World leading shopping behavior expert – Understanding why consumers buy and getting them to buy more
Europe
Ireland
Ken Hughes, considered a world leader in consumer shopping and behaviour, has dedicated his life to one question: Why do people buy, and what can be done to make them buy even more? Because demographics change, Ken blends his vast expertise in consumer psychology, social anthropology, and retail futurology to explore the needs of the modern consumer and predict the changes to come.
Glacier Consulting, Ken’s consumer insight organization, started out as a marketing research agency. Ken, however, soon changed his focus to people instead of markets after determining them as his key area of interest. Subsequently, his sole focus has become how people express their desires and expectations through how and what it is they buy. The result has his agency advising a global client base that includes some of the biggest brands around, including Heineken, Red-Bull, 3M, Coca-Cola, Unilever, IKEA, and many more.
Besides Ken Hughes being acknowledged as one of the most respected thought leaders regarding shopper marketing and shopper centricity, Omnichannel and Digital Strategy, and Retail Futurology, he is also a part-time professor in consumer behaviour at University College Cork. In addition to his workload, Ken is a board member and strategic advisor to many organisations as well as an international keynote speaker and author of “The Blue Dot Consumer”.
“Ken’s presentation on the Millennial Consumer and their expectations made delegates laugh and cry and laugh again. His easy story-telling style meant that delegates were not only engaged throughout but also left with some real thought-provoking content. I would not hesitate to work with Ken again” – Kristi Kawanna, Events Director, G3 Communications, New York
Ken has showcased his unique speaking approach, i.e. that of Playologist, in his talks. He motivates both individuals and clients to unleash their creativity and innovation, blending fun, play, mischief, risk, and discovery. His keynotes are a mixture of disrupting and inspiring content, which he uses to engage with his audience in a highly energetic, interactive manner…served with a good dose of his own, particular brand of Irish wit and charm.
Speaking topics
"I met Ken at the ECR Europe Conference in Brussels where his session on “Shopper Irrationality” was my top ranked session among all in the event. It was also one of the best presentations that I ever had on Shopper Behaviour and Insight. In our Global Leadership Summit in July, we invited Ken to join all our Walmart Leaders from the world in Bentonville, USA. His presentation was once again an eye opening session which brought high engagement for all our participants"
"Ken is one of the finest speakers we have ever had the pleasure of inviting to address our conference, with his ‘Irrationality’ speech receiving the highest positive delegate feedback. He combines a powerful message with an impactful and humorous presentation style the audience loves, and manages to both educate and entertain in equal measure. It was one of the most unique and relevant speeches I have ever seen"
“The feedback from Ken Hughes’ presentation was fantastic. He delivered a very engaging presentation around customer and patient centricity and everyone in the business has been talking about it since. Ken is not just an excellent conference speaker but he has fantastic insights into human behaviour using examples, case studies and videos to deliver his presentation with great impact. Thanks to Ken’s presentation, we will be re-evaluating our shopper and patient centricity strategies”
“Ken’s speech at our Sales Leaders Summit on Gen Z really engaged and challenged all our senior Sales Director members across a wide variety of sectors. Ken managed to deliver a presentation that was extremely relevant, with his ever energetic presenting style, and left everyone feeling equally entertained and eager to adopt the learnings”
“Ken’s talks are simply awesome. His fun but deep style, his impressive energy on the stage and a unanimous acceptance by the audience make you know, as an event organizer, that he is a must in our upcoming events. Highly recommended.”
"I have seen many presentations over the years concerning shopper behaviour, but the presentation by Mr. Hughes is the one which has kept my attention. He describes consumer behaviour in a very real and simultaneously interesting way, is a very good presenter with humour and passion for his subject, while also bringing it to life using varied case studies. I invited him to address my retail organization on shopper centricity and thankfully in these challenging times, we have seen results"
"Your talk was very well received by all, and your message resonates enormously and was a good reminder to us all to set the bar once again higher in the shopper marketing area. Thanks for taking the time to be with us"
“Ken's true talent is the tailoring of his content to our audiences. We have invited him to speak at several different Red Bull events, and his content is always uniquely tailored to that audience and event theme and ‘on the money’ with our hot topics. He challenges each of us to think outside of the box, and is both an educational and inspirational presenter. His keynotes not only posed some tough questions about the future shape of our industry but he also linked this to the emerging consumer forces evident today. He is as entertaining, and engaging as he is challenging and not to be missed.”
“Mr Hughes’ presentation at our ECAMS Aesthetic Medicine Congress was simply out-standing. His insight of consumer behaviour and application to the healthcare industry was astounding and left the delegates eager to address such issues in their businesses. A fast paced and really entertaining keynote speech that no conference organiser should do without”
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