Simon has been in the industry for 28 years and is a highly regarded global strategist, specialising in transformative brand thinking including consumer strategy, brand positioning, innovation and creative application. He is the co-founder of Brand Strategy and Creative Communications agency Neverland. Previously he founded brand consultancy The Gild and innovation agency, nineyards.
Neverland is a new brand strategy and creative communications agency, founded by myself and Jon Forsyth, surrounded by a senior team and a network of the right people for the job. Our proposition at Neverland is very simple, we have brought together brand strategy and creative communications into one seamless offer, because we believe that what you stand for is as important as how you tell people about it. We identify the North Star for our clients, the guiding light to direct all activity, and then we apply a heavy dose of world class creativity and supremely high quality production to ensure that it cuts through, is effective and has a positive impact. Our clients include NBC, Campari Group, Jacobs, Heck Foods, Solgar, Kelly's Ice Cream and Cath Kidston.
CEO of The Gild, a global brand consultancy specialising in insight, strategy, innovation and creative crafting solid brands through art and science. Our inherent belief was that the future of business and brands, lies in a combination of art (culture and creativity) and science (intelligence and commerce). As part of an unrivalled network actively involved in cutting edge fashion, music and art, we uncovered and predicted cultural and behavioural trends ahead of the competition and combined them with our intrinsically creative techniques (the art bit). This artistic side was underpinned with consumer insight, strategic analysis and commercial rigour, not to mention the odd geeky moment (the science bit)! We worked in fmcg, media, music, fashion, film, social media and the arts, with a team that was an eclectic bunch from branding, music, fashion, research, psychology, journalism, management consultancy and even client-side. Our clients included Sony, Unilever, Jaegermeister, SABMiller, Martini, Molton Brown and Kraft Foods.
I set up nineyards in 1996 with a partner. We ran the business together for 7 years, before I sold my shares to my partner to seek new challenges. During our time together we launched products and designed packaging for Magnum Seven Sins, Walkers Sensations, Uncle Ben's, Reading Festival, Cadbury's Desserts, St Ivel, Capespan Fruit Juices and stacks more.
This was my first job in NPD and branding. As this was a small company I was thrown in at the deep end and was managing accounts for large multi nationals in no time at all. Whilst at BDB I launched Milky Way Magic Stars, Galaxy Swirls, products for Heinz, Crosse & Blackwell, Ambrosia and many more.