Michael Solomon – Keynote Speaker

Author of Consumer Behaviour: Buying, Having, and Being and Professor of Marketing at Haub School of Business, Philadelphia

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Specialist Subjects

  • Consumer Behaviour in The New Normal
  • Profit from Disruption
  • The Many Faces of Artificial Intelligence
  • Be the First Choice!
  • Walk a Mile in Your Customer’s Shoes
  • A Moving Target

Language

  • English

Biography

Michael Solomon “wrote the book” on understanding consumers.  Literally. Hundreds of thousands of business students have learned about Marketing from his books, including Consumer Behaviour: Buying, Having, and Being — the most widely used book on the subject in the world.

Michael often is asked to provide briefings to global executive teams who want significant increases in their bottom line and who understand that’s accomplished by a deeper connection with their customers.

Michael’s mantra is:  We don’t buy products because of what they do.  We buy them because of what they mean. He advises global clients in leading industries to make them more consumer-centric.  He is frequently quoted in major media outlets such as The New York Times, USA Today, Adweek and Time, and he is a regular Contributor at Forbes.com where he writes about current trends in consumer behaviour.

As a Professor of Marketing (at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia) and an industry consultant, Michael combines cutting-edge academic theory with actionable real-world strategies.  He helps managers get inside the heads of their customers so they can anticipate and satisfy their deepest and most pressing needs.   An executive at Subaru said it best: “The man is a scholar who is current and street-wise.”

Michael is passionate about the extraordinary world of the ordinary consumer. He brings humour and arresting visuals to his keynotes to show how everyday behaviours are much more meaningful than you thought – and an essential pathway to grabbing the attention and loyalty of your customers.

Crack the Code on Why Consumers Buy Your Products and Services. See why Michael is the #1 choice for a keynote speaker on consumer behaviour, branding, retailing, and fashion psychology.

Popular Talks by Michael Solomon

Consumer Behaviour in The New Normal

Step on the G.A.S. (Gratification, Agency & Stability)

The Pandemic will change our world for years after the virus disappears. We’ll have to rethink and modify our purchase decisions, large and small. Some disruptions in consumer/marketer relationships that already were looming will come faster and more decisively. How do we define brand value? How should companies talk to customers? How do people function in an emerging gig economy where every encounter might be fatal? How do we redefine what it means to go to work or to socialise?

The virus poked the bear, and now marketers need to respond to life in The New Normal.
The changes that started well before the Pandemic reflect the transition in our society from a modernist to a postmodern culture. Postmodern consumers don’t always follow the rules that marketers decree. That’s because we don’t buy products because of what they do… we buy them because of what they mean. Today’s consumers define themselves by the brands they choose. Their idiosyncratic choices create a pastiche of meaning that gets updated 24/7. Marketers no longer drive the train, even though they can still ride it.
This means that the firm categories we love to use to understand our world – and our customers – are no longer valid. In particular, the traditional labels we use to segment consumers have stopped working. Today’s consumers are like chameleons, who change colour constantly. They no longer sit passively in the tidy cages we put them in. The convenient dichotomies we rely upon, such as Male vs. Female, Young vs. Old, I vs. We, Consumer vs. Producer, Offline vs. Online, and many others, no longer mean very much.
In the New Normal, we’ll see these cages open even faster as people are exposed both to new possibilities and to new constraints on their daily lives. Many of us for example will rediscover the value of community, and others will rethink the value of commuting to work everyday. In this presentation, we’ll explore some of these comfortable cages, and show why marketers need to ignore them in order to prosper.
You’ll learn why you need to step on the GAS to modify your offerings in light of the new drivers of consumer behaviour.

Profit from Disruption

Tear Down Marketing’s Old Walls to See the Future of Your Business

Fundamental categories that form the bedrock of marketing strategy and customer insights simply no longer exist. You need to understand the new landscape of consumer behaviour, so you don’t get left in the dust.
In this program you will learn:
• How you can reach today’s consumers, who plug into a “hive mind” that tells them what to buy.
• Why the debate about “offline versus online” marketing strategies is useless.
• How to market with rather than market to your customers.
• Why your customers rely upon your brands to tell them who they are.
• How to develop new killer products and services by demolishing your industry’s walls.

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