Founder, Group Chief Executive Officer

Zaid is a brand and communications expert with over two decades of experience across some of the world’s most iconic brands, both client and agency side.

At Unilever, Zaid helped make dreams come true with the promise of the Lynx Effect. Over in adland, the scent of success followed him across senior strategic roles at some of the world’s most prestigious agencies including Mother, TBWA and McCann London, where he was CEO and led the agency’s transformation agenda.

Zaid is a huge believer that in marketing every touchpoint matters and it’s no surprise therefore, that in 2018 he co-founded The Beyond Collective. He is also a key member of the IPA Council.

Founder

Nic is an entrepreneur of 20 years’ experience and co-founder of The Beyond Collective.

Having passed up a law degree to bag the country’s first single honours in film theory, Nic joined entertainment marketers Creative Partnership, where he quickly became their youngest ever board member. As well as spearheading their push into home entertainment through DVD, Blu-ray, streaming and beyond, Nic found time to handle the UK launch of Avatar, Lord of the Rings and a few other films you may have heard of. In his leisure time, Nic founded pioneering digital agency Perfunktory, working with Egg, Mean Fiddler and Channel 4, the first company to live stream a festival in the UK.

Chief Strategy Officer

Dena Walker is a strategic leader with over 20 years’ experience in brand, marketing, innovation and transformation strategies for a range of blue-chip clients. She is a full-stack marketer with a proven track record of developing and delivering strategies that lead to transformative business results, helping her clients find new paths to growth and fulfil them efficiently.

She has experience in a variety of business sectors, most notably as global strategy lead for Ford Motor Company, and several Heineken Brands. In addition, Dena has extensive experience working in the public sector such as the Road Safety Authority of Ireland and the Irish Blood Transfusion Service.

Dena’s superpower is in being able to help brands find the signal in the noise and activate it; incorporating full eco-system thinking with big brand strategy and a commitment to creativity that helps her clients grow.

MD Media, Investment & Integration

Ed works with clients to break down the barriers between advertising and other communications channels. He has an extensive background in media, data, and integrated communications, as well as experience in building and developing agencies.

His agency experience includes media independent BLM (now called Arena Media), leading accounts such as Tesco Bank, Next, American Express and LG. At Havas, he set up and ran Forward, the bespoke agency created to handle the global Telefonica O2 account. He was also Group Managing Director of digital agency Fullsix, launching a media agency under the Fullsix banner in 2016.

MD Creative Services, Delivery & Integration

Jonny is responsible for ensuring a strong partnership is built with our clients and that we collaborate to drive optimum creativity which delivers against their briefs. Jonny has over 13 years’ experience in account management and has a proven track record of working with clients to create effectively and creatively awarded campaigns.

Whilst Head of Account Management, Jonny headed up the Subway account, managing everything from in-store activity to social and TV across EMEA. He is now responsible for building out and defining the right team for success in the agency.

Jonny cut his teeth at TBWA\London working on the fast paced digital and social business for British Airways, before a longer stint at FCB London where he ran 360 integrated accounts both globally and locally for the likes of Grant’s Whisky, BMW and Sky TV.

Chief Production Officer

Laura has extensive experience gained at numerous agencies, including BBH, Uncommon and AMV, where she was Executive Producer, overseeing the ASDA account and led on major projects including Bombay Sapphire’s Cannes Lions award winning Design Museum installation.

While her experience includes numerous high-profile, big budget television campaigns, Laura is also focused on delivering 360-degree campaigns for critical pieces of business and earned a reputation for developing non-traditional production approaches to fit with client format and budget restraints.

Head of Technology

As Head of Technology, Kim leads and brings together the latest in AI, technology and breakout innovations to enhance our capabilities and ways of working, and also supporting our clients looking to integrate technology solutions into their marketing.

Previously Head of Creative and Emerging Tech at House 337 (formerly the Engine Group), Kim contributed to several award winning campaigns, including the standout Long Live the Prince campaign for the Kiyan Prince Foundation, which landed the Cannes Titanium Grand Prix in 2022.

Kim is an active advocate for minority groups, having co-founded and directed EmpowerHack, a global volunteer design and technology collective to support refugee women and girls. As an autistic person she is a prolific public speaker on the topic of neurodivergence, having contributed to the D&AD’s Annual as a Top Voice in 2023, as well as gracing the stage everywhere from the IPA to the D&AD Festival of Creativity.

Executive Creative Director

Joe Bruce is a highly regarded and brilliantly accomplished creative with an impressive track record spanning over 15 years. His extensive portfolio, leadership roles and commitment to fostering new creative talent make him a respected figure in the advertising industry.

Joe has been a Creative Director at a number of global agencies and is behind culture defining work for brands like Nike, F1, Camden Town Brewery, Sainsbury’s and Paddy Power.

Head of Media Planning

Emily is a skilled client leader, with over 10 years of experience in media working across a range of clients, from telco & tech to FMCG and financial services. Emily started her media career in digital, working in Paid Search, Display & Social before finding her calling in planning and client leadership.

Currently Head of Media Planning, Emily spent the previous 7 years of her career at dentsu, most recently leading the planning for IKEA and MINI at iProspect. Emily loves getting under the skin of clients businesses to truly understand their challenges, and deliver exciting and innovative media solutions to help solve them.

Marketing & Growth Partner

Oli oversees all New Business and Marketing, helping new clients unlock the wealth of talent within the agency.

With over 15 years of experience in New Business & Marketing, Oli has worked at agencies including Engine, mcgarrybowen and dentsu International, on brands that include United Airlines, Coca-Cola, Canterbury and The Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team.

Marketing & New Business Director

Lucy is an experienced new business and marketing professional with over 10 years experience. She has an integrated background working across multiple disciplines including creative, media, CRM, production and brand strategy.

At The Beyond Collective, Lucy drives the pipeline and ensures a compelling marketing proposition. Prior to The Beyond Collective, Lucy was at Havas Group, working across the creative, media and customer engagement arm, both locally and globally.

Executive Director

Richard is a qualified Chartered accountant and experienced Commercial Director, but, in line with the diverse careers of The Beyond Collective team, his career path has also led him through a brief spell in the music industry, and a continued association with Premier League football.

Richard was appointed Finance Director of Lowe Howard-Spink, and worked within the Lowe Group for 9 years performing various roles from Managing Partner to European CFO. His experience piqued the interest of the MacManus Group Inc. where he was hired to become the UK Group CFO of the DMB&B Group. In 2005 Richard joined creative production company, Tag Worldwide (later sold to William Lea) as shareholder and Group CFO and commercial director.

Since 2012 Richard has been managing his own business interests and acting as a consultant and advisor to the marketing sector, including his role as Non-Executive Director of The Beyond Collective.