Best Startup
At Best Startup UK we track over 130,000 UK startups and over 500,000 people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top United Kingdom based Creative Director operating in the Advertising space. If you think a Creative Director is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.co.uk.
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Companies House UK, Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Antonia Bonello
Associate Creative Director of BuzzFeed
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About BuzzFeed: BuzzFeed is a cross-platform digital media company delivering news and entertainment content to a global audience.
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Dave Monk
Executive Creative Director of Publicis Groupe
Dave has worked at several top-notch agencies in the UK, spending 10 years at BBH London and 5 years at Grey London. He’s picked up awards at every major show for a multitude of long form branded content such as The Times Unquiet Film Series and Heineken ‘Worlds Apart’. Dave doesn’t care what shape or length or form an idea takes as long as the idea sticks in people’s minds for a long time.
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About Publicis Groupe, Publicis Poke: Publicis Groupe is a digital and interactive communication services provider.
Will Stewart
Creative Director of Bidstack
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About Bidstack: Bidstack empowers brands to place advertising into spaces that sit naturally within video games.
Mark Orbine
Group Creative Director of VCCP Group
Mark started off at Ogilvy where he spent his first few years in advertising working on clients such as Ford, Lucozade and Guinness. He became a Campaign face to watch in 1995. He then bumped into Rooney Carruthers in the pub and has been with VCCP ever since. He helped launch O2 and worked on brands like Coca Cola, Dyson, Muller and More Than. With VCCP, Mark has produced award-winning work including the COI’s anti-binge campaign, Macmillan Cancer Care and the mullet-wearing Jean-Claude Van Damme campaign for Coors Light. His most recent pitch wins include Which?, Macmilllan and the AA.
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About VCCP Group: VCCP Group provides directory for top marketers, agencies, media companies.
Darren Bailes
Executive Creative Director of VCCP Group
Darren has worked for many initials. He started his career at WCRS creating award-winning work for Speedo and funny work for Butterkist. He then moved to DDB London. But not for long. Next was a seven year stint at Mother. Pimm’s, ITV Digital, PG Tips, Yellow Pages were all hits. Xelibri followed, a massive mobile phone launch across Europe for Siemens. DVD pirate copies of the TV spot were available on street corners of Japan. In 2008 Darren moved to VCCP with the desire to create more famous advertising that the nation would love. VCCP’s comparethemarket.com launched in 2009 and still wins awards and goes from strength to strength. O2 Be more dog is the hit of the year. Coors Light sells out thanks to Jean Claude Van Damme. Morgan Freeman will be forever More Than Freeman.
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About VCCP Group: VCCP Group provides directory for top marketers, agencies, media companies.
John Scully
Group Creative Director of Four Communications
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About Diamond Conspiracy, Four Communications: Four is a leading independent, integrated communications agency with offices in London and the Gulf.
John Scully
Group Creative Director of Four Communications
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About Diamond Conspiracy, Four Communications: Four is a leading independent, integrated communications agency with offices in London and the Gulf.
Fura Johannesdottir
Group Executive Creative Director of R/GA
Fura joined R/GA 10 years ago after finishing her MFA degree from Parsons School of Design – Design & Technology. She was based in NYC her first 9 years with R/GA overseeing and managing creative for Nike and Samsung US Mobile. She started her career in Reykjavik, Iceland in 2000 as a digital producer and interaction designer, but moved quickly into a management role for the office. Fura oversees and leads the creative within R/GA Stockholm. She sets the creative and strategic vision for the team and manages a team of experience designers, visual designers, art directors and copywriters. She has worked on a variety of projects throughout her career, spanning everything from digital campaigns, to complicated web/mobile design, services, retail experiences and e-commerce. Her work has won a number of awards and recognition, placing her has one of the most lusted after creatives by rival agencies in 2012.
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About R/GA: R/GA offers advertising and marketing services.
Colin Pye
Creative Director of Realeyes
Colin’s role is twofold: to develop the user experience of the Realeyes platform and to shape the Realeyes brand. With strategic rigour and creative excellence, he brings nearly two decades of creative agency experience, across brand, digital, advertising and film. He’s worked with many FTSE100 brands, help create new digital service propositions and created many innovative and strategic concepts to help inform senior management decisions. Colin was honored with the freedom of the City of London for industry recognition, has judged for D&AD, awarded with distinction for a mini MBA and having been part of a start-up E-commerce agency, means he’s not shy at being hands on.
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About Realeyes: Measuring Human Response At The Speed & Scale Of AI
Franki Goodwin
Creative Director of Saatchi & Saatchi (Advertising Co.)
Franki leads a double life as a Creative Director at Saatchi & Saatchi London and as Exec Producer at Western Edge Pictures and the Gennaker Group – a group of independent Feature Film Production and Finance Companies. In her first company, Franki&Jonny, she pioneered early integrated content and social media campaigns and won many awards, including a BAFTA interactive and a bunch of D&ADs. Franki was recently was named by the prestigious awards outfit the FWA as a ‘Digital Pioneer’ for her work in this period for Warner Bros, Disney, Skype and Film4. In 2013 she joined Saatchi & Saatchi London, bringing unique digital expertise and storytelling skills to an integrated advertising role working across clients such as Marie Curie, Asda, and Deutsche Telekom. In 2016 Franki won 9 Cannes Lions for “Sea Hero Quest” – the world’s first game to plug into Dementia research, which was named as one of the top 10 campaigns of 2016 by Creative Review and Campaign. In 2017 she was a Judge at the Cannes Lions, and also won 4 Lions, including one gold, for her latest work for DT “Magenta Unleashed”– a partnership with the band Gorillaz.
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About Saatchi & Saatchi (Advertising Co.), Saatchi & Saatchi London, Western Edge Pictures: Saatchi & Saatchi is a global creative communications company headquartered in New York with 130 offices in 70 countries.
Grant Hunter
Executive Creative Director Europe of Iris
Grant is the Executive Creative Director of iris in Europe. He returned home to London in 2017 after 7 years in Singapore where he headed up iris’ creative output across the APAC region. During his time at iris, he has led the award-winning design team for the 2012 Olympic Mascots, developed Johnnie Walker’s F1 branded content series ‘Step Inside The Circuit’ and the ‘Force Of Black’ platform for adidas’ partnership with the All Blacks. He is the co-author of Newsjacking published by Thames and Hudson and is a regular speaker and judge at creative industry events including D&AD Shift.
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About Iris: Iris is an advertising agency that creates an innovation network of over 1000 people across 17 markets.
Julian Harriman-Dickinson
Founder and Executive Creative Director of HarrimanSteel
Graduating with a D&AD student pencil under his belt, Julian moved into the advertising industry where he worked for Lowe Howard-Spink as an Art Director for 4 years. During this time he worked with a number of high profile clients including Diesel, Reebok, Olympus, Vauxhall, Smirnoff and Whitbread. Julian then worked as a Freelance Art Director for various advertising agencies including Kessels Kramer & Mother in their infancies. Twenty years ago in 1999, Julian cofounded HarrimanSteel with Nick Steel in London, with the ambition of driving and affecting culture. Their mission remains steadfast to this day: to generate brand lust outside the constraints of traditional advertising. HarrimanSteel and Julian have had the privilege of working with a select bunch of prestigious clients including Nike, Patagonia, Sonos, Toms, Louis Vuitton, Eley Kishimoto, V&A, Philharmonia Orchestra to name a few. Occasionally Julian still directs commercials and content for HarrimanSteel campaigns for the likes of Nike & Pepsi.
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About HarrimanSteel: HarrimanSteel is an independent creative agency.
Alessia Affinita
Founder & Creative Director of Idea 188
Alessia has been passionately working in the advertising ir1JUSUV since 1996. Born copywriter and grown up as art director. she worked in well-known creative agencies in Italy and the UK for over 10 years. before becoming a professional freelancer. She won the Design S Art Directors Advertising Workshop in 2004. Alessia founded Ideai88 in 2008 and is enthusiastically leading the team. ty •
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About Idea 188, it’s campus: Idea 188 is driven by experienced creative freelancers. carefully selected across the world.
Matt Verity
Creative Director of Gravity Road
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About Gravity Road: Gravity Road is a creative company bringing together marketing, entertainment and technology.
Richard Brim
Creative Director of adam&eveDDB
Richard Brim is CCO of adam&eveDDB, one of the most consistently creative agencies on the world stage. Whilst Brim has been at the agency, adam&eveDDB has been Cannes Agency of the year twice (2014 & 2018) with 7 Grands Prix, and the Top UK Agency every year. Last year the agency was named Campaign’s Agency of the Year for the fourth consecutive year. Rick leads creative on the agency’s Christmas campaigns, including the world-famous John Lewis Christmas campaign, H&M (including the award-winning holiday campaign directed by Wes Anderson), Waitrose & Partners to name a few. Other recent work includes creating a new move in FIFA 18, Skittles giving up its rainbow to Pride with 3m white packs sold and Project84 campaign for CALM, which resulted in the appointment of the first ever Minister of Suicide Prevention.
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About adam&eveDDB: adam&eveDDB is a creative communications agency made up of people from the worlds of advertising, design, digital, media and social.
Steven Anderson
Executive Creative Director & Co-Founder of Future Kings
Responsible for all strategy and creative work, Steven oversees the output of the whole team to ensure the highest possible strategic and creative standards. A multi-award winning designer and creative director, he led the team that won the coveted Grand Prix Award at the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards.
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About Future Kings: Future Kings is a marketing and advertising firm.
Ryan Stone
Creative Director of Lambda Films
For four years, Ryan wrote essays on hot global topics such as Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and the use of rubber suits in Godzilla, which he then traded in for a Ba & Ma in Film Studies. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, some clever chaps invented YouTube and the popularity and potential of online video became an obsession for Ryan. Combining this new-found interest with his love of videography, Ryan founded Lambda Films in 2009 with long-term collaborator Alex Morris. With little business knowledge, Lambda was an exercise in ‘winging it’, and despite the efforts of the world’s failing economy, the company perservered and prospered. Today, Ryan oversees those that are much more talented than himself, ensuring that Lambda continues to thrive and always with one eye on the ultimate goal; a ball pit in the office.
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About Lambda Films: At Lambda Films we work with you from the very beginning of your project, exploring concepts and ideas through to marketing.
Alexander Ashworth
CEO & Creative Director of Manifest
Alex leads the Manifest team having spent over twenty years with global branding and design agencies including Wolff Olins. He has advised leading businesses on brand and strategy issues, including American Express, Citigroup and Visa, and designed brand identities for Churchill’s, IAC and Iveagh. An international speaker and writer on brand, design and marketing issues, his articles and work have been published in the Journal of Financial Services Marketing, B2B Business, Marketing Magazine and Boardroom and his work is featured in several published books. Alex is a Fellow of the Chartered Society of Designers, Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and a Chartered Marketer.
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About Manifest: Manifest is a brand, design and marketing consultancy that transforms the way brands are perceived to help make them more successful.
Chris Clarke
Art Director, Senior Art Director, and Deputy Creative Director of Guardian Media Group
Chris is responsible for building mobile apps and news products for the future. Passionate about sharing ideas on process and online reading consumption. Chris is also a course instructor for a short course on UX Design.
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About Guardian Media Group: GMG is a leading multimedia business. The diverse portfolio includes national and regional newspapers, websites, radio stations, magazines
David Schneider
Co-Founder & Creative Director of ThatLot
Best known in the UK as an actor/comedian/writer, David starred in TV shows such as I’m Alan Partridge and movies such as Mission Impossible and 28 Days Later. In 2013, David Schneider set up That Lot with David Levin. An avid tweeter with 240,000 followers and counting, David and the team provide content for brands and businesses, as well as making viral videos and pictures, and he recently directed Josh Widdecombe’s sitcom for the BBC. David gives workshops on social media to businesses, agencies and brands as well as keynote speeches in both the academic and corporate sectors.
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About ThatLot: That Lot is a social creative agency.
David Levin
Creative Director of ThatLot
David Levin is one of the UK’s foremost professional tweeters. His love affair with Twitter happened after setting up a spoof account for a pub in Hackney, @the_dolphin_pub, which gathered a cult following and ranked among the top tweeters for London 2012, The BRITs, the royal baby and TV shows such as Big Brother and Drugs Live; and was named in Time Out’s ‘Favourite London Tweeters’. He also got The Dolphin trending (above the Nobel Peace Prize) with an Olympics-themed #dolphinquiz. On the back of the Dolphin’s successes, David has gone on to tweet for many household brands and TV flagship shows, and is always coming up with creative ways of using social media platforms.
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About ThatLot: That Lot is a social creative agency.
Jordan Daniels
Co-founder & Creative Director of Original People
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About Original People: Digital design and innovation studio, based in Soho, London
Jordan Daniels
Co-founder & Creative Director of Original People
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About Original People: Digital design and innovation studio, based in Soho, London
Louis Persent
Creative Director of Weirdo
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About Weirdo: Weirdo is a creative agency that provides strategy, creative campaigns, and design.
Alex Morris
Creative Director of Barcroft Studios
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About Barcroft Studios: Barcroft Studios producing content for global industry publishers, broadcasters, platforms and brands.
Alistair Campbell
Executive Creative Director of Waste Creative
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About Waste Creative: Waste Creative is a digital creative agency solving marketing challenges with urgency, digital expertise & a no-fuss attitude.
Mark Miles
Founder and Managing Creative Director of Rendermedia
Mark Miles began his career using 3D Studio for the DOS platform 1994, where the idea of a 3D environment in which to play and explore was fascinating. His career has spanned educational computer software and television, with contributions on projects in the educational arena earning BAFTA nominations and a BAFTA Award. The idea of taking higher-end CGI (more traditionally used in Film, TV and Games) was a genesis for launching a studio that focused on B2B in bringing businesses to life. Today, with 18 years heritage in CGI, Mark and his business partner Nadine head up Rendermedia, a Virtual & Augmented Reality Studio serving UK FT100 and FT250 with global operations bringing their business to life across AR, VR and Real-time applications. Made up of CG Artists, filmmakers, sound designers, animators and developers, Rendermedia supports global businesses in developing tools that are used across the entire operational structure of the client’s business. Mark’s team works in both commercial applications and R&D, keeping them ahead of the curve and allowing them to provide cutting-edge solutions that utilise emerging technology.
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About Rendermedia: Rendermedia is a leading, creative virtual reality agency.
Bridie Marshall
Founder and Creative Director of BeSocial Media
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About BeSocial Media: BeSocial Media is a creative content & social media management agency.
Becky Coyle
Creative Director of Rufus Leonard
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About Rufus Leonard: Rufus is an award-winning creative engagement agency blending strategy, creativity and technology to create inspired futures for firms
Dan Weaver
Co-Founder/Creative Director of Fudge Animation Studios
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About Fudge Animation Studios: Fudge Animation Studios are a full service agency who astonish, inspire and motivate target audiences with exceptional character animation.
Andy Park
Creative Director of Open Path
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About Creode, Open Path: Open Path is a Leeds-based digital agency.
Stephen Carpenter
Digital Creative Director / Founder of iUVO Agency
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About iUVO Agency: Big ideas, powerful content, engaging experiences. iUVO is a creative agency for our digital age.
Will Francis
Founder & Creative Director of Vandal London
Founder & Creative Director at Vandal London, a digital innovation agency. Will speaks, trains and writes about technology, digital and social media.
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About Vandal London: Digital innovation agency creating unforgettable campaigns through creativity, technology and design.
Stephen Waller
Creative Director of Swift Creatives
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About Swift Creatives: Swift Creatives is an international design studio, helping brands create innovative designs and meaningful experiences
Matthew Cockerill
Creative Director and Head of Studio of Swift Creatives
Matthew is a well-established designer who has been creating world-leading products and experiences for over 20 years. Working internationally across multiple sectors to help brands increase their business value through innovation and the design of physical and digital products and experiences. His work includes consumer electronics, healthcare, domestic appliances, alcoholic beverages, endurance sports, transportation and environments. He created the world’s first ethical and modular smartphone for Fairphone which won a Cannes Lion award in 2017, imagined future lifestyles and product categories for Samsung Electronics, created luxurious whisky experiences for Diageo, retail activations for Gatorade, award experiences for Google and helped define the passenger experience at Heathrow T5. Matthew regularly brings his innovative thinking to the wider world through speaking at conferences, panel talks, commentating in the press, university lecturing and judging industry events, including the steering group for the 2017/18 Cannes Lion Award. Before joining Swift Creatives, Matthew was a board director at Seymourpowell for 10 years and has worked in-house in Seoul, South Korea for Samsung Electronics.
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About Swift Creatives: Swift Creatives is an international design studio, helping brands create innovative designs and meaningful experiences
Ben Peckett
Creative Director of Amplify
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About Amplify: Amplify is a branding and advertising agency.
Mark Gass
Executive Creative Director of The Creative Engagement Group
Mark Gass serves as an Executive Creative Director at The Creative Engagement Group.
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About The Creative Engagement Group: The Creative Engagement Group is creates and delivers live experiences, communications, interactive and immersive content.
Charlie Haywood
Creative Director of Hotfoot Design
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About Hotfoot Design: Hotfoot Design is a creative agency based in Lancaster with clients dotted around the UK. Our focus is on branding, digital, and marketing.
Elizabeth Pendleton
Creative Director of Lingo Design
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About Lingo Design: Website and Graphic Design in Norfolk, providing web design, SEO services, branding, digital marketing, livery designs and print designs.
Daniel Willers
Creative Director of Yellow Mouse Studios
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About Yellow Mouse Studios: We create content using techniques ranging from Stop-Motion to 3D
Daniel Willers
Creative Director of Yellow Mouse Studios
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About Yellow Mouse Studios: We create content using techniques ranging from Stop-Motion to 3D
Ediz Huseyin
Creative Director – Video of VexPop
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About VexPop: VexPop is a social utility platform that allows consumers to express their opinions on a range of topics.
Alex Harvey
Creative Director of Infinite Pixel
Alex Harvey – Creative director, Alex comes from the gaming industry, previously working for Codemasters working on the GRID series then Formula 1. Alex started his own production company in 2014 and specialized in aerial cinematography and commercials. This has now moved into the VR space and the company is now creating 360 video for multiple clients as well as photorealistic VR training experiences for the UK blue light services.
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About Infinite Pixel: Infinite Pixel is a creative agency they craft engaging content, products and experiences for individuals and brands.
Alex Harvey
Creative Director of Infinite Pixel
Alex Harvey – Creative director, Alex comes from the gaming industry, previously working for Codemasters working on the GRID series then Formula 1. Alex started his own production company in 2014 and specialized in aerial cinematography and commercials. This has now moved into the VR space and the company is now creating 360 video for multiple clients as well as photorealistic VR training experiences for the UK blue light services.
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About Infinite Pixel: Infinite Pixel is a creative agency they craft engaging content, products and experiences for individuals and brands.
Michael Schlotfeldt
Creative Director & Co-Founder of Plaudit Design
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About Plaudit Design: Plaudit Design is a web design and Internet marketing agency.
