Shelley Smoler

Droga5’s first ever female Chief Creative Officer Shelley Smoler was undaunted by the challenge of taking the helm of a major creative department. She has hit the ground running, focusing on developing award-winning creative work and leading her team to significant wins, in addition to chairing the Campaign Big Awards.

Committed to “redefining the conventions” of the industry she loves, Shelley has led acclaimed creative work for Amazon and Vestiaire Collective, for whom the Long Live Fashion campaign ignited the brand’s sustainability credentials by turning pre-loved high-fashion into pouting puppets. Multiple pitch wins followed, including Global AOR for Philips Domestic Appliances and Paddy Power. Boasting razor-sharp attention to detail, Johannesburg-born Shelley is passionate about diversifying the creative output beyond film into new touchpoints. This is an area in which she already has form, having used bank notes to create the provocative and highly acclaimed Trillion Dollar campaign for The Zimbabwean. A natural collaborator who thrives on nurturing and growing talent, Shelley has always worked as a mentor to a group of female creatives across countries and programmes, including See It Be It at this year’s Cannes Lions. The accelerator programme aims to elevate and support female creative talent across the global advertising industry. Shelley also backed the Genie ‘School Of" programme, where seven sixth form learners from St Thomas of the Apostle School in Peckham were briefed and mentored by Droga5 - as part of a programme designed to show young people that a creative career is a viable one!