After a high-flying agency in London working with some major names, strategist Ben Brooks-Dutton has swapped the capital for the coast to set up a new business in his hometown of Southport.
Ben, who has previously worked with the likes of Red, Mischief and The Unmistakables, has launched Lucky Start, a strategy consultancy that he claims aims to cut through the fluff to deliver sharp, fast, and functional thinking for startups, founders, agencies and big brands alike.
Built in just four days – “not to show off,” he says, “but to prove what happens when strategy is sharp and built to move” – Lucky Start is already getting some glowing praise. In its first fortnight, Ben has worked with everyone from wellness entrepreneurs to one of the UK’s biggest PR networks.
“After years working with agencies, networks and startups, I’ve seen how strategy can sometimes lose its way,” Ben explains. “Not because people aren’t smart, but because the tools, training and timeframes haven’t kept up.”
“AI flooded us with generic content (and) the result (is often) strategy that looks clever but leads nowhere,” he added. “Lucky Start is my response to that. I’ve partnered with a wellness founder, a startup, and three of the UK’s biggest PR networks – all within the first two weeks. The momentum, I hope, speaks for itself.”
Ben first moved back to Southport from London after the pandemic for family reasons. He said he used it to ‘reset’ and has been working remotely for business around the UK before setting up Lucky Start a couple of weeks ago.
“Covid had already shown me I could do my work from anywhere,” he says. “And that I worked faster and more clearly outside the traditional agency setup. Once you cut the commute and the internal process loops, there’s more space for proper thinking. That move gave me the headspace – and the push – to launch something on my own terms.”
And the move seems to be paying off. Early feedback for Lucky Start has been positive with clients calling his approach “real, tangible strategy” that slices through waffle and delivers clarity at speed.
Sarah Dembitz, Founder, Sarah Dembitz Wellbeing, one of Lucky Start’s earliest clients, said: “It was kind of scary – like he was in my brain, slicing through the waffle to reveal what I actually stood for. It was real, tangible strategy that I started using within days.”
