Booms & Shakes: April's biggest moves and boldest launches

Welcome to Booms & Shakes, our monthly round-up of the hires, promotions, partnerships and stories making waves across the creative world. April has arrived, and there's so much to talk about.

A major founder transition after 35 years. Social-first agencies expanding at pace. Hiring sprees and fresh account wins. And running quietly beneath all of it — in a custom typeface, a series of sold-out workshops and a new video platform, and more— is a growing conviction that craft matters more now than ever.

Here's everyone and everything that's been making noise this month.

Transitions, promotions & new hires

Ronan Traynor steps back at Verve

The most significant transition of the month belongs to Verve, a multi-award-winning experiential agency and certified B Corp, working with Diageo, Google, Coca-Cola, LinkedIn and TikTok across offices in Dublin, London, Amsterdam and Singapore. After 35 years at the helm, founder Ronan Traynor is moving into the role of executive chair. Barry Muldowney, who's been with the agency for more than a decade, most recently as COO, will now step up to the role of group managing director.

Residence formalises its creative leadership

Global creative network Residence—whose recent months have included the acquisition of OK COOL and the rebrand of VTProDesign to ACRONYM— has made two leadership appointments. Ben Langsfeld, a founding member of BUCK, has been named CCO. And Orion Tait, co-founder of both Residence and BUCK, steps from CCO into the newly defined role of creative chair.

M+C Saatchi Talk appoints Callum Powell

M+C Saatchi Talk has appointed Callum Powell as head of brand PR and influence, a newly created role. The agency describes the move as a shift from storytelling to "story-making": creating culturally relevant moments rather than merely amplifying them. He'll work across clients, including Formula E, Revlon and Burberry Beauty Global, and report to managing director Amaya Alvarez.

DEPT appoints Roy Armale

DEPT—which is kind of a hybrid of creative agency, digital product studio and tech consultancy—has appointed Roy Armale as chief product officer, joining from WPP. Along with over 15 years of experience, he has a postgraduate degree in artificial intelligence for business from Oxford's Saïd Business School. That could come in handy, as DEPT already generates 50% of its revenue from AI-enabled services and manages more than $5 billion in digital media spend.

GUT Europe promotes across the board

Creative agency GUT Europe has announced a wave of senior promotions across its Madrid and Amsterdam hubs, elevating key talent into executive creative director, creative director and chief strategy officer roles, alongside new leadership in growth and production. The moves reflect a deliberate effort to build a more connected European offering. A network investing in itself, rather than recruiting outwards, is usually a good sign.

Aer Studios makes leadership appointments

Certified B Corp and creative technology studio Aer Studios, whose clients include the BBC, Dogs Trust, GAVI and the Roman Baths, has appointed Scott Ewings as chief strategy officer and promoted James Hobbs to chief technology officer.

Ewings brings nearly three decades of digital agency leadership across clients including Google, Barclays, the BBC, O2 and Cadbury. Reporting to chief executive Tom Harber, he'll act as the studio's London ambassador, establishing a South East presence and taking on speaking and thought leadership responsibilities across the sector.

Hobbs's promotion to CTO recognises his impact since joining two years ago from Dyson and Great State. Under his technical leadership, the studio has delivered Pocket Talks, a proof-of-concept enabling immersive keynote experiences on mobile, and an augmented reality experience for BBC Children in Need.

Born Social promotes Alex Green

Social-first creative agency Born Social—Campaign's Agency of the Year for two years running—has promoted Alex Green to head of growth (UK), after a decade at the agency where she's led some of its biggest pitches and grown the Diageo partnership from a single brand into a multi-brand, multi-market portfolio. Her new remit covers the UK new business pipeline and end-to-end growth strategy.

MAKE welcomes Ryan Romans

Animation and short-form studio MAKE has brought in Ryan Romans as director of creative partnerships. He brings experience spanning global campaigns, live events and experimental production, including work on the 2024 Summer Olympics and the Call of Duty League, and previously founded his own design service company, Savages.

Uncovered bolsters creative

Social-first agency Uncovered—named 2025 Social Media Agency of the Year—has made two significant creative hires. Sam O'Kitchin joins as creative director from Born Social, where she led campaigns for Smirnoff, Primark, Uber Eats and Mars. At the same time, Annie Brooks returns to the agency as head of art and design, having previously risen through Uncovered's ranks to creative director before departing in 2025.

Explorers Club expands US footprint

Strategy and design studio Explorers Club has hired Darragh King as senior project manager, based in LA. King joins from a background spanning brand, entertainment and digital, with recent work including strategic brand initiatives with Koto LA, creative production at We're Not Really Strangers and project management for DreamWorks Animation.

Gung Ho makes 20 new hires

Social-first agency Gung Ho has announced more than 20 new hires across creative, strategy and client leadership to support growing demand across fashion, lifestyle and sport. Key senior appointments include Rachael Robertson as business director, Eleanor Dunne as head of creative and content, and Ben Harris as senior partnerships director.

Launches and new ventures

D&AD launches Ambassador Programme

D&AD has appointed 26 leading creatives across 10 countries as part of a new global Ambassador Programme, spanning creative hubs from Auckland to Tokyo.

The full roster includes Nick Worthington of The Tuesday Club in Auckland; Ricardo Wolff of Innocean and Döerte Spengler-Ahrens of Jung von Matt in Germany; Natalie Lam, former CCO of Publicis Groupe APAC, and Kitty Lun of Meta Greater China in Hong Kong; Paco Conde of Lerma/, Ali Brown of Prettybird and Cat How of How&How in Los Angeles; Tara Ford of Droga5, Tim Greenhalgh of Like a Moth, Steve Honour of Diageo, Seun Areoye of Gauchoworld and Nova Dando of TikTok in London.

Also on the list are Pancho Casses of David in Madrid; Gabriel Schmitt of Grey, Alison Gragnano of The New School and Shakira Polite—a former D&AD Shift participant, now entrepreneur in residence at the Frank G. Zarb School of Business—in New York; Sylvain Thirache of Le Club des DA in Paris; Joanna Monteiro, former CCO of FCB Brasil, and Mateus de Paula Santos of Lobo in São Paulo; Tara McKenty of AKQA, Patrick Guerrera of Rebellion Consulting and Melissa Baillache of Koto APAC in Sydney; and Yasuharu Sasaki and Jean Lin of Dentsu, alongside designer Naomi Hirabayashi, in Tokyo.

The programme is designed to embed D&AD more deeply within local creative industries, connecting talent with its global network, programmes and standards. It builds on the organisation's long-standing commitment to access and education (including Shift, its free night school for creatives from non-traditional backgrounds). It arrives under the stewardship of new chief executive David Patton.

Committed Citizens aims to fix marketing

A new marketing consultancy, Committed Citizens, has been co-founded by Ben Scoggins, former chief executive of Organic, and Tim Burley, a senior agency leader with 25 years of experience. Their focus is not on doing the marketing itself, but on fixing the operational machinery that determines whether marketing can perform at all.

The founders call it 'operational drag': the slow workflows, underused technology, misaligned teams and broken processes that erode marketing's ability to deliver. Committed Citizens works in six-week cycles rather than open-ended programmes, with each cycle producing measurable results rather than slide decks. They say they've already cut campaign cycle times from three weeks to six days for one client, and reduced licence costs by 57% in 12 weeks for another.

Slowdown Studio arrives in the UK

LA-born, Australian-owned artist homeware brand Slowdown Studio has officially launched in the UK, bringing its artist-designed woven throws and design-forward homewares to British homes. Co-owned by Jacob and Sarah-Jane Leung, the brand has built its cult following by treating functional objects like gallery pieces.

Graphic Design Is Not Dead hits Manchester

For the past year, London-based visual designer Fatma Al Mansoury has been running Graphic Design Is Not Dead—workshops that allow digital designers to reconnect with physical craft—with every event reaching capacity. Each session focuses on a different discipline (calligraphy, letterpress, screen printing) led by a specialist practitioner. Following demand across the UK, the series is now expanding to Manchester.

FrameRate: a new platform for filmmakers

FrameRate has launched in beta as a video hosting platform and community built specifically for creatives who care about craft. The timing makes sense: Vimeo has pivoted to enterprise, Instagram and YouTube are chasing the TikTok dream, and there's no longer a natural home for highly crafted work and the community around it.

Co-founded by Justin Cone, formerly of Buck and Motionographer, FrameRate offers hosting with customisable embeds, client review tools, robust privacy controls and community features including time-stamped comments and direct messaging.

Partnerships and wins

Fuse appointed by UFC

Sport and entertainment agency Fuse has been appointed as UFC's retained PR agency across the UK and Ireland, as the world's premier MMA organisation continues to strengthen its presence in the region.

The appointment covers UFC's day-to-day press office, athlete media placements around major fights, and on-the-ground operations at UK events, most recently at The O2 in March. Sport remains the industry's most fertile growth territory, and this appointment further underlines it.

Mongoose appointed by British Equestrian

Mongoose has been appointed as the sponsorship and partnership agency for British Equestrian, the national federation for horse sports and activity in the UK. Mongoose will conduct a strategic review of the sponsorship landscape, develop narrative-led rights packages and help commercialise the federation's commercial assets for both domestic and international brand partners.

Gung Ho wins Thule

Hot on the heels of last month's Reebok win, Gung Ho has been appointed as retained UK PR agency for Swedish outdoor brand Thule, covering bikes, sport, cargo, bags and adventure camping. This deepens their credentials in the outdoor sector, along with ongoing representation of KEEN Footwear.

Laneige appoints Jung von Matt Hangang

Premium skincare brand Laneige has appointed Jung von Matt Hangang to lead the global push of its Bouncy & Firm Serum campaign, launching in the US before rolling out worldwide. The strategic platform, titled Now & Forever, connects the serum's instant firming benefits with its long-term clinical performance under a single narrative, repositioning it as a product that reactivates the skin's ability to bounce back rather than simply delivering short-term results.

TBWA\MCR ranked seventh in the world

Manchester creative agency TBWA\MCR has been named the seventh best agency in the world in the 2026 ACT Good Report, the global benchmark celebrating creativity for social and environmental impact, compiled by ACT Responsible in collaboration with WARC across more than 1,000 campaigns from 70-plus markets. Two campaigns placed in the global top 40: 'Homelessness Is Spiking' at number nine, and 'More Cuts Lead to More Cuts' at number 39. 'Homelessness Is Spiking' also won Best of the Best at the MPA Inspiration Awards.

Milestones and anniversaries

There's another pleasing cluster of birthdays this month. Barcelona animation and illustration studio Niceshit—whose clients include IBM, Google, Trivago, Bose and EA Sports—is turning ten and marking the milestone with a full rebrand and new website launching today.

The centrepiece is a custom hand-drawn typeface built from the handwriting of the studio's three founders. It's a fitting choice for a studio that has always believed the concept must earn the visual, not the other way around. Ten years of simplicity, humour and function, now expressed in their own handwriting. Lovely.

Newcastle-based digital marketing agency Route Agency is marking ten years with team growth, a string of new client wins including Merry Hill shopping centre, the Federation of Master Builders and Tyneside Home Improvements, and recent award wins at the Prolific North Awards, the Northern Digital Awards and the UK Paid Media Awards.

Melbourne-based strategy and brand practice JAC AND, founded by Jacinta Lippold, is celebrating a decade of deliberately staying small, building around a curated group of close collaborators, and working as a true brand partner rather than a traditional agency.

Branding and digital studio Design by Twist, founded by Floriane Jambu and Alex Dalmau, celebrates five years this month with a new identity and website. Originally launched in Australia, the studio is now based in Europe, working with clients globally across branding, digital and creative direction.

We'll end with an event that's well worth attending if you can. World-renowned designer Stefan Sagmeister will host the ADC 105th Annual Awards ceremony on 13 May in New York, as part of Creative Week 2026, which runs 11-15 May and includes The One Show, the inaugural One Show Indies and the Young Ones Student Awards.

Key takeaways

Step back from April's volume and a few things become clear.

Firstly, social-first agencies are no longer the scrappy challengers: they're the ones with the hiring sprees, the major retained accounts and the promotions to prove it. Born Social, Uncovered, Gung Ho, and Coolr Sport (who featured last month) are all growing fast and with confidence. The social-first model has arrived.

Secondly, sport remains the industry's dominant creative growth story, with UFC, British Equestrian and Thule all landing with agencies this month. Make no mistake: right now, the intersection of sport, culture and earned media is where the most interesting creative briefs currently live.

Thirdly, and perhaps most interestingly, craft is making a comeback as a value proposition. Niceshit building a typeface from its founders' handwriting; Graphic Design Is Not Dead selling out every workshop; FrameRate launching a new home for people who care about making things carefully: none of these is accidental. In an industry increasingly anxious about what AI makes disposable, studios are doubling down on what is irreducibly human.