Blacklist Creative Welcomes Kate Els as Creative Services Director

Independent agency and production studio Blacklist Creative has announced the appointment of Kate Els as creative services director. Bringing to the role a wealth of experience in growing integrated teams and delivering exceptional creative for global brands, Kate will leverage the Blacklist team to grow accounts, expand their service offering, and above all, deliver valuable creative solutions for their clients.

Since moving to London in 2019, Kate has flexed her creative and operational muscles across a range of global clients including Campari, Reckitt and Unilever, where she was involved in the strategic content planning and production for Unilever Food Solutions' Academy - an online training platform for budding chefs. With a prolific understanding of budget efficiencies and producing at scale, Kate led the team that produced over 600 educational videos. 

Obtaining a degree in journalism at the University of Johannesburg and showcasing a talent for digital media content creation, Kate began her career as a news editor at the university’s official student newspaper. From humble journalistic beginning came great success; Kate has been awarded many prestigious awards for her reporting, photography and blogging skills over the course of her career.

Combining B2B expertise across hospitality, food, and travel with an extensive knowledge of visual arts and design, Kate is commercially minded and astute at understanding the needs of clients. As part of Blacklist Creative, Kate will showcase her creative development, project management and digital media skills across their exciting roster of clients.

Speaking on the new hire, Lola Gamester, co-founder and joint MD, said "Kate brings a unique blend of expert production know-how and whip-smart strategic thinking to Blacklist Creative. Her experience in growing integrated teams and delivering exceptional creative for global brands make her the perfect fit for our team and we're thrilled to have her onboard as our new creative services director."

She added "The appointment of Kate as our new creative services director reflects the accelerated growth that Blacklist Creative has achieved in recent years. Kate's leadership and expertise will be integral to us being able to ‘make it happen’ for even more incredible clients, driving our continued growth and ensuring that we remain at the forefront of the industry. We are delighted to have her join the team and look forward to the great work we'll achieve together."

Kate Els, creative services director at Blacklist Creative, commented “With a strong vision set by the senior leadership team at Blacklist Creative, I'm looking forward to structuring teams and bringing in robust processes to meet that vision. The production team in place is independent and knowledgeable and my role is to leverage this team to grow our accounts, expand our service offering, and above all, deliver valuable creative solutions for our clients.”