Former Mullen Lowe CSO Ben Shaw has joined MSQ’s social-first agency Smarts as group head of strategy. MullenLowe is no more in the great Omnicom post-merger revamp, disappearing into McCann and TBWA. Shaw formerly worked at BBH.
Shaw (above) says: “The best ideas are famous enough to be talked about and big enough to endure. Where, how and when we find and enjoy those ideas has changed. The whole industry is trying to keep up, but some agencies are on the frontier of something new. Smarts is riding out into the horizon and I’m delighted to be jumping in the wagon to help discover new lands and new riches for our clients.”
Pippa Arlow, global CEO of 200-strong Smarts, says: “As our industry evolves at such speed, we recognise how important it is to shape our Group in a way that can truly deliver success for our clients. That means investing in areas that match their growing ambitions, enabling us to be growth partners and providing broader and deeper comms capabilities. In Ben, we have a senior leader who knows what it means to be a trusted client partner.”
Smarts clients include Diageo, LEGO, Asda, Zalando, People’s Postcode Lottery, Tommy Hilfiger and Booking.com.
