Special London Boosts Strategic and Creative Offering with New Hires

Special London has hired new multi-award-winning talent in a further boost to its creative and strategic offering.

Ashley Biack joins the agency from McCann London as strategist working on Monkey Shoulder and Mutti, and reporting directly to chief strategy officer Emily Harlock. Multi-award-winning creative team, Josephine Rasmussen and Marie Jensen have also been hired. The duo, who join from Saatchi & Saatchi, will work across the portfolio including our new accounts Employment Hero and Monkey Shoulder, reporting into chief creative officer David Day.  

Ashley worked at McCann London, helping the agency win clients such as McArthurGlen Group and Sky, and building their creative accelerator Atomic Soup. Her experience in marketing and new business contributed to her recent nomination for Campaign UK’s Best Corporate Communications and Marketing Team. Before this she held various positions within the Vice Media Group including Pulse Films, Vice UK and Virtue (the creative agency born from Vice). While at the entertainment group she helped brands like Topshop, Zalando, Puma and Etsy find new ways to matter to the world, by translating cultural trends that shaped the habits of a generation of digital and purpose driven consumers. 

Josephine and Marie started their career at Crispin Porter Bogusky in London, working on campaigns for brands including Tinder, Asics and George and creating the viral hit ‘”Imagine a CEO” campaign for International Women's Day. They have won a slew of awards, including Creative Circle’s ‘Most Promising Creative Team’ award in 2023 and have been shortlisted for the Emerging Team Award at the Campaign Big Awards. In 2021, just after graduating from college in their native Denmark, they won Cream.

These hires follow a series of new business wins at Special London, including most recently the global business for Employment Hero and Monkey Shoulder. 

Jen Black, chief executive of Special London, said, “Ashley, Jose and Marie are brilliantly talented new additions to our team, and are joining us at such an exciting time. They bring with them unique and incredible experiences and they will be key contributors to the type of work Emily, Dave and I look forward to making.”

Emily Harlock said, “Ashley is a wonderful new strategist with bags of strategic instinct and a natural cultural thinker, cemented by her experience at Virtue. We talk a lot as an industry about opening up and giving on-ramps to new talent, so we are totally delighted that Ashley is joining our growing agency and making her move into Strategy.”

David Day said, “You meet creatives every once in a while, who, no matter their background or experience, just get it. They have a clear understanding of what works in real life but, more importantly, they know the type of work they want to make. I’m thrilled to bring them into the Special fold, where our ambitions are perfectly matched.”

Ashley Biack said, "Joining the team at Special was a total no-brainer after meeting Emily and the rest of the team! It's a privilege to be part of this talented gang of people, with bags of energy and true passion for what they do. I can't wait to dive in and create some great work together!"

Josephine Rasmussen and Marie Jensen said, “We are so excited to get started at Special London! It’s really good to be back working with Dave again and to join such a cool and inspiring bunch of people. We can’t wait to see what new and exciting work we’ll create together. With this team, energy and ambition, we have no doubt this will be a special journey.”