We may well look back on 2025 as the year of the indies. While holding companies and agency networks struggle with the demands of change, indies are not only emerging, but many are thriving.

Most recently, Lerma\ hired its first CCO in the US following a significant growth spurt. Now Pablo London has announced top creative promotions. Dan Norris and Ray Shaughnessy have moved up to executive creative director roles. Dan Watts has been promoted to chief creative officer, reporting to CEO, Gareth Mercer.

Since joining Pablo in 2023 from McCann and Wieden+Kennedy, Shaughnessy and Norris have been instrumental in shaping the agency’s creative direction and culture. Together, Watts, Norris and Shaughnessy form the core of Pablo’s Creative Council – a team of industry heavyweights that also includes founding creative partner, Tim Snape; creative duo, Chris Bovill and John Allison; and creative group heads, Will Bingham, and Vic Daltrey.

The Creative Council is Pablo’s creativity spearhead and safeguard. It exists to uphold Pablo’s creative standards, avoid creative bottle necks while keeping the range of creative influences and combinations of inspiration broad. It’s also focused on maintaining manageable momentum via the company’s Now and Next system, designed specifically to ensure the agency is always creatively led while driving creativity beyond the creative department.

Dan Watts, who joined Pablo in 2020, has played a pivotal role in defining the agency’s creative output and the overall shape of the organisation. He helped to establish its creative vision alongside CEO, Gareth Mercer, and CSO, Mark Sng. Under his leadership Pablo has been recognised twice as Campaign’s Independent Agency of the Year and Global Independent Agency of the Year. As CCO, Dan will continue to work closely with Gareth to set the agency’s creative agenda and structure while looking to the next stage of creative innovation.

Gareth Mercer stated, “Dan, Ray and Dan are brilliant creative leaders who make the work, and the people around them, better. They care deeply about ideas that create unfair reach and unfair connection in the world. They have embraced and built on the Pablo model, innovating at every turn to create a modern shape of creative company. They are second to no one in their creative ambition for surprising craft yet deliver what makes the truly inspirational achievable. This is a natural evolution of the creative leadership at Pablo — one that reflects how collaborative and ambitious the whole business is. We’re so very proud of what they’ve achieved and even more excited about what’s to come. Dan Watts is a cornerstone of Pablo’s foundations, and Ray and Dan continue to take people’s breath away with what’s possible.”

Dan Watts added, “I’m incredibly lucky to work with people who care so deeply about the work and each other. Pablo has always been about collective creativity — it’s never been one voice, but many. With Ray and Dan helping lead the charge, the creative department is in the best possible hands for the next chapter.”

Dan Norris and Ray Shaughnessy, commented, “At a time of such incredible momentum, we’ve loved being part of Pablo London and making it our creative home. So for us to join Dan and be trusted with helping shape where the agency goes next creatively, is a total trip and honour.”

The promotions follow a year of significant momentum for Pablo, marked by new business wins including Honda Europe and standout campaigns for Wilkinson Sword Intuition, Poretti, Great, DFS, and UVUSEE.

Cover image l-r: Dan Watts, Ray Shaughnessy & Dan Norris