(Mr.) Daren Dixon is founder of creative agency Above and Beyond and also serves as its Chief Executive Officer. With a strong focus on talent, brands, youth-markets and multi-cultural consumers both he and Above and Beyond have built campaigns for Nike, Levis, YouTube, Twitter, Reebok, Google, Samsung, BBH, H&M, ASOS among others.

He has worked with talent such as Beyonce, Justin Timberlake, Kelly Rowland, Solange, Lauryn Hill, Jay-Z, Cheryl Cole and Gwen Stefani. Prior to founding Above and Beyond, Mr. Dixon worked with top music artists as an A&R Manager at RCA Records where he discovered and signed international rock band ‘Kasabian’. Mr. Dixon also served as Head Of International for Beyonce Knowles for 5 years handling a number of high profile brand alignments as well building strategic international plans for her.

He has a proven track record of identifying successful partnerships and has garnered significant recognition as one of the most influential brand marketers in Europe. His most recent work includes the Google Glass campaign featuring FKA Twigs.

He currently works on creative marketing and endorsement deals for a long list of talent clients including Pia Mia, Selena Gomez, Keri Hilson, Miguel, Solange and Lady Gaga alongside his role developing the stars of tomorrow whether it be photographers, bloggers, actors, models, artists etc “Spending time with next generation talent is vitally important to me as they are the path and heartbeat to the future…understanding them gives me the advantage and helping them achieve their goals is a great feeling”.

Daren also finds the time to be an active advocate for the battle against AIDS as an ambassador for MTV Staying Alive and Designers Against AIDs (DAA). Close to home he is an active champion for UK homeless charity Shelter. ”My parents always told me to keep both feet on the ground and to constantly look at how you can help others around you.”

While it was a leap to go from a purely entertainment focused background to the brand marketing industry, the two fields have plenty of similarities when you consider the root of success for both:

• finding creative ways to penetrate the pop-culture conversation;
• confidence in your strategic recommendations;
• and a ton of connections.

Mr. Dixon checks all three of those boxes with ease.