We’re delighted to announce the arrival of Ben Shaw as our Group Head of Strategy, as we continue to invest in best-in-class expertise and capabilities that fuel client growth.
Ben joins Smarts this week and will be based in our London office. He will report to Colin Corbridge, our Chief Strategy & Creative Officer.
We hope Ben’s arrival underlines our commitment to further elevating the work we’re doing for a varied client list, with significant investment in ensuring we’re a world-leader in providing cutting-edge earned expertise across media, social, creator and talent.
Most recently, Ben was the Chief Strategy Officer of MullenLowe UK, where he spent almost two years working on Unilever, The Children’s Society and UK Government activity, amongst others.
Prior to MullenLowe UK, Ben had held both agency and client roles. He was the VP, Marketing Global of wellbeing business, Unmind, and the Director of Brand and Comms at luxury chauffeur-hailing business, Wheely, and also spent over a decade at BBH, including three years as the Head of its Social, Content and Data specialists, BBH Live, as well as two years as Head of Strategy of BBH London, and a stint as Chief Strategy Officer of BBH USA.
Colin Corbridge, Group Chief Strategy & Creative Officer, says: “As we work with an ever-growing list of brands that are tapping into culture to help deliver their commercial ambitions, we need the very best in the business on board to ensure that the work we’re producing earns attention and builds meaningful moments that work as hard as they can. Ben brings a track record that speaks for itself, and I couldn’t be happier that we’re able to be his new strategy home.”
Ben 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, the Global CEO of 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, who can work closely with our brilliant and talented existing team to set a new agenda in 2026 and beyond.”