MSQ's Smarts Hires Greg Jones as First European CEO to Lead Further Expansion Plans

Smarts, the award-winning PR & creative agency, has appointed Mischief managing director Greg Jones to the newly created role of European CEO, as the business embarks on a new era of growth.  

Jones will be based in Smarts’ London office and will drive the strategy for its European operations, specifically looking to grow the business in Great Britain and mainland Europe. He will work closely with Pippa Arlow, Smarts’ Global CEO, as well as the agency’s existing London management team. He will also play a key role in building a deeper integration within MSQ, the creative and technology group that owns Smarts, working closely with its Group Chief Executive Peter Reid.  

One of PR Week’s Top 10 fastest-growing consumer agencies, Smarts is headquartered in Belfast, with further offices in London, Glasgow, Edinburgh and New York. The agency has more than 140 employees worldwide, with clients including Diageo, Bosch and Zalando.  

After Smarts delivered a 55% rise in revenue last year, Jones will now be responsible for accelerating a further step-change in the agency’s European growth and profile working with the global leadership team to build deeper specialisms in core areas including creative, strategy, earned media, content creation and social activity. 

Pippa Arlow, global CEO of Smarts, says: “This is a huge milestone in Smarts’ history. For more than 20 years we’ve been telling engaging stories that make brands famous, changing thinking and behaviours. Following a period of huge success we want to build on this momentum further by accelerating growth across our European business, and in Greg we’ve found an experienced, driven leader who shares our passion in using creativity to bring big ideas to life.”   

Jones spent more than six years at Mischief, the consumer PR agency previously owned by Engine. He initially joined as creative director in 2016, before taking on the managing director role in July 2019.

Under Jones’ leadership Mischief added, among others, Three, Sky, Shaftesbury, Ocado, Johnson & Johnson, VW and ITV to its client roster, won numerous campaign awards for the likes of E.ON, Avanti and Just Eat and either won or was shortlisted for every ‘agency of the year’ awards over the past three years.

Previously Jones was managing partner at Shine Communications, and has also been a creative associate at Splendid, a director at M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment and the co-founder and creative partner of PR shop Glass Jar. 

Jones says: “Smarts is a brilliant agency and I’m excited by the opportunity to help turbo charge its growth both in Great Britain and across Europe. Pippa and the Smarts leadership team have long recognised the value of telling powerful stories through a combination of earned, creative and social and I’m looking forward to evolving this approach even further.”

Peter Reid, the global chief executive of MSQ, says: “Smarts’ creativity and culture has sat at the heart of MSQ’s rise over the past few years, and will continue to play an integral role as we deliver on our ambitious strategy of becoming one of the world’s most valuable creative and technology companies. The Smarts leadership team is already one of the best in the business and bringing Greg into the fold gives us even more firepower to take a thriving business to the next level.”