Holywood-based PR and creative agency invests over £1m in new ‘Creator Hub’ to unleash clever creativity

Holywood-based PR and creative agency Smarts has announced investment of over £1m and the creation of 10 specialist roles in its new influencer and talent offering, ‘Creator Hub’.

Recently ranked as the UK’s #1 agency headquartered outside of London, and #8 in the Consumer PR agency table, Smarts new division will forge partnerships between brands and content creators globally to co-create content with genuine cultural traction.

The intention is to find dynamic and engaging talent from wherever it’s needed breaking free from the limitations of a traditional agency talent roster.

The firm’s hiring spree has already begun across the agency’s offices in Holywood, London, and New York with the appointment of influencer strategist Gina Deen, who ran PUMA UK’s ambassador programme and led global influencer campaigns for Max Factor and Gucci Beauty as well as Josefina Ballesta, who has led influencer campaigns for Disney, Netflix and Sephora.

These appointments, in addition to the current 15-strong team, will be focused on deepening existing partnerships with online platforms including Meta and TikTok, building the agency’s data stack and supporting a new business drive.

The new division is already working on recently won global briefs for Booking.com and Zalando.

The move builds on the firm’s over 15 years’ experience in influencer and talent marketing that has seen it work on standalone and integrated campaigns alongside the likes of Melissa McCarthy, Peggy Gou, Snow Patrol, Jenson Button and Dua Lipa for brands like Johnnie Walker, ASICS, Bosch and North Face.

It will be led by Jill Boobyer, based in Smarts’ Holywood headquarters and supported by Smarts US president, Mike DaRe, former global head of culture and entertainment for Diageo’s Johnnie Walker brand.

Jill explained: “The influencer industry and creator economy are evolving fast. There is a real shift towards brands seeing influencers and talent as collaborators and creative consultants rather than just paid distribution channels and that means there is new kind of craft and invention in how creators are producing content today.

“When creators live and breathe the codes and behaviours of the platforms they are truly native on they can forge a new kind of agile cultural relevance for brands co-creating clever, attention-grabbing, campaigns that do what a brand needs them to do, in ways that the audience wants to engage with.

“The old forced ‘grip and grin with products’ approach that dominated the influencer world for so long has had its day. The emerging opportunity is to unlock the cultural potential of thousands of creators who can work with brands to make work that really sticks – and that’s exactly what we’re trying to do with ‘Creator Hub’.”

Group head of creative and strategy, Colin Corbridge, added: “‘Creator Hub’ is about celebrating and championing the outstanding creativity that comes from thousands of social creators all around the world.

“It enables us to harness the creative energy, diverse perspectives and production agility of a new generation of talent and influencer and it’s the right time to make this kind of investment. We’re really excited about what it can bring to our work.”

The ‘Creator Hub’ is a further step in Smarts’ global expansion with over £2m investment already spent in content production, digital and influencer capabilities since 2020 which has seen the firm become a global leader in culture-driven communications – jumping 14 places in PR Week’s Consumer table (from number 22 in 2020 to number eight today), with growth of 11%, and 42 new hires over the past 12months alone.