CreativeDrive appoints Penny Verbe as Head of Content UK & EMEA

Maggie Hanson Business, Creativity, Women in Business

Part of Accenture Interactive, CreativeDrive, a global leader in creative production and content, has appointed Penny Verbe, global strategic consultant and co-founder of Smoke & Mirrors, as Head of Content for the UK and EMEA.

In her new role, Verbe’s remit is to oversee the overall growth, development, performance and success of CreativeDrive in the region, working across all client business sectors.

She will report to Myles Peacock, Global CEO of CreativeDrive and work alongside the existing management teams’ Head of Production Leila Bartram and Head of Client Services Sarah Lambert, who joined CreativeDrive UK in June and February 2020, respectively.

Verbe’s appointment comes at a pivotal time in CreativeDrive’s evolution – six months after the business was acquired by Accenture Interactive to complement its existing content, digital marketing, media and commerce offerings. CreativeDrive helps brands meet the ever-increasing pace of digital and commerce channel activation.

Verbe is an industry leader with three decades of experience founding and managing media companies at a global and local level. She co-founded the world’s first independent boutique post-production facility, Smoke & Mirrors in 1995. As CEO, she led Smoke & Mirrors for fifteen years growing it into a multi-award-winning global company, with offices in London, New York and Shanghai. She also oversaw the business’ sale to Tag after nine years.

She joined Passion Pictures in 2010, working as its Chief Operating Officer for over two years. She then worked as global strategic adviser to APR Consulting, before becoming global strategic consultant and advisor to a wide variety of agencies, start-ups, media and creative companies. Most recently she worked at full-service creative digital agency DMS as Commercial Development Director.

Myles Peacock, Chief Executive Officer of CreativeDrive, said:

“We are very lucky to have such an accomplished, experienced leader in Penny join our team to lead, evolve our UK & EMEA business to new heights at such an exciting time. Her unique understanding of clients’ present and future challenges has enabled her to implement industry winning solutions. We are simply thrilled to have Penny join us during this critical time of changing market demands and accelerated growth within Accenture Interactive.”

Penny Verbe said:

“I’m delighted to be joining CreativeDrive at such a crucial time in its evolution and relish the opportunity to find new ways of helping our clients navigate the current landscape and challenging times we find ourselves in. Having co-founded and managed Smoke & Mirrors over a 15-year period, I was fortunate to see it transition from a small creative boutique into a global content creator. In my subsequent career working with a wide variety of media companies, I became aware and took a keen interest in CreativeDrive’s impressive content production agency offering. That interest only magnified when they joined the Accenture Interactive family.”

Jamie Posnanski, head of Accenture Interactive’s global content capability, said:

“Today’s brands require evolved content and creative activation strategies to enable purposeful engagement across complex customer journeys, marketing and commerce channels. With the addition of Creative Drive’s global capabilities, we can now empower our clients with everything from content capture solutions, to new media production to unified channel activation at unmatched performance and scale. Under Penny’s expert leadership, I am incredibly excited to see how we bring that vision to life.”