The Forge is based in Guildford and has as its founding clients Lizi’s Granola and Little Tikes, among others.
It aims to provide "handcrafted communications" to its clients in a variety of sectors including food, mother and baby, creative services and technology.
Ward and Jones were most recently at FleishmanHillard London as practice director and director respectively, where they helped grow its consumer division. The former will focus on strategy and the latter on operations.
Ward was previously at Euro RSCG Biss Lancaster, now Havas PR, where she was the managing director, leading a team of 40. She was also at Freud Communications and has had stints at Citigate Dewe Rogerson and Publicis.
Before FleishmanHillard, Jones also worked at Euro RSCG Biss Lancaster as an associate director.
Ward said: "We’ve both had the privilege to work at some of the very best agencies in London in our careers. We simply feel that now there’s an opportunity for a more bespoke consultancy; handcrafted strategy along with senior level execution. We want our clients to have the best counsel at all times.
"We’ve been delighted by our initial success in terms of securing some fantastic clients and we’re really excited about the future of our business and the industry as a whole. It’s a great time to be in communications."
