iris Culture Recruits Ben Gotto Smith as Managing Partner

Today iris Culture, the PR and experiential arm of the global creative innovation network iris, announced it has recruited Ben Gotto Smith to the new role of Managing Partner.  Ben has almost 20 years experience of blue chip brand marketing covering all channels, from developing large-scale events to multi-format content creation.

Managing Director of iris Culture, Laura Weston says “We have a very clear focus in our team to develop the most innovative and creative work in the industry.   Adding Ben will only strengthen this and maintain momentum after what has been our most successful year for winning awards for our client work.”

Weston continues, “Ben shares our passion for conceiving insight-led, big creative ideas for brands and his vast agency experience from around the world will be invaluable to us.   We are looking forward to him having a long career at iris to help drive growth both in the UK and the wider global network.”

Ben Gotto Smith says, “I have always been a fan of iris’ integrated work and had been looking for the right route to return to London. The team is whip-smart, with exactly the type of clients that excite me. I’m thrilled that iris Culture continue to invest in creativity and innovation at the heart of their business and am looking forward to joining them.”

After initially working as a planner within Saatchi & Saatchi’s European network Ben moved on to working in some of Australia’s top PR agencies.  He started up the Sydney office of Shoreditch hot shop ‘Splendid Communications’ with founding client Smirnoff before heading to London for a two-year stint heading up the Communications team at Exposure Europe.

After moving back to Sydney, he has most recently been consulting to a range of clients including McDonald’s, Jenny Craig, Body & Soul Indonesia as well leading Australian communications agencies.

Ben will join a team of 50 in the London office of iris Culture and will work across an enviable client portfolio including MINI, Samsung, adidas, Wonderbra, BMW and Britvic.  He will also connect with iris offices across the world where the PR and experiential offering is growing.  iris recently announced it has hired PR Director Lyndie Tang in its Singapore office to help drive growth around key clients in the market including Heineken.