Kevin Roberts
Kevin is Founder of Red Rose Consulting, which counsels business leaders and employees on creative thinking, marketing, and leadership.
He is one of New Zealand's most visionary men. Ever.
He is Chair of the following organisations: Unfiltered (business education platform); Beattie Communications (UK creative communications consultancy); My Food Bag (New Zealand home food delivery service); and CricHQ (the world’s largest digital platform for cricket). Kevin’s career was built in sales, marketing, and leadership roles at Mary Quant, Gillette, Procter & Gamble, Pepsi-Co, Lion Nathan, Saatchi & Saatchi (17 years as CEO worldwide) and Publicis Groupe.
Kevin has authored several books including 64 Shots: Leadership in a Crazy World (2016) and Lovemarks: The Future Beyond Brands (2004), published in 18 languages. Lovemarks was named one of the ten Ideas of the Decade by Advertising Age in 2009.
He is a former director of the New Zealand Rugby Union and former chairman of USA Rugby. He also served on the Board of New Zealand Football and as a Trustee for a Team New Zealand America’s Cup challenge.
Kevin is Honorary Professor in leadership, innovation, and creativity at universities in England, Canada, and New Zealand, and advises national organisations and global brands across commerce, media, and sport. In 2013, Kevin, a New Zealand citizen, was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM) for services to business and the community.
Presentations:
Leadership in a Crazy World
Based on the book 64 Shots: Leadership in a Crazy World (2016). In this ultra-turbulent world, a leader’s skillset has to be meta, macro and micro; soft and hard; strategic and creative; directional and executional. A ‘shot’ is a fast swing, a creative idea, a potent injection, an immediate action, an explosive charge, a sudden impact that dramatically improves people’s lives. This presentation offers frameworks, insights and solutions for winning in a world that has become volatile, complex, uncertain and ambiguous.
Turn Your Brand into a Lovemark
Based on the book Lovemarks: the Future Beyond Brands, published in 18 languages. Humans beings decide with their emotions, and Love sells bigger than Like. Love – the powerful emotional connection between companies, their people and their brands – is the key to long-term success, premium returns and unwavering customer loyalty. Drawing from recognised real-world examples – from companies to countries, individuals to teams – this presentation explores an idea that has transformed the conventions of brand marketing. Lovemarks was named one of the ten Ideas of the Decade by Advertising Age in 2009. Learn how and why Lovemarks is relevant to any endeavour (not just marketing) – and any person – that draws on the value of ideas. Creating a Lovemark is the biggest and fastest way to win. The ultimate goal of every leader is to make their organisation a Lovemark.
The Future of Engagement: Big Data + Big Emotion
Over the last decade, the marketing landscape has changed – and continues to change exponentially – as marketers and consumers become more sophisticated, technologically adept, price-smart, and increasingly conscious of the impact of a good reputation. This tech-led empowerment will only grow as the “Internet of Things” connects everything to everyone; it scrutinises our daily lives down to the moment, and allows companies to access and use ever-more data – location, interests, purchasing and search histories – to tailor messages and advertisements. However, big data can read the lines, but not between them. Big data is merely rational. It gives marketers an incredible ability to draw patterns, identify interest and even attempt to predict future action. It does not help create loyalty or provide understanding of human value or emotional reasoning. Kevin discusses why data doesn’t mean anything without empathy, and explores how marketers must leverage both to build “loved brands.”
Creative Leadership in the Age of Now
In business, reengineering and restructuring and ‘re-everything’ only add incremental growth. If companies are not disrupting in a high-speed ‘moment’ world, they are being disrupted. Rigid process-driven organisations need to act more intuitively and instinctively – and be driven by ideas, not rules. Creativity is today’s most important leadership quality to cope with growing complexity. However, creative leaders are rare. This presentation covers the increasingly important creative dimension in leadership, outlining a model that is the next radical order for solving problems, increasing competitiveness, accelerating brands, driving business results, and winning in an always-on world.
Creative Thinking
What is creativity? Why does it matter? How to be creative? How to stay creative? We are living in the Age of the Idea, where the cultures with the most ideas are best placed to win. Drawing on 17 years as CEO Worldwide of creative powerhouse Saatchi & Saatchi, this presentation covers the fundamentals of creativity and innovation that all individuals, teams and organisations, regardless of the competitive arena, need to implement in order to be successful.
Testimonials:
“Kevin Roberts was arguably more entertaining and more informative than any other speaker, speaking about any other subject, anywhere. That is saying a lot, but during the hour of his speech, there was nowhere else in the world that I would have rather been than in his audience.” -San Francisco technology reviewer
“You rocked the house! Thank you for being such a spectacular part of this year’s WWD/DNR CEO Summit. The take away value of your presentation was exceptional and the inspiration powerful. Each executive in attendance was truly driven to reconsider the nature and DNA of their brands. I’d consider that a huge win.” -WWD Media Worldwide