Dani

Thornton

Founder,

PDA London

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known for using culture as a bridge to reach underrepresented audiences

Dani is an award-winning creative strategist, known for using culture as a bridge to reach underrepresented audiences and work that feels true to the people it’s for. She specialises in culture-led strategy grounded in authentic community building, with experience developing campaigns for Hennessy, Converse, Dr. Martens, V&A, Red Bull and G-Shock. She held roles at Hope & Glory, Splendid and Kingdom Collective – before launching her own agency, PDA (Public Displays of Attention), after realising the standard PR playbook doesn’t always match the world we’re communicating to. She’s a passionate advocate for more diversity in the industry, driven by two questions: who’s in the work – and who’s in the room?

q&a

Why did you sign up to be a judge for The Pros Awards 2026?

I said yes because The Pros Awards is one of the only nights that’s ever made me feel properly proud of this industry. I was honoured to be a nominee in 2024 and it meant the world. You look around the room and realise how much talent there is – and how rarely it gets celebrated. I want to be part of keeping that energy going, and helping make sure more people like us stay in comms and thrive.

What Insta/LinkedIn/Tik Tok account should every comms pro follow and why?

As a new founder, I find it genuinely useful to follow Axe + Saw’s journey in real time and see how Rachel Allison is carving out space for a different kind of agency thinking. She never pretends it’s effortless and generously gives us a glimpse of the decisions, the doubts, and the unglamourous side of the day-to-day. It helps demystify the founder journey in a way I’ve personally found very inspiring.

What was your favourite PR/comms campaign from 2025 and why?

International Committee of the Red Cross’s Laws Under Attack hasn’t left me. It inscribed articles from the Geneva Conventions onto the bombed walls of a hospital in southern Lebanon, turning the ruins into a public record. Every crack in the text is part of that record. In a year marked by repeated violations of humanitarian law across multiple conflicts worldwide, it put the consequences of breaches in situ and made them impossible to ignore.

As always, we’ve got a great DJ booked for The Pros Awards award ceremony in September – what’s your dance floor filler request?

Chaka Khan – I Feel 4 U