“Outstanding!”
“Great to see real experience coming across”

Public speaking

Mike Ashton is an experienced International Business Speaker and a regular Chairperson at conferences in the UK, Europe, Middle East and USA.

With 30 years of building powerful brands and customer experiences, coupled with a dynamic style he works superbly with audiences of any size. Here are some of his most popular topics.

  • Measuring the commercial value of great customer experiences:
    A practical guide to ensuring performance and assessing the commercial impact of investment in brands and customer experience.
  • Overcoming barriers to change:
    Creating great customer experiences means changing the way we operate. This session helps audiences understand and overcome the main barriers to change.
  • Winning hearts and minds for the brand:
    10 practical suggestions showing how to lead and motivate an organisation to creative powerful customer experiences and “live the brand”.
  • From strategy to reality
    A step by step guide to help organisations create and deliver market leading customer experiences.

Mini biography

Throughout his career, Mike Ashton has developed a deep understanding of what it takes to build successful brands, create powerful customer experiences and inspire organisations to change.

As a Director and Senior Vice President of Hilton International, Mike was responsible for the Hilton brand as it achieved leadership in every major international market.

Mikes challenge was to develop a brand strategy that would bring commercial success to Hilton and inspire a team of 100,000 members around the globe – and turn that strategy into an experience enjoyed by millions of guests visiting 250 Hilton hotels in 75 countries every year.

The journey required Mike and his team to challenge conventional thinking in almost every dimension of Hilton International’s business, from commercial planning and product development to operational performance and cultural change. It’s an inspiring journey that took the brand to unprecedented levels of quality and consistency across its diverse international markets.

Today Mike is Managing Director of ABCG where he helps his clients develop and deliver their own powerful customer experiences, avoiding the many pitfalls along the journey. He is a Non-Executive Director and Trustee of Vitalise, a UK Charity providing support for those with physical disabilities and is on the advisory board of IQPC Exchange and a Programme Architect and Course Director for the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

Based in the UK, Mike is a family man, a sportsman and musician, playing drums and percussion with a popular Beatles tribute band “The Dung Beatles” recently playing at the Trinity College Cambridge summer ball! Along the way Mike’s found the time to earn an MBA and Fellowship of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

Personalisation and practical advice:

Today, as MD of ABCG, Mike is a regular Customer Experience speaker, chairing and presenting at industry conferences across a wide range of sectors. He is a powerful and inspiring speaker who likes to focus on providing practical advice that draws on his own experience. He challenges his audience to look at their own issues in a new light and consider what they can do differently in the future.

“I’ve found people listen best when they’re having fun… or scared… I prefer to have fun!”.

 

To find out more about Mike Ashton, Conference Chair and Speaker, click here to view his biography.

What his audience has to say

Mike’s Merlin Lecture received excellent feedback. If there was one complaint, it was that the audience did not get enough Mike time! His lecture covered a huge and pivotal topic, which he delivered with such an engaging, enthusiastic and authoritative style, that the audience could happily have detained Mike all night with further discussion. “Inspirational”, “engaging” and “relevant” seem to be the theme of the feedback.” Sherilyn Shacknell, Chairman of Marketing Hall of Legends

Mike has been a keynote speaker at our annual conference for three straight years. Always thought provoking and entertaining, Mike never fails to get rave reviews from delegates.” Jennifer Brooke, BCA Executive Director

Mike distils years of experience into 60 minutes overflowing with practical ideas and great advice.” Professor Hugh Wilson, Cranfield University

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