And then there were four

This autumn, Katie Bannon joined us as our new Growth Director to help drive client relationships across our UK, European and US markets. Katie has more than 20 years’ experience in some of the world’s largest creative, social and experiential agencies – like Leo Burnett London and We Are Social. Brands she’s worked with include Kellanova, McDonald’s, Meta and Starbucks.

Katie is based in London and will work closely with Ruth Sutherland – our Growth and Strategic Partnerships Director – who also joined this year and is based out of our Amsterdam office. Before Smarts, Ruth led global culture, digital and media activity for Johnnie Walker, strategic communications for Nike Women’s Running and Sportswear across Western Europe, and content campaigns for Audi, Bose, Gucci and D&G fragrances.

The duo join Leanne Scott, our Managing Partner in Amsterdam, and Maja Volt, our Client Partner and former Zalando Global PR Strategy Lead, to create a four-strong growth force to be reckoned with.

The future looks winning

Our recent growth efforts saw us jump from #19 in PR Week’s table of top consumer agencies five years ago to take the #4 spot this year. A leap we put down to a multi-year investment in new office space and fresh thinking on how brands connect with culture – thinking that saw us recently launch our new INGage employee engagement offer, our reinvented influencer Creator Hub, and our unique Cultural Endurance measure built in association with data science firm Freemavens. 

Oh and speaking of growth, there’s also the (not so small) matter of both organic and new client wins with brands like British Gas, Garnier, Lululemon, Lynk & Co and more this year.

So what’s next?

Our new growth team is focused on getting us closer to our goal of becoming one of the world’s leading culture-first creative agencies, helping brands make a lasting impact in culture and consumer conversations.  

To help spread the word, over 100 brand leaders attended our Cultural Endurance events this summer featuring UK Vogue Editor Alexandra Shulman and Vivienne Westwood’s Global Brand Director Christopher di Pietro as our guest speakers.

Learn more

If you’re keen to understand more about Cultural Endurance click here, and watch this space as we aim for PR Week’s leaderboard top spot!