Bartle Bogle Hegarty London has hired Chris Bamford as its first creative director in PR.
Bamford started this month and is part of the creative department, reporting to chief creative officer Ian Heartfield. He will work across clients including Samsung and Burger King, with the aim of expanding the agency’s remit in PR and influencer marketing.
He joins from PR agency The Academy, where he has worked since January as a creative director. Before that, Bamford was at Freuds for 12 years as a founding member of its creative department.
Neil Miller, chief experience officer at BBH, said: "We have come a long way in broadening the depth and breadth of what we do at BBH, particularly with the investment we have made in brand and customer experience. We now can add PR and influencer to the list, to make sure our work impacts popular culture and is seen and heard in all the right places."
While at Freuds, Bamford created interactive experiences for Lexus and a "live" billboard for Lynx, helped to launch Sainsbury’s 150th anniversary store and worked on the Movember campaign.
Bamford added: "I can still remember the furore at junior school when the Nick Kamen ad aired and the reaction to some of that early Lynx work at my boys' grammar school, and dancing clumsily to Flat Eric.
"BBH has fame in its DNA; my role is simply to fan the flames of that fame."
A version of this article first appeared on PRWeek sister title Campaign
