16 Simon Thompson

Previously Lastminute.com’s chief marketing officer, Thompson now runs Apple’s online store across Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Thompson is an advocate of test and learn when it comes to marketing, and at Lastminute.com reached the point where only one metric mattered for marketing − how much did it cost to generate a profit, a very ecommerce way of thinking. And while there, to ensure he stayed in touch with customers, Thompson personally responded to about 10 customer emails a day.

At Lastminute.com, he also oversaw the company’s first TV advertising campaign. And he knows a thing or two about making an advert go viral, having been an executive at Honda and responsible for a number of its highly successful adverts including chain reaction commercial Cog and the animated Grrr.