Ben has spent over 20 years in marketing and strategy roles in the consumer, entertainment and theme park industry. Ben’s career began on the prestigious management training program at Mars Incorporated where he concluded his time as Directory of Category Leadership. Ben then moved to Walt Disney where he spent 5 years latterly as Marketing Director EMEA in Disney Parks, Experiences and Products. In this role Ben was responsible for EMEA-wide marketing programs on major film franchises; Star Wars Episode VII, Frozen, Cars 2, Brave and several MCU releases.
Between 2015 and 2018 Ben was Global Marketing Director for Merlin Entertainments with responsibility for the openings of 4 LEGOLAND theme parks and 40 Midway sites. In this role Ben developed deep experience in the end-to-end process of identifying a site, developing the rights to build, construction, pre-launch marketing and PR, park operations and management.
In 2018 Ben founded 9 Degrees West, a strategy consultancy for the experience economy, specialising in theme parks, visitor attractions and brand homes. Ben’s consultancy work included global children’s edutainment brand KidZania, Europa Park, the Cataratas Group (the largest park operator in South America), M&Ms World, and Tony’s Chocolonely.
Ben joined Storyland Studios as Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Global Clients in July 2020. Ben runs the Storyland international office and is a member of the Storyland executive board. Ben is highly active in developing new theme parks and attraction concepts, including the recently announced partnership with the global gaming giant Ubisoft. Ben continues to speak regularly at IAAPA events.