Alex Gardner joins London Alley
Mother’s Chief Growth Officer heads to London Alley as its ambitions expand.
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If you’ve seen Lizzo’s About Damn Time music video, the Lil Nas X Industry Baby music video, the esoteric CANN work directed by Lake Bell, Pepsi’s Grease-inspired The One That I Want spot starring Doja Cat, you know London Alley.
They’ve historically operated as a music video and commercial production house working with world-renowned talent and brands that want to create work infused with pop-culture.
Rockstar talent and brands alike have benefitted from the alchemy that occurs when London Alley is in the director’s chair, and more than ever the company is being asked to guide strategy and creative at the ideation stage, long before production begins. In short, brand CMOs are seeing them as a valuable creative partner, blending the speed and craft of a world-renowned production company with the strategic and creative abilities needed to grow businesses.
So for the last year, they’ve been quietly modifying how they operate, taking on more creative and strategic responsibilities. Today the company is announcing the addition of a Creative Studio to the London Alley family, a move that reflects their broadened skills and operational evolution. While not the only major announcement for the company this year, this news represents the first step in its plans.
LACS offers brands services ranging from creative ideation and strategy to campaign execution and production. The studio serves as a direct-to-brand offering, from creative ideation all the way to production. As it has always done, LACS work will typically range from national broadcast campaigns to social content and activations.
Its work with CANN was its first foray into partnering in a more traditional relationship with a brand. Tasked with producing content that resonates with culture and entertains, the work was so successful that it has generated significant brand interest, and led to new partnerships with Queen V and Ember.
To manage and accelerate that growth, LACS has hired Mother’s Chief Growth Officer, Alex Gardner. At Mother, Alex led new business and communications, helping win clients like Sonic, Peloton, Tripadvisor, Dave & Busters, Quip and lead the agency to double digit revenue growth during her tenure.
She also oversaw the successful public announcement of several businesses that fell under the agency's umbrella: Mother Ventures (Investment arm of the agency), Mother Goods (design and product development company), SuperBloom House, Media by Mother.
With over ten years of experience, Gardner has worked for some of the most well respected agencies in the industry including BBDO and 72andSunny. She joins on the heels of the recent announcement of Luke Anderson (Co-Founder of Cann, joining as partner and investor)
Luke Anderson, Co-founder of CANN and now Partner, Executive Producer at London Alley, has raised more than $30M in funding for the THC & CBD-infused beverage from major institutional firms and celebrity investors including Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Hudson, Nina Dobrev, and more. Anderson is also the brains behind Cann’s marketing campaigns known to be trailblazing, boundary-pushing, and diverse.
Alex Garder, CMO, London Alley, said: “London Alley’s DNA is producing music videos based on culturally relevant touchpoints. As CMO, I plan to lean into that sweet spot and build off of it in an interesting way that is appealing to brands and positions us as a nimble, creative studio producing cultural moments at speed.
Luga Podesta, CEO London Alley, adds: “The evolution of London Alley into our next chapter is incredibly exciting for our business. We can’t wait to take the success we’ve seen in the music industry and translate that into creating culturally relevant content for brands.”
