Independent brand communications agency, Manifest has appointed Lauren Preece as brand services director and is doubling the size of its design team in response to record growth in its brand services work over the past year.
Lauren will join longstanding chief design officer, Martin Farrar-Smith in leading the global branding team, which covers brand tracking, brand strategy and brand design. Based in Manifest’s London studio, Lauren’s role will involve working directly with the agency’s regional directors in Australia, the UK, USA and Sweden to coordinate a team of global designers, strategists and researchers.
Alex Myers, founder and CEO at Manifest said: “Brand strategy and development has always been at the heart of our proposition, and over the past two years, we have seen this aspect of our work experience explosive growth. It’s exciting to see Lauren join Martin in heading up the department globally as we continue to invest in growing our team and capacity, as well as our creative horizons in 2025 and beyond.”
Manifest’s unified brand communications offering encompasses brand consultancy, creative services, and campaign delivery, and according to Preece, this holistic mindset sets the agency apart when delivering brand work.
“There is an increasing appetite for brand work that is conscious of how the brand will be used in practice across the marketing mix,” said Preece.
“As an agency not just responsible for building the brand but, in most cases, also taking it to market, our proprietary approach goes further than the usual brand creation process to consider communications and marketing efficacy at quite a detailed level.”
Preece’s holistic brand and marketing experience is one of the reasons she was appointed to the position, having taken up in-house brand roles at Virgin and BrewDog alongside agency experience at Urban Nerds and before that, an original stint at Manifest between 2012 and 2015.
Isabel Thomson-Officer, Manifest’s managing partner in Australia commented: “As more brand consultancy work arises from across the Group, Lauren’s background in leading integrated teams
both in-house and client side at global companies made her the perfect choice to lead the division. Not only does she have a critical eye, but she has a deep understanding of the creative process. I look forward to working with more brands in a branding and design capacity under her stewardship as we grow our presence across APAC.”
Manifest’s global client roster includes Diageo, Reckitt, Universal Music Group and Logitech, with the agency’s ‘unified’ approach allowing brands to consolidate agency support under one roof.
