Ben Shepherd departs Thinkerbell
Ben Shepherd, general manager at Thinkerbell, has left the agency just 2 weeks shy of 12 months since it was announced he was joining the agency.
Shepherd was announced to be joining Thinkerbell in July 2020, following his departure from CHE Proximity the week prior.
Thinkerbell CEO, Margie Reid confirmed Shepherd was leaving the agency.
“We thank Ben for his contribution to Thinkerbell and helping us deliver a joined up Measured Magic. We wish him all the best in his new role.”
Shepherd joined Reid at the agency last year, after the two had previously worked together at OMD.
Shepherd
Reid was appointed CEO of Thinkerbell in August following a restructuring, elevating her from managing director and partner at the agency.
At the time of Shepherd’s appointment, Reid said the agency had hired ‘a beautiful mind’.
Shepherd’s time at CHE Proximity lasted just over a year, joining the agency in 2019, where he held the role of chief media officer.
At CHEP, he was charged with leading the agency’s media practice, Shepherd noting at at the time that the landscape had become needlessly complicated.
Following Shepherd’s departure, CHEP saw a series of further departures, followed by a period of transition with CEO Chris Howatson and national CCO Ant White announcing that they would be leaving the business to set up their own agency, Howatson + White in November.
Shepherd was previously director of PwC’s CMO Advisory for two years, prior to that spending three years at OMD Australia, finishing up in the role of head of strategy and innovation.
Thinkerbell was launched June 2017 by Adam Ferrier, Jim Ingram and Ben Couzens, originally as a creative agency, building its media capabilities with clients including Bega, Journey Beyond and Ssang Yong.
The past year has seen Thinkerbell win the creative account for Bupa, as well as being allocated by IAG to a creative project for insurance business CGU, following being appointed as IAG’s PR account in 2019.
Mumbrella contacted Shepherd but he declined to comment. It is not known what his next role will be.
Shepherd is a regular columnist for Mumbrella. You can read his latest column here.
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Calum Jaspan was news editor at Mumbrella, based in Melbourne. He was also the producer and host of the Mumbrellacast. He left Mumbrella in May 2023.
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