LONDON — Weber Shandwick’s managing director of consumer marketing in the UK, Kate Sarginson, has left the agency after 11 years to set up her own consultancy.

Sarginson joined Weber Shandwick in 2010 and has worked across the agency’s consumer portfolio, including leading the Nespresso account for the past eight years and working with clients including eBay, Tinder and AB InBev, with a focus on food and drink businesses. She had led the consumer team in London since 2018.

In her new venture, Kate Sarginson Consulting, she is aiming to help brands and marketing agencies “approach business challenges – including sustainability and DE&I – through an earned-first lens and bring agnostic solutions to the table.”

Sarginson told PRovoke Media: “I loved Weber Shandwick and I’ve been really privileged to grow up under inspirational women like Rachel Friend, Emma Thompson, Helen Bennett, Gail Heimann and Susan Howe. I’m proud of building up the consumer proposition; it’s in a good place and now it’s time to challenge myself and think a bit differently.”

Of her new offer, she said: "The bit I love – and which I think is really needed for brands – is practical, honest, strategic consultancy: being a partner to help them tell a better story and find the sweet spot between what they want to say and what consumers want to hear, so they earn the right to be part of a bigger conversation and be in people’s lives.

"I’ve always had a strong belief that earned has to sit at the heart of the brief and then everything else works harder, but there are still too many brands and agencies looking at briefs determined by marketing disciplines, not by business model."

Helen Bennett, Weber Shandwick's London managing director, told PRovoke Media: "Kate left us earlier this year; we thank her for the contribution she made to our clients, team and business and wish her all the best with the next chapter of her career."

Bennett said the agency was "actively searching for a dynamic and visionary leader to oversee our brand marketing capabilities moving forwards" and added: "We have a strong and exceptional brand team, overseen by some of the best talents within the consumer marketing business, and are very much focused on continuing to deliver ground breaking work for the brilliant brands that we serve."