Smith & Milton Appoints Ben Hostler as Digital Creative Director

Smith & Milton is broadening its digital capabilities with the appointment of Ben Hostler as its digital creative director.

Hostler will work across the Smith & Milton group; Smith & Milton (London), Smith & Milton Bristol and Black & White Thinking across all clients. His role will be to lead and evolve digital projects and help define how an Organising Thought,  a consistent brand voice which touches every aspect of an organisation, from internal to marketing comms right through to phone contact, manifests itself across digital platforms.

Hostler joins Smith & Milton from Beef Digital, a digital agency based in Bristol which has produced a number of award winning campaigns. As founder and creative director of Beef, Ben has amassed over 14 years experience working in digital.

Over the years Hostler has also worked on projects with Good Energy (which he helped grow its customer base from 7,000 to 50,000 people across six years), Gap Medics, Work the World and Royal Agricultural College to focus brand identity and raise the organisations’ digital profiles.

Smith & Milton has also appointed two new designers.

Lloyd Parker joins the London team from the Smith & Milton Bristol office, where he has been designer for two years. He will work closely with Hostler focusing on delivering digital solutions for the agency’s full client portfolio.

Natalie Bradbury comes to the agency as designer to work across all accounts. She joins from Here Design where she worked on its Fortnum & Mason and The Balvenie accounts.

Bradbury and Parker will report into Steven Anderson, group creative director at Smith & Milton.

Anderson said: “The appointment of Ben represents Smith & Milton’s recognition of the need for a strong digital offering in order to provide the services our clients have come to rely on us for. Ben’s expertise will be vital to delivering to our clients’ needs for a brand identity, marketing communications strategy or creative campaign, that remains consistent and equally compelling no matter which channel it is delivered through.”

Hostler added: “Joining Smith & Milton represents a fantastic opportunity to create an exceptional digital proposition as the agency expands its services to give clients the help they need to establish a unique offering in an increasingly saturated landscape. Brands now have the opportunity to interact with consumers across a plethora of outlets, and giving them the ability to do so in one, cohesive manner is an exciting proposition.”