Chris Arnold has a wealth of qualifications in creative fields, including a foundation degree in design and applied arts from Hornsey College of Art, a BA Hons in interior design from Kingston University, and a doctorate in business, management, and marketing from Bournemouth University.

BUSINESS FOUNDER

Chris is one of the country’s leading champions of ethical marketing, having founded one of the first ethical marketing agencies, FEEL, in 2002. But that is far from the only company he has founded over the years. In 2009 he founded Creative Orchestra, an ethical consumer-centric marketing and advertising agency; in 2021 he founded The DYVERSITY LAB, a global collective of diverse thinkers helping to solve the world’s biggest problems, and became its head of strategy; and co-grounded My Social Impact in 2023, a consultancy helping brands to define their social purpose and values to make a positive social impact.

He is also the founder of London Community Arts CIC where he helps organise community engagement events, as well as H20 Walk For Water Walk For Life, an open platform fundraising wite that raises money for water projects in Africa.

CAREER

Outside of his own start-ups, Chris has worked for a number of big brands in creative jobs, including Alliance International as Creative Director, McCann Erickson as Head of Art, Draft Worldwide as Creative Director, Stretch the Horizon as Creative Director, and then Saatchi and Saatchi as Creative and Board Director.

He has also worked as Executive Creative Director for BLAC, Board Director for DMA, Chair of the DMA Agency Council and the Creative Council, and a Creative and Marketing Non-Executive Director for Recommend.

Presently, he works as a freelance creative strategist, social impact, and ethical marketing specialist, business and marketing advisor, and creative and innovative thinker.

MEDIA

Chris is also the author of Ethical Marketing and the New Consumer, an essential guide for anyone wanting to understand the new consumer and what they buy, why they buy, and what they don’t buy. In 2019 he published FLIP: Unthink Everything You Know, which provides a strategic approach to helping businesses to challenge conventional thinking and to adapt themselves in an ever-changing world. Chris also published the factual book Why Women Shop on Venus and Men Shop on Mars, which looks out why brands need to understand how consumers think and to recognise the differences between the genders when it comes to shopping.

Alongside this, Chris has contributed to publications such as Brand Strategy Magazine, AdAge, Brand Republic, Impact Magazine, Creative Review, and The Financial Times. He is aso a regular contributor on TV and radio as a marketing and business expert.

SPEAKER

Chris’ expertise has made him a very popular public speaker, and to date he has spoken at over 200 top events and conferences around the world.

All of his talks can be adapted to the client, and are available face-to-face or virtually for international audiences. All talks are roughly 60 minutes long and are packed with fascinating information as well as being entertaining. Most of his talks and workshops can be integrated into an equality, diversity, and inclusion strategy.

CHRIS ARNOLD – KEYNOTE TOPICS

ED&I, Neurodiversity

Sounds Like a Great Place to Work

This talk looks at how to make the working environment better for neurodiverse people as well as the wider workforce. Chris examines the audio landscape of offices, and how sound can have an impact upon staff’s productivity. Packed with fascinating facts, Chris draws upon his personal experience of being neurodiverse as well as his training as an interior designer specialising in acoustics. You will learn:

– How to make your office more audio friendly and work enhancing for neurodiverse people, as well as those with stress and mental health issues.

– How to understand the importance of sound in the environment and how it can affect us.

– Why sound is more important to our productivity than it looks.

– How sound can enhance culture.

Tapping Into the Talent – How to Embrace the Super Thinkers

This talk challenges a lot of misunderstandings around neurodiversity and dyslexia, and instead focusses on how dyslexics can enhance a company’s abilities, how they can deliver innovation, solve problems others can’t, and can help you stay ahead of the competition.

Thinking, Creativity, Innovation, Ideation, Problem-Solving

Dimensional Thinking – Supercharge Your Employees’ Thinking

Chris offers this topic as a talk and as a three-day workshop course that is designed to help employees think in new ways, to develop innovation, creativity, and problem-solving skills. Based on psychometric profiling, it helps people to understand better how others think and to be more open minded.

The workshop covers a range of techniques, including Kaizen, Six-Sigma, First Principle Thinking (used by Elon Musk), and The 5 Whys, as well as looking into psychology elements including NLP, Enneagrams, and Behavioural Economics.

Flip – Unthink Everything You Know

Based on Chris’ book of the same name, Chris helps businesses and organisations rethink the way they think, giving them new ways to give you a competitive advantage. In a forever-changing world, it is important to challenge conventional thinking and help employees become more agile and competitive.

Marketing, Advertising, Branding, Data, Digital, and Consumer Insights

The Psychology of Consumers – Why We Buy and How to be More Persuasive

This talk is an exploration of psychology, from NLP to behavioural economics to discover what makes people think, what makes us choose, and what makes us buy or not buy a product. This talk has been delivered to various colleges and universities and looks in close detail at Gen Z, Millennials, and Baby Boomers.

Fast Forward Thinking

Chris looks at the trends, behavioural change, and new technology, such as AI, that is ushering in the future of business, and how it can be adapted to key sectors such as automotive, FMCG, Media, and entertainment.

How AI is Changing the Face of Marketing

Chris looks at the relationship between marketing and artificial intelligence and how it is changing the business model. He explores the possible future outcomes of AI and how it can be a friend as well as a foe.

AI vs HI – From Creativity to Con Men

This talk looks at artificial intelligence vs. human intelligence, and the area of creativity, and how AI can be used by con men. It also looks at whether AI can be as creative as humans in art, writing, and music.

Audio Branding- How to Build a Brand Around Sound and Music

In a multi-channel world where sound is such a key element, why do so many companies not consider the power of it, how it can motivate consumers to buy? Chris takes you on a journey about the power of sound, and how audio can enhance or define a brand.

Making Sheep Dance

This talks looks at creating more effective advertising and marketing, and how to stand out from the crowd, engaging and selling to consumers. Using the seven steps to effective marketing, Chris takes delegates on an engaging journey, leaving them enlightened, informed, and inspired.

The Power of Storytelling

Chris looks at why storytelling is such a powerful tool in marketing and how it can be used to engage customers. He covers the rules of great storytelling, why we like stories, how to turn a brand story into a marketing story, and the mistakes most brands make.

Sustainability, ESGs, SDGs, purpose, social impact and community engagement

Supercharge the S in Your ESGS – Everything You Need to Know About Social Impact in 60 Minutes

Most people understand the E (environment) but few understand the dynamics of S. This is a fast track masterclass for all levels on how to define a social purpose and create a cohesive social impact strategy.

Unity Through Commonality – Redefining Community

This talk looks at how to engage with communities, the psychology of community, and the 25 types of thinking beyond social media. Chris helps you think about community and why brands are now seeking to engage them on mass.

Ethical Marketing and the New Consumer

Based on his book of the same name, Chris looks at how to be a more ethically driven company, why consumers buy from companies that do good, how doing good is actually a good thing for business, how to avoid greenwashing, how to write effective purpose statements, and how to convey your ethical values without falling into cliches.

Call +44 1753 439 289 or email Great British Speakers now to book business speaker Chris Arnold for your next live event.

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