Michael Brown

Michael is a founder and long-term managing-director of creative industries businesses with a specialisation in experiential marketing and sponsorship. His past successful ventures include Beatwax and MKTG / MKTG.com, a joint venture with Dentsu which he guided to become an award-winning international marketing organisation with 32 offices in 20 countries. He stepped down in December 2020 to found Asociat www.asociat.co.uk, which he describes as a community partnerships agency helping brands to identify and actively address the needs of the communities they serve. andhe is also founder of Home Kitchen: a not for profit restaurant which launched in Sept 24 to much media fanfare – the enterprise employs and train homeless people for a career in hospitality, and features two time Michelin star winning Adam Simmonds as Executive Chef. Michael is also a Non-Executive Director of AIM listed Space and People PLC. A major supplier of locations and spaces to the European Brand Experience industry Michael realised that business can and should be kinder and inclusive after he successfully completed a crowd funding campaign to create and launch, what is thought to be, the world's first mental health drop-in centre inside a soup-kitchen. A social enterprise he now helps to lead. He has a particular interest in the psychology of conflict and compromise. This arose after he spectacularly fell out with his fellow shareholders in a business he led for a decade. The lessons learned gave rise to I Don't Agree; (Publisher: Harriman House) Michael's first book, which won GOLD at the Business Book Awards 2021. After a successful UK launch, the book also came out (Dec 2021) in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Tibet, Sri-Lanka and the Maldives. A Korean, Thai and an Estonian translation were released in 2023. As a writer, Michael has regularly contributed thought leadership pieces to the Daily Telegraph, Management Today, Entrepreneur Magazine, Campaign Magazine, Edge, Grazia and Little Black Book.