LONDON — New B2B communications agency Fight or Flight – set up by three of Weber Shandwick’s former technology leaders in April – has added two more Weber Shandwick alumni to its senior bench.

Dan Bird joined the agency as an associate director over the summer, while Gemma Ashley takes up her new role as associate director this month.

Bird joined Weber Shandwick in January 2017 and – latterly as account director – led the IBM UK, Ericsson and INRIX accounts, as well as managing external communications for the London office. Before that he worked at technology agency Capella.

Ashley joined Weber Shandwick’s technology (now B2B) team in 2014, and was promoted five times in six years, most recently to account director. She has run B2B programmes for companies including Honeywell, Capgemini, Gartner and HSBC.

Fight or Flight was set up by Charlie Meredith-Hardy, David Woodward and Joe Walton as one of the first new agencies to emerge in lockdown, and now has eight permanent staff in the UK. The agency has built a roster of retained clients in the UK and Europe, including Flipdish (online food ordering), Roland DG (printing) and Wolters Kluwer (information services).

Meredith-Hardy said: “We hear time and again that the traditional agency pyramid model doesn’t prioritise client needs. Our point of difference is building senior, experienced, multi-disciplinary teams who collaborate with clients but know how to challenge them. Dan and Gemma fit that mould perfectly and hiring them is a big statement of intent.”

Bird said: “Fight or Flight is a campaigning agency that helps clients create change. That’s where I’m happiest: working on projects that deliver measurable impact.”

Ashley added: “This is an agency that wants to do big, memorable work that gets people thinking differently. I think the B2B sector is crying out for a bolder approach. I can’t wait to get started.”