Norfolks Future, and South Norfolk Council.

Simon is a regular commentator on brand issues in the press, on TV and radio, and has appeared on Sky News, Five News, CNN, BBC Breakfast and on The Politics Show, as well as on virtually every regional TV station.

In recent months he has been interviewed as a brand expert by Jeremy Paxman on BBCs flagship show Newsnight, as well as on BBC Breakfast, BBC News 24 and numerous other stations.

Simon was seen in 2010 as an expert advisor to Duncan Bannatyne in Virgin 1 TV series Duncan Bannatynes Seaside Rescue.

Simon has become closely associated with destination branding and seaside regeneration. He conceived the high profile Britains Magical Waterland brand positioning for The Broads national park, and has managed to put the little resort of Hemsby in Norfolk on the national stage with the creation of the Hemsby Viking Festival and by initiating a major tourism enterprise project in the resort with his company Norfolk Leisure Ltd.

In 2007 Simon was awarded the Chartered Institute of Marketings regional Marketer of the Year prize.

Simon works at a senior, strategic, level as a completely independent strategic advisor: helping organisations to understand their brand challenges and opportunities, and to maximise their brand reputations. His distinctive approach is accessible and clear, utilising theoretically robust brand thinking and long experience in a way which enables fast progress and inclusion of key organisation personnel.

In 2009 Simon became writer, presenter and co-producer of a unique new series for British TV, The Brand Effect, the first TV series to look at the history of branding, its impact on the modern world, and to show how smaller businesses and organisations can maximise the power of branding for their sustainable success.

Simon is a member of The Institute of Directors, The Chartered Institute of Marketing, and The Association for Coaching, and is a Fellow of The Royal Society of Arts.

He lectures regularly at the University of East Anglia and Norwich University College of The Arts. He was recently made the first Brand Leadership Fellow of the University of East Anglia Business School.

Before founding his own consultancy in 2005 he was a board director and shareholder of marcomms agency Fox Murphy (now Balloon Dog) where he held the position of Director of Creative & Brands.

Outside of work Simon is the front-man of acoustic Americana trio The Proposition with a rapidly growing reputation on the roots and folk circuit.

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