Carat has appointed Laura Crichton as Managing Director – Clients, effective 1 July 2026. Crichton joins from digital marketing agency Jellyfish, where she served as Vice President of Client Leadership across the UK and EMEA markets.
In the role, Crichton will take senior responsibility for some of Carat's most significant client relationships, including Co-operative Group, Pandora, Lionsgate, Wickes and Post Office. Reporting to President Mike McCoy, she joins the Carat UK Leadership Team, with overarching responsibility for client service standards and experience across the agency’s entire client base, as well as partner relationships and the agency’s broader strategic direction.
Crichton brings nearly 20 years of senior agency experience, with previous roles at OMD UK and EMEA and Starcom MediaVest, where she developed deep expertise in media and communications planning across some of the world’s most complex, multi-market accounts, including PepsiCo, SC Johnson and Hasbro. That communication planning heritage sits at the heart of what Carat has always stood for, and McCoy sees it as central to her appointment. In recent years at Jellyfish, Crichton has added rigorous digital and AI capabilities to that foundation, integrating tech, AI, and performance-led approaches into client service and team development for clients including Sony Electronics, The AA, and Suzuki.
Mike McCoy, President of Carat UK, said: “Laura is exactly the kind of leader Carat needs at this moment. She has the communication planning foundations this agency was built on, combined with the commercial instinct, digital fluency and human leadership to take us forward. We’re building something ambitious here, and she’s central to that.”
Crichton said: “It's a huge privilege to be part of Carat's next chapter, an agency whose work I've respected since my earliest days in the industry. We’re currently seeing how technology, used well, creates the space for deeper strategic thinking and sharper media decisions. It’s this combination that will unlock work that genuinely transforms business outcomes. I’m eager to help build a culture where our teams deliver true partnership and standout results for our clients.”
