Merman has brought Dannie Stewart into the fold as head of branded entertainment UK, working alongside company partners Siobhan Murphy and Spencer Dodd.
Stewart built her career working at numerous global creative agencies including Wieden+Kennedy, VCCP, BBH, Fallon, Uncommon and ODD, generating award-winning work for brands such as Honda, Nike, M&S, Samsung, Facebook and Google. She served in such capacities as chief production officer at ODD, London, and head of integrated production at Wieden+Kennedy London.
Nurture and collaboration have always been at the heart of Stewart’s leadership philosophy, alongside her unwavering desire to establish supportive, client-facing relationships with brands, to guide them towards taking bold and less traditional leaps. With this in mind, Stewart’s focus at Merman will be on forging kindred relationships between brands and the entertainment industry to produce original, bespoke content that places social and cultural discourse at the center of its storytelling.
In a joint statement, Murphy and Dodd shared, “Dannie is someone we’ve known and admired for many years. Her wealth of experience, working with both agencies and brands, makes her the ideal fit for this exciting new role as we seek to harness the massive potential in our offering here at Merman. Bringing together writers, talent and directors across the company to ideate and create incredible content in the branded entertainment space and collaborative opportunities for agencies and brands to raise their profile and get their messaging/values across to consumers in new and exciting ways.”
Merman founders Sharon Horgan and Clelia Mountford also issued a joint statement, which read: “We are delighted to have Dannie leading our efforts in this division that really marries what Merman does best–creating original and engaging content. We are excited to do the same now for brands and agencies.”
Stewart said, “People I’ve previously worked with will tell you how much I relish new opportunities and challenges, joining Merman has this in its bucketfuls. To establish this new arm for Merman as Head of Branded Entertainment UK, in a company that isn’t scared to explore new ways of working and collaborating, is the ultimate brief. Merman is a company who over the last 8 years has grown and nurtured an exceptional roster of talent from directors to writers, producers and showrunners. I can’t wait to bring my many years of agency and brand development experience to spearhead this new branded entertainment offering.
“Oh and let’s be honest, who isn’t fan-girling Sharon and Clelia, just a little bit?”
