Biography
Marcus Chidgey is Chief Executive and Founder of Captive Minds, an international public relations and marketing agency.
After graduating from the University of Exeter, Marcus lived and taught English in Japan for a year, before returning to work for Apple in 2001, where he helped to launch the iPod and Mac OSX. Inspired by his time at Apple, Marcus sought other creative opportunities which saw him founding Captive Minds in 2003.
Today the company has offices in London and New York and works with brands as diverse as Glenfiddich, Helly Hansen, Virgin Money, Willis Group and Massey Ferguson. It also represents rights-holders including Cirque du Soleil, Walking with the Wounded and F1 Fanzone. The agency possesses an influential board and invests in its own rights portfolio that includes talent, event and media properties.
In the last year, Captive Minds' campaigns have spoken to over a billion people in more than 120 countries worldwide; delivered in excess of 5000 pieces of separate media coverage; had primetime coverage on most major UK and US TV news networks; delivered live broadcasts from Antarctica; broken two world records; have been featured in several books and TV programmes; have won several prestigious international awards; and have even been honoured by The White House and discussed at the United Nations.
Marcus is the strategic force behind Captive Minds, shaping the agency’s client offering and development of rights. He also directs the agency’s digital ventures that include real-time client media analytics and a mobile app CRM platform. In the past, he has led consultancy projects for the UK’s Department for Education, local government and several well known eBusinesses.
Alongside his role as CEO at Captive Minds, Marcus is a director of the Global Partnerships Forum, a founder and director of Captive Health and Chair of Trustees for a Royal Marines charity called Commando 999. He sits on the advisory board of the International Academic Forum. Marcus is married and lives in London.
