Our Team
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The Team
Us
A diverse team with a wealth of experience from the likes of Hill and Knowlton, Freud, Shine, Exposure, Bite, Macmillan Cancer, Synergy, Balance Live, Naked, Making Waves, Billington Cartmell, Punch Taverns, Lawson Dodd, Slice, Pasha, Alchemy, Get Involved, Gorgeous, The Communication Group, Capital PR, Motorola, Lexis, Band & Brown, College Hill, Brand Nation, McCann Erickson, Sputnik, The Marketing Store, Beatwax and BVHE to name but a few!
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Charlie
The House Pet
Has a love of flies and changing things around. Gets particularly upset when he’s called a lizard, when everyone actually knows he’s a chameleon.
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Mark Stringer
Founder
Mark founded PrettyGreen 4th July 2008 as a way of fulfilling his entrepreneurial dream of helping create and own new brands and after being convinced by one particular Client that it would be fun (as well as realising that he wasn’t quite ready to retire).
With over 15 years of Client and Agency experience, an integrated thinker, who’s not bad at coming up with an idea or two. As well as setting up PrettyGreen, he also sits on the Board of C4 Britdoc and is a founder and Director of Metropolitan Spirits, where he has helped create and is in the process of launching La Maison Fontaine (a new Ultra Premium Absinthe).
He was once a school high jump champion (but he was 9).
If you fancy following his ramblings he can be found on Twitter StringsLondon
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Emma Grace
Client Servicing Director - Media Comms
Emma has been at PrettyGreen since the company was born and now heads up the total Media Communications offering. Having worked in PR for over 8 years, she has planned and implemented a vast array of communications campaigns for a variety of leading FMCG, lifestyle and entertainment brands.
She started off in advertising staring in a JJB sports ad, having to dance like a mad lady all day at The Cross nightclub in Kings Cross (without alcohol) with a wooly hat, vest and shorts on. Her career in advertising ended with JJB and a Comms path, was then chosen.
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Wendy Stringer
Head of Brand & Operations
Wendy started off her career in Account Management, heading up Clients like Levi’s, Converse and Coca-Cola, before moving into a Brand Director role. Responsible for HR, Finance, Office and brand development, she’s particularly loved at payday.
She once seduced a Director at her old company, but is happy to admit that he since became her husband and the father of her two children.
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Jessica Hargreaves
Client Servicing Director - Experience
Jess heads up PrettyGreen’s total Event and Experience offering and works closely with the Comms team to deliver campaigns that can be amplified through traditional and social media channels. With over 8 years of delivering integrated promotions, she has a broad experience base to draw from.
As a Geordie, who started her career working in the pub trade, she bring a level of groundedness and her love of spreadsheets is only surpassed by her love of Christmas, where planning starts in late Spring.
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Hamish Duncan
Creative Producer
Hamish has had a diverse career having run his own umbrella business. He has a creative slant, looking after the development of PrettyGreen’s moving image content and helping with creative campaign development.
Hamish was once an outstanding semi-professional snowboarder, who’s career was cut short in its prime (we’re not actually sure what a semi is, but we think it involves riding hard runs).
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Lucy Windsor
Associate Director
Lucy has a wealth of experience in her 12 year career starting at The Communication Group in 1997. A brief hiatus Down Under, Lucy worked for two Sydney 2000 Olympic sponsors – Coca Cola and Cadburys.
Coming back to Blighty, Lucy worked for the family business before heading back to Hill & Knowlton, heading up the adidas account, working on the Rugby World Cup, Beijing Olympics, Lions tour and The Ashes. During this time, Lucy also worked on Barclays ATP World Tour Finals before moving to PrettyGreen to head-up the Cadbury’s 2012 PR Team.
Lucy has an international tennis ranking. Although this is only in Bermuda, she is still the bookies favourite British female to win Wimbledon in 2010.
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Nick Stocker
Junior Account Director
Nick started off promoting high profile political events before realising that there was a more important calling working in Sport PR. He soon moved to Synergy and worked on activating sponsorship of national and global sporting events and dealing directly with some of the world’s most recognised athletes. Clients included such brands as Guinness, British Airways, NFL and 888.com and projects ranged from the British & Irish Lions to the Olympics and from American Football games at Wembley to Polar Expeditions.
Nick now works on the Red Bull Sport account and Cadburys 2012 Olympic sponsorship.
He has a love of rock music and once ended up in hospital after stage-diving to a band called Nashville Pussy. Rock ‘n’ roll indeed.
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Faye Neighbour
Senior Account Manager
Faye has over 6 years experience as a publicist and has delivered too many campaigns to mention! Moving to PrettyGreen whilst heavily pregnant gives an indication about her passion for new challenges and her job.
Coming from a sporting family, Faye has more football knowledge than the Shoot Annual and was a talented gymnast as a child. Faye came close to being an Olympian, but her hula hoop was stolen the night before her final qualifier.
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Claire Ashman
Account Director - Entertainment & Culture
Claire has a wealth of experience in running entertainment and music campaigns – in the past PrettyGreen’s very own musical maestro has managed the press offices for numerous festivals including Bestival, Underage Festival and Snowbombing, as well as looking after Pete Tong & Fat Boy Slim.
A talented writer and singer (if you count Lucky Voice!) Claire has the highest grade possible in dance – a Blue Peter badge for a live gymnastics routine!
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Lucinda Marsden
Account Manager
After a brief stint as a publicist; plus freelance celebrity features writer for Hello! and OK! magazines, Lucinda decided it was time to focus on consumer PR.
From fashion and beauty to food and finance, she’s worked with the world’s best known brands, including Coca-Cola, Boots, Baileys, Sony Ericsson, Cirque du Soleil, Haribo, Somerfield, San Miguel, Dr. Oetker, Domino’s Pizza, Capital One, first direct and EDF Energy. She currently works with Cadbury and Nando’s.
A social butterfly and Starbucks addict, Lucinda loves to get out and about and enjoy London. Her training at the Italia Conti School of Performing Arts means she’s the first to flex some moves on the dance floor; however her law degree usually keeps her out of trouble.
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Pete Shepherd
Account Executive
Pete recently graduated from Exeter University and has now become a firmly established member of the PrettyGreen Team.
In 2009 Pete helped form a ‘Beard-based Entertainment Company’ that toured music festivals in the UK, embracing a more hirsute pursuit of life. Pete’s experience across the UK meant he was a valuable addition to the Trident and Red Bull music teams.
Pete does not have a beard, he just wishes he had one.
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Alex Holbrook
Account Manager
Alex has spent the last five years immersed in music and youth PR arenas, working with the likes of Nike, Kilimanjaro Events and Coca Cola. From fashion launches to festivals, Alex has been involved in them all (she is also well versed in calming down divas and once smiled for 16 hours straight).
After a year heading up the in-house PR at a spirits company, Alex joined as Account Manager on the PrettyGreen Culture Team. With a wealth of knowledge and passion for all things live under her belt, Alex works on Red Bull Music Studio and the Trident Perpetual Festival.
‘Interesting’ facts on Alex: – She used to be a professional horse rider and still has a horse called Doodle – She has a pet hedgehog called Bramble – She tries to wear at least one item of leopard print clothing a day – She holds a professional spirits tasting qualification
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Mandy Poernig
Senior Account Executive
Another Bournemouth University graduate, Mandy joined Pretty Green in 2008.
Mandy’s internship placement at Ministry of Sound as a Press Assistant stood her in good stead with her first role at experiential agency Balance Live. Gaining experience designing events and campaigns for Adidas, Coors Light and Converse, Mandy joined the PR Team at Pretty Green and currently works across Nando’s and The Kitchen accounts.
Mandy likes a Scotch Egg or two.
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Sian Baker
Head of Experiences
The greenest of all at PrettyGreen, our very own Captain Planet Sian started her career in music, even stating her own label, Pure Mint.
Moving to Making Waves, Sian throughly enjoyed the benefits of working across Malibu, Cuervo, Sourz, Unite and Aftershock before joining Lunch Communications to manage events in the UK and across Europe.
After a year in Oz, enjoying the sun, sand and surfers, Sian returned to the UK to become Head of Events, working across Cadbury 2012 and growing the Pretty Green events offering.
Also a fitness instructor, Sian can do 100 press-ups in a minute (even whilst saving the planet.)
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Raymund McManus
SAM Experience
Starting his career in the Civil Service as a Town and Country planner, Raymund’s passion for design and brands took him from the world of regeneration and planning policy into re-branding of the Marks and Spencer’s stores and aiding in the creation of a new look and style blueprint.
Having single handily rescued the brand he decided to move to Imagination to work on the Ford, Europe account, activating sponsorship of the UEFA Champions League, Goodwood Festival of Speed, James Bond and Pride London. Over a 5 year stint he also delivered a number of European motorshows and experiential events for Ford. A brief excursion back into retail and brand activation for Diageo followed before he took up residence at PrettyGreen.
Raymund has 6 years client handling experience and is chuffed he looks younger now than he did in his twenties, but is concerned that he is still asked for ID when trying to get on the bus.
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Dani Caplin
SAM Experience
Dani has enjoyed an eclectic career to date, begining at her local newspaper in sunny Bournemouth where she revamped numerous magazines, then moving to London Village to become Marketing Manager for the sports cafe where she dreamed up many an event, publicity stunt and clever promotion. Dani most recently worked her magic at iD experiential as account manager and new business development manager working with clients such as Nestle, Estee Lauder, French Connection and tons more.
Creative flair is the key to what makes Dani tick both in an out of work- she played an astonishingly accurate ‘Annie’ as a child at the age of just 8 , played ‘Nancy’ in Oliver has written and recorded a song with Aswad, (no, not that one) and now fronts a band as a rock diva in her spare time.
Dani is excited to have recently joined the PrettyGreen events team working on the Cadbury account.
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Ben Knight
Brand Ambassador Manager
Ben has spent the last seven years travelling the length and breadth of the UK, managing events at high profile locations including the British Grand Prix, The O2 and the NEC. He has delivered successful campaigns for some of the world’s most recognisable brands including Nestle, Pepsi, Samsung and The Guardian.
Ben’s great love of all things London, motivated him to give up his life on the road and bring his event experience into the office at Pretty Green. Ben has loved the Olympics since he was small and can’t wait for London’s turn in 2012. He is hoping to bring his Olympic passion to every aspect of his work on the Cadbury Games Ambassador Account.
Ben also fancies himself as a bit of a writer, regularly contributing to online music magazines and international travel publications (when his luck is in). As a native of Essex, Ben in his youth has indulged in is fair share of wide boy disasters including white snake skin loafers, yellow jeans and swanning around in a souped up fiesta listening to speed garage.
Ben says his greatest moment in life is when he scored his only football goal, a twenty-five yard, golden goal left foot volley with a minute remaining in schools cup semi final. A goal that gets more impressive each time he relives it (apparently it was actually a 3 yard knock-in that bobbled off his shin).
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Ravi Matharu
International Press Officer
Ravi is a self-confessed ideas man. Joining us in January 2010 as PrettyGreen’s International Press Officer, he’s interested in all things digital and has a track record of getting the message across using the right channels and conversation.
He’s developed multiple propositions for Unilever including global strategies & toolkits, crisis comms plans and sustainable partnerships and in 2006 helped reposition 3 to become a mobile media company.
Ravi’s not one to shy away from important issues. He has worked for 1GOAL to unite several Heads of State and the footballing elite to commit to a world with access to education for all. Separately, he’s created a number of peer-to-peer platforms for Department of Health and Department of Children, Schools and Families to tackle teenage pregnancy in the UK.
Brands& Comms aside, Ravi lives for music, mostly of the layered electronic and deep bass variety.
Bass in the PrettyGreen place, London.
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Leanne Ash
Senior Account Manager - Experiences
Leanne is a seasoned events veteran and has run campaigns for brands including Nokia, American Express, BMW MINI and Britvic. She has honed her experience with international events company Momentum and more recently she has been deeply involved in the world of experiential marketing with iD.
As Event Project Manager, Leanne is hoping to bring her own individual flair to the Cadbury London 2012 campaign.
What Leanne lacks in height she certainly makes up for with dexterity on the dance floor. Her Dad taught her to jive when she was young and she has also been taught to moonwalk by Michael Jackson’s dance teacher Jeffrey Daniel. Don’t blame it on the sunshine, moonlight, good times…blame Leanne.
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Amanda Fellows
Finance Manager
Amanda was born within the sound of the Bow Bells so by definition she is a true cockney (although she nows speaks proper). She started her career as a burger van girl, making tea for the Eddie Stobart lorry drivers, followed by into “doughnut making” at events such as the Biggin Hill Airshow, then moved to London as a Company Accountant for an advertising agency W&K. Amanda then headed to the dark side, doing International marketing auditing for Clients.
On a personal perspective Amanda’s vices include expensive hotels & expensive shoes (ones that she only wears to the car and back), a passion for travel and has lived in Miami. She has also dated the tallest man ever, over 7ft 2in (which is the combined height of Hamish and Leanne) and had over 200 driving lessons before passing.
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Katie P
Global Festival Guide
Katie P started at St Martins studying art before charming her way into coveted jobs at Metal Hammer, Kerrang! and guest spots on Radio 1 and XFM. Her rock credentials do not stop her being an avid fan of all music and her performances at The Assessment Centre displayed her affection for the likes of both Cher and Whitney Houston.
She has a great reputation as a live DJ with appearances at festivals, skate jams, warehouse parties, gigs and showcases. When she’s not watching, listening to, or planning to watch music, she can be found surfing or dancing to music!
She’s not in the office much as her job is to go to 30 Festivals in 30 Weeks, as the Guide for Trident’s Perpetual Festival, which obviously keeps her very busy.
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Cath Brannan
Account Director
After a small stint in a stationery sales office, Cath decided there was more to life than knowing Avery label codes off by heart and moved into PR. That was over nine years ago and since then she has become an expert in all things lifestyle, leading campaigns for clients such as P&G, Tate & Lyle, Chablis Wines and eBookers.
She loves a challenge, once deciding to ‘get into running’ by entering, and completing, the London Marathon.
At PrettyGreen, Cath works across Cadbury 2012, Nando’s and All About Food – and sits next to the stationery cupboard, naturally.