MullenLowe Appoints Jo Arden as Chief Strategy Officer

MullenLowe Group UK today announces the appointment of Jo Arden, Strategy Partner at 23red, to the role of Chief Strategy Officer. Charlie Snow, who has held the role since 2010, will remain at the agency in a long-term handover.

Jo will be responsible for leading the strategic excellence of the integrated MullenLowe Group UK office, last year named the UK Effie Agency of the Year, and will report into Dale Gall, CEO.

A leading integrated strategist, Jo specialises in social purpose based strategy. She joins MullenLowe following five years spearheading strategy at 23red where she has focused on government and private sector clients, tackling issues ranging from smoking to voting for clients including PHE, Electoral Commission, Department for Transport and Arla. She was part of the cross-agency leadership team for the IPA Effectiveness Gold award winning Stoptober campaign for Public Health England, the worldwide gold standard in reducing smoking prevalence.

Jo Arden comments “I am hugely excited to be joining MullenLowe. It’s an agency with an enviable reputation in strategy, built by Charlie and his team. That strategic foundation and the hyperbundled approach means that we can create meaningful, impactful work that makes a real difference to our clients and their customers.”

Charlie Snow will spend the next few months transitioning the department and client relationships. Snow was one of the original employees and a shareholder of DLKW, joining the start-up as Head of Planning in 2000 and promoted to Chief Strategy Officer of DLKW Lowe in 2010. In 2015 Lowe + Partners merged with US agency Mullen, and the newly named MullenLowe London moved into a new building with MullenLowe Profero, MullenLowe Open, MullenLowe Profero and MullenLowe Mediahub. Since then, Charlie has overseen MullenLowe Group UK’s integrated strategy department.

During his career Charlie has won a number of planning awards for his work, including the Grand Prix at the Account Planning Group for his thinking on The Department of Education’s ‘Child Literacy’ campaign, and two Gold IPA Effectiveness Awards, including the Stroke ‘Act FAST’ campaign. He has been the convenor of judges for the 2011 IPA Effectiveness Awards and was inaugurated into the IPA Effectiveness Hall of Fame. He is also a member of the Government’s Evaluation Council.

Charlie Snow says: “I’ve had seventeen very happy and fulfilling years at the agency in its various forms; and now seems like the right time to hand over the reins. I’m really pleased Jo agreed to join – she’ll be great.”

Tom Knox, Chairman MullenLowe comments: “It has been a privilege and a great pleasure to have worked with Charlie for the last 17 years, his strategic excellence, enthusiasm and magnetic personality leave a permanent stamp of quality on our agency. We are delighted to have him for a good transition period, working with Jo and Head of Strategy, Anna Vogt, and wish him bon voyage for the future.”