“A Pairing That Excites Me”: Ben Pobjoy Discusses His Move to Weber Shandwick Canada
“The vision is simple: be unapologetically imaginative, playfully provocative, do the right thing, create real value for humans, and deliver big results to clients,” says Ben Pobjoy, Weber Shandwick Canada’s new executive creative director.
While these might be the words used to describe the aims and ambitions of any great creative shop, undeniably, they carry a little more punching power when coming from someone with Ben’s reputation. Brought in to scale the agency’s earned-first approach, one only has to look at his past resumé – working alongside the biggest brands, athletes, actors and artists across positions at a national marketing agency, an international record label, an American entertainment publication and a Canadian art gallery – to know that he’s bringing something interesting to the table. After all, experience moving in and at the pace of culture is always invaluable when it comes to creating work that actually delivers on the goal of connecting with audiences in meaningful fashion.
Of course, on a personal level, this is also an interesting move for Ben. Having left the marketing industry in 2022 to pursue his own creative projects – the ‘Marathon Earth Challenge’ (which saw him complete 242 marathons in 70 countries), and a short film called ‘The Brown Dog’ which starred Michael K. Williams and Steve Buscemi – this appointment represents his return to the business. And, as someone who only believes in looking forward (with the hope that the best is yet to come), the new ECD’s first stint working in PR is an exciting prospect worth keeping track of; a fresh canvas upon which he can leave his mark.
To learn more about all of this, and why it’s time for everyone at Weber Shandwick Canada to ready their cardio games, LBB’s Jordan Won Neufeldt sat down with Ben for a chat.
LBB> Ben, congratulations on your new position! What does this appointment mean to you?
Ben> The appointment means everything, as an honour and a hypothesis. Weber Shandwick is an agency with global pedigree for being in-culture. And as a rabid indie street mutt with my canines sunk deep into culture, this is a pairing that excites me. There’s a lot these two dogs can unlock in each other.
LBB> What are you hoping to accomplish in your new position, both on a personal and agency-wide level?
Ben> Delight clients, dazzle creatively, and play to win. It is scrappiness, urgency, and energy I’m sparking as an outsider. Pair that with Weber Shandwick’s wise, highly capable and well-oiled machine – it’s going to be a game-changing combination.
LBB> Leading up to this, you’ve had an incredible career across art, music, film, media and even marathoning. What made now the right time to join a PR agency, and why was it the logical next step for your journey?
Ben> It took a decade, but I’ve just completed my second circumferential lap of Earth by foot, and it was my curiosities as well as my personal love of newsmaking that led me to Weber Shandwick. It was I who made the move to knock on their door; there was no invite, no recruiter, and no one I knew on the inside.
I did this for two reasons. Firstly, the ‘public’ in public relations means creating for our shared world – which is my muse – and secondly, because Weber Shandwick objectively creates best-in-class work worldwide; born from a POV and a proprietary approach that has total synergy with my personal values.
Us two, we know the value of earning, contributing, and building. And if my first few weeks here are any indication of what’s to come, it looks like this rolling stone finally found a home most suitable.
LBB> Let’s talk more about these experiences. What factors have inspired you to work across such diverse sectors? And how do these contribute to your approach as ECD?
Ben> Ideas as curiosities lead the way to different communities, expressions and audiences, and I follow them to their logical conclusions worldwide, be they making photographs for the biggest broadsheets, writing an award-winning book, releasing breakout albums by Critical Darlings, producing an Academy Award-qualifying film, or using 900 plus marathons as an excuse to go to Earth’s edges, poke around, and document it for the masses.
Being in the mix of all this mayhem enables me to pour these sensibilities – as well as the credibility I’ve earned from shaping popular culture as a genuine creator and contributor – into brand storytelling, guiding clients towards the cool and the compelling, and away from the pitfalls of the cringe and the cornball.
I’m equal parts tireless wanderer, fierce creator and reliable compass, and that’s the utility I bring to clients, this role, and, ultimately, to Weber Shandwick.
LBB> Of course, a very hot topic these days is where the intersection between PR and creativity lies. In your opinion, are the traditional skillsets required for a purely creative position complementary to what you do now?
Ben> The truth is that nothing lies at any intersection anymore. Where do marketing channels, the internet, reality, creativity, destruction, heroes, villains, organic wisdom, artificial intelligence, soul, machine, and whatever else start and stop in this atomised and fragmented world of ours? It’s all a big blur – one that most of us are trying to navigate, pierce, or transcend in our eternal quest for attention and relevance, which are simply synonyms for purpose and meaning.
While traditional skillsets have some merits (because mastery of craft is a virtue), I ultimately believe that it is the courage, character, conviction, and unrestrained creativity that one puts into an idea that largely determines how it will be received by the world. My recent ‘Marathon Earth Challenge’, which was my biggest global idea to date, required me to put up a heap of my own cash to fund the risking of my life, the risking of my marriage, and the risking of my professional reputation as I freely gave away all project-related content that I singlehandedly created to drum up critical mass. But ultimately, that project earned nearly 100 million organic media impressions, brand partnerships, and content deals because it was so pure in statement; incredibly risky therefore irresistibly resonant to people. Skilled or not, if your ideas don’t scare you, you’re doing them wrong.
LBB> As someone who has a history of working with big brands, what are the most important lessons you’ve learned along the way? How will you be influencing your approach in this new role?
Ben> The most important lesson I’ve learnt from servicing big brands over the past 20 years is that creatives are custodians between what was and what can be. This is a tremendous honour and a serious responsibility, and something we must always approach with much humility and even more delicateness.
This notion – surrendering to the reality that brands are bigger than me – is sobering yet paradoxical, because it still necessitates the creation of intoxicating ideas to revive brands and/or continually renew their relevancy. In sum, I’m bringing this type of lyrical understanding to Weber Shandwick; you can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, well, you might find you get what you and your clients need.
LBB> You’ve previously emphasised that we’re on the cusp of creative evolution for PR. What factors are driving this, and where do you think the biggest opportunities lie?
Ben> The biggest opportunity remains civilisation’s oldest continuum: humans meeting other humans where they’re at, having experiential dialogues as we listen to one another, and us enriching ourselves by virtue of the exchanges. In one word, value. Here, the opportunity is to add, whereas the mistake – or the miss – is to subtract, extract or exploit.
What is changing is where we’re meeting publicly, where we’re at privately, and how we are – or aren’t – chatting across these spheres. More so than ever, potent creativity requires constant reconnaissance to and from the frontier’s edges by way of infinite vibe check. This is why I have averaged a half-marathon daily through the physical world for the past decade; to constantly eavesdrop on the zeitgeist and then create with it in mind.
For us at Weber Shandwick, our research indicates that it is the cost of admission that has changed, and that is where the bullseye of opportunity now resides. Today, it is all about the primacy of the personal – an expectation by the individual that everything be tailored to their needs and wants. Resolving this ‘hyper me’ predicament at scale for the masses, everywhere all at once, is the creative challenge of the moment (and I am here for it).
LBB> Let’s talk more about the ‘Marathon Earth Challenge’, where you completed 242 freestyle marathons in 70 countries! What inspired you to take the time off, what was the experience like, and has it lent you any perspective on your creative career?
Ben> I think we can all agree that the pandemic was a buzzkill which birthed a new world. The latter piqued my interest, so I terminated life as I knew it to go out into the void alone and intimately walk 11,465 kilometres across 70 different countries in 365 days (and relay my findings to audiences through dispatches from Earth’s edges). Basically, I just wanted to get to the source, which is that raw and unfiltered space and place beyond the algorithm.
Anyway, one gets robbed, routinely assaulted, and regularly victimised doing this kind of thing, but the victory outweighs the losses; I’ve seen the marvels and the madness of this pale blue dot like few others have, and, in turn, I deeply love this place more than most others do (warts and all). This is the only home we have, and I refuse to give up on it (and us). This earned-first optimism is now forever hardwired into my perspective and my approach to creativity. Plus, cynicism is for losers. Find me one inspiring hater. I’m still waiting.
LBB> Finally, moving back to you, is there anything you’d like your new coworkers to know about you, or fun facts you’d like to share?
Ben> I keep a bag of shagai, which are fortune-telling bones, on my desk at Weber Shandwick, that I got in Mongolia on a marathon. I don’t know how to read them, but I occasionally roll them before big presentations. I’m unsure if they work, but I know the work will reveal all. Can this junkyard dog compete in the big leagues with the big dogs? I know the answer, but place your bets.
Oh, and up your cardio. We go fast now.
