Grey London has promoted Chris Lapham and Aaron McGurk to executive creative directors following standout work on campaigns for Stella Artois and Pringles. The duo will guide the agency’s creative output across key clients. Sam Haynes and John Gibson have also been elevated to group creative directors, strengthening Grey’s senior creative bench.
Grey London has elevated creative duo Chris Lapham and Aaron McGurk to executive creative directors, recognising their sustained influence on the agency’s most awarded ideas and its broader cultural momentum. Previously group creative directors, the pair have been instrumental in driving Grey’s creative output over the past six years and will now oversee work across key accounts while advancing the agency’s mission to produce culturally resonant, famously effective ideas.
The promotion follows a period of standout creative achievements for Lapham and McGurk, anchored by Grey London’s acclaimed ‘Claustrobars’ campaign for Stella Artois. The darkly witty work, positioned around the theme of indoor confinement, became one of the most celebrated campaigns of the 2025 awards circuit, taking home two Golds, two Bronzes and 10 shortlists at Cannes Lions, alongside a Graphite and Wood Pencil at the D&AD Awards and a Bronze at London International.
The pair also led the platform shift for Pringles Multigrain, helping the brand adopt a fresher, more culturally tuned tone through the ‘Same, yet wonderfully different’ and ‘Multigran’ executions—campaigns praised for repositioning the snack within a competitive and increasingly lifestyle-driven category.
Prior to joining Grey, Lapham and McGurk built an international profile at Wieden+Kennedy London, where they produced the widely loved ‘Honda Hands’, which racked up more than 100 million views globally and became a staple at awards shows. Earlier partnerships at adam&eveDDB yielded standout print and poster work for The Financial Times, further cementing their taste for ideas that travel and endure.
“We’re honoured to step into the ECD roles,” the duo said. “Grey has always encouraged us to aim high and be ambitious. Now we get to build on that spirit and help create the kind of work that gets talked about, shared, argued over, remembered, used as reference by others and, dare we say, loved. Nothing too much then.”
Helen Rhodes, chief creative officer at Grey London, described the move as a pivotal moment for the agency. “Chris and Aaron are two exceptional creative forces, and their promotion marks a genuinely exciting moment for the agency,” she said. “Stepping into the ECD role, a position that plays such a crucial part in shaping our future, they’re poised to push our vision further and raise the bar on the work we produce. Being able to promote such standout talent from within says so much about the strength, depth, and ambition of our creative department.”
Alongside the senior promotions, Grey London has also elevated long-serving duo Sam Haynes and John Gibson to group creative directors. Having spent more than a decade at the agency, Haynes and Gibson have delivered award-winning work for Volvo, Vodafone Ireland and Coca-Cola, and most recently steered PETA’s widely discussed ‘Happy Christmassacre’ campaign.
The promotions underscore a strategic bolstering of Grey London’s creative leadership bench at a time when agencies are increasingly defined by their ability to generate ideas that land in culture, travel across platforms and resonate beyond the industry.
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