Ben has been working in the industry for over 24 years, and has won over 180 local, regional and International awards including Grand Prix at LIAA, New York Festival and Dubai Lynx and several gold’s at Cannes Lions, One Show, CLIO, LIAA, DMA, The Drum, MENA Effies and Dubai Lynx.
Since September 2017 he has taken on the global Creative Leadership role for the MullenLowe Group's CRM and Brand Experience division, MullenLowe Open. Based in London and responsible for raising the creative standard across the Open Global footprint, his tenure has seen the agency rise up the creative rankings winning its first gold awards for creativity at DMA Awards in UK and effectiveness at the MENA Effies in Dubai.
Before this role, Ben had been influential in the transformation of the creative reputation of the Middle East. Starting in 2008 at WPP's specialist activation agency global network which transformed from 141 Worldwide to OgilvyAction, and now Geometry Global in Dubai. Under his creative direction he steered the Dubai office to the No.1 position within the Geometry Global creative league table for 4 years in a row. Geometry Global Dubai was named best mid-size agency 2014 at the Loeries Awards in South Africa and played an instrumental role in securing the Best Agency in Middle East in the CLIO Awards 2015 and Campaign Creative Agency of the Year 2014/2016 for sister agency Memac Ogilvy Dubai.
His work has been published in the Top 100 Ideas that Changed Advertising, the Path to Purchase Institutes – Global Best Practice Shopper Marketing report and at the UN Sustainability Summit 2015.
He has judged the Cannes Young Lions competition, DMA, Creativepool and Lisbon International Award shows. He has trained Unilever Gulf clients in the importance of creativity in marketing, held Cannes Lions talks at the Art Directors club in Budapest and spoken at the Dubai Lynx Festival of Creativity on panels with Instagram and a cosy 1-2-1 chat with Jose Miguel Sokoloff about the importance of long term client/agency relationships.
He's a father of 2 young boys and spends his time outside of work exploring the hidden gems around East London, gaming, playing guitar badly and dreaming of retirement on a little Island painting pictures for tourists and locals alike.
Projects credited in
- Etihad AirlinesProject: Animated infographic promotion Role: Art Direction, Storyboarding, Illustration Agency: Phi.Studio, Mullen Lowe Commissioned by Mullen Lowe London, Phi.Studio was tasked with storyboarding, art directing and illustrating all animation-ready assets for a series of promotional animations detailing how to take advantage of Etihad’s air-miles points system. It was a real pleasure working with this client to successfully create something quite beautiful from a challenging brand palette.
- NHS 'We Are Nurses'We Are Nurses was made as part of a national recruitment campaign aimed at potential nurses. Colour by Toby. Watch it here https://youtu.be/GVBP1ld0_n0 PRODUCTION COMPANY: Academy DIRECTOR: Billy Boyd Cape EXEC PRODUCER: Simon Cooper PRODUCER: Ash Lockmun & Juliette Harris PRODUCTION MANAGER: Antonia Vickers SOUND DESIGN: SoundTree ENGINEER: Henning Knoepfel PRODUCER: Jay James EDITORS: TenThree EDITOR: Billy Mead POST PRODUCTION: Cheat COLOURIST: Toby Tomkins FLAME ARTIST: Douglas Haynes PRODU7
Work history
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Global Creative LeadMullenLowe Open
- London, United KingdomFull Time
In September of 2017 I joined the MullenLowe Group in the capacity of Global Creative Lead and ECD of the UAE, based in Abu Dhabi. My responsibility
is to grow the Group business in the UAE and build a sustainable business in Abu Dhabi. In June of 2019 I relocated back to our head office in London
to spearhead the growth of the creative reputation and ambition for the agency. This resulted in winning large scale CRM accounts for Danone, NHS and Harley Davidson and securing creative award wins at UK shows such as DMA, Effie and Drum. I managed over 20 creatives across 6 different nationalities working across local, regional and global accounts.
Client List:
Etihad Airways, Hyatt Hotels, Sloggi, Mars, Unilever, Diageo, Danone, Sennheiser, NHS, Harley Davidson.
Executive Creative DirectorGeometry Global
- Dubai, United Arab EmiratesFull Time
I moved to our Dubai office in 2008. I joined as the Associate Creative Director and after 2 years of building a successful team on the agencies largest account, British American Tobacco, I became the Creative Director. Under my leadership the agency has won numerous Regional and International awards in Creativity and Effectiveness, resulting in the agency becoming the No.1 Creative and Effective agency in the Global Geometry network. We managed to maintain this position for 4 consecutive years. I managed a team of 18 creatives across 10 different nationalities, working on local, regional and global Accounts. In 2014 I became the Executive Creative Director for UAE.
Client List:
Dove, Dove Men+Care, Ponds, Domestos, Sunlight, Comfort, Russian Standard Vodka, Jack Daniels, Motivate Publishing, Glenfiddich, Stoli, Amarula, Skyy Vodka, Moet Hennessy, Heineken, Tiger Beer, Amstel Light, Strongbow,
IKEA, Sawa Mninjah, Dunia Finance, Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta, Coke Light, Coke Zero, Qualcomm, Philips, Audi, Panadol, Eno, Dunhill, JPGL, Pall Mall, Rothmans, Kent.
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Skills
- Creative Direction
- Conceptual
- Creative Leadership
- Brand Activation
- CRM
- Experiential Activations
- Ecommerce
- Social Media Advertising
- Digital Advertising
Education
Awards
O
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One ShowOne Show
One Show
2013 – One Show Interactive – Silver Pencil, Ikea. Worlds smallest store 2013 – One Show Interactive – Merit, Ikea. Worlds smallest store
2013 – One Show Interactive – Merit, Ikea. Worlds smallest store
2013 – One Show – Silver Pencil, Sawa Mninjah, Rescue Radio
2013 – One Show – Merit, Sawa Mninjah, Rescue Radio
2014 – One Show – Gold Pencil, Sawa Mninjah, Rescue Radio – The rescue continues 2014 – One Show – Gold Pencil, Sawa Mninjah, Rescue Radio – The rescue continues 2014 – One Show – Silver Pencil, Sawa Mninjah, Rescue Radio – The rescue continues 2014 – One Show – Silver Pencil, Sawa Mninjah, Rescue Radio – The rescue continues 2014 – One Show – Merit, Sawa Mninjah, Rescue Radio – The rescue continues
2014 – One Show – Merit, Sawa Mninjah, Rescue Radio – The rescue continues 2014 – One Show – Merit, Sawa Mninjah, Rescue Radio – The rescue continues 2014 – One Show – Merit, Sawa Mninjah, Rescue Radio – The rescue continues 2014 – One Show – Merit, Sawa Mninjah, Rescue Radio – The rescue continues 2014 – One Show – Merit, Sawa Mninjah, Rescue Radio – The rescue continues
2016 – One Show – Silver Pencil, Roads and Transport Authority, Back Off Radio 2016 – One Show – Merit, Lifebuoy, Handle on Hygiene
2016 – One Show – Merit, Lifebuoy, Handle on HygieneD&ADD&AD
D&AD
2013 – D&AD – In book, Ikea. Worlds smallest store 2013 – D&AD – In book, Ikea. Worlds smallest store 2013 – D&AD – In book, Sawa Mninjah, Rescue Radio
2014 – D&AD – In book, Sawa Mninjah, Rescue Radio – the rescue continues 2016 – D&AD – Wood Pencil, Roads and Transport Authority, Back Off Radio+ Show more