Simon Kuestenmacher

Simon Kuestenmacher is a Director and Co-founder of The Demographics Group, which provides specialist advice on demographic, consumer and social trends for business.

He presents on demographic and global trends that are shaping Australia today and into the future and his presentations and quirky observations are enjoyed by corporate, government and industry audiences alike.

Simon is a columnist at The New Daily newspaper and a regular contributor to The Australian newspaper; and he is also a media commentator on demographic and data matters.

Simon has amassed 600,000 global followers on social media, reaches over 35 million people every month and ranks as one of the world’s Top 10 influencers in data visualisation. If you can’t get enough of data that explains how the world works, make sure to follow him on Twitter or any of his other social channels.

Simon holds degrees in geography from leading universities in Berlin and Melbourne and worked for several years as a business consultant with KPMG Australia.

Simon Kuestenmacher speaks about:

1. Decentralising Australia: Record high migration and unaffordable capital cities provide a massive opportunity for regional Australia. The nation must decentralise at scale. This requires new infrastructure and a rethinking of regional Australia. Satellite cities will boom. Simon explores on stage how your region can benefit from this shift. This is an exciting opportunity to strengthen our regions!
2. Global demographics: Will China come out of the crisis strengthened? Is the US losing ground? How is the world changing and how is Australia positioned to succeed in such a world? How is climate change impacting our national business model? Global demographics favour Australia as a destination for migration and international investment. Australia truly is the lucky country.
3. Generational reshuffle: The next decade sees huge generational shifts that permanently change Australia. Millennials start families, leave the inner suburbs in search for family-sized homes, and enter the highest spending phase of the lifecycle. Baby Boomers leave the world of work. Still too young to downsize Boomers are the perfect customers in the coming decade as they have both time and money. Simon explores on stage how your industry or organisation must adjust to generational shifts.
4. Automation & AI: The future of work is increasingly tech heavy, but AI won’t displace jobs. Rather, AI will make the world of work more human, more inter-personal. Repetitive technical tasks will be taken over by AI while interpersonal tasks will remain in human hands. That means a larger share of every job in every industry will be interpersonal in nature. Simon discusses what steps you should take to prepare.
5. Future of housing: Housing remains the hottest discussion topic in Australia. Demographics allow us to tackle the topic from countless angles. Housing affordability impacts consumer spending. Housing availability and the national age profile dictate what type of housing will be in demand and where such demand will spike. Investors, developers, and local governments alike benefit from the demographic perspective on housing.
6. Rethinking marketing: As generations enter new stages of the lifecycle, they bring along a predictable set of core values. Marketing messages must be adjusted accordingly. Maybe your core audience is shrinking away, and you must market to a new cohort. Simon explains the type of marketing messages that resonate with different groups in a light-hearted but data-driven way.
7. Demographic certainties: The closest thing we have to a crystal ball is demographics and a few global megatrends. Simon combines these perspectives to draw a picture of the future. The precise nature of the future is unpredictable, but after Simon’s presentation your audience will at least know where the guardrails are located.
8. The ageing of Australia: Our nation ages at a much faster rate than most people realise. The population aged 85+ is doubling to 1.1 million people in the next 12 years. This isn’t just an expensive but also a labour-intensive demographic development. Simon explores the challenges the care, health, and property sector faces. An aging Australia all but guarantees that any government will favour high migration.
9. Shifting consumer values: Besides generational shifts, the consumer landscape is being reshaped by an ever more demanding customer cohort. Simon explains why your customers are harder than ever to satisfy. The discussion also leads to generational shifts in the consumer market. Demographics allows you to see where value shifts are likely to occur.
10. Skills shortage: The skills shortage isn’t going away. It’s baked into the demographic pie. The next decades see the big Baby Boomer cohort retiring while only a small cohort enters the workforce. As if this wasn’t bad enough, the huge Millennial generation is going to continue to make babies and therefore temporarily leave the workforce for the next 12 to 13 years at scale. Simon discusses how your organisation or industry can prepare for this prolonged skills squeeze.