Engine Creative Appoints Matt Rhodes as Chief Strategy Officer

Engine Creative has promoted Matt Rhodes to the role of chief strategy officer, replacing Gen Kobayashi, who is leaving the company.

Matt is the agency's former head of strategy. His new remit will build on the agency's strategic skillset and further boost collaboration within Engine's multidisciplinary strategy teams across data, brand planning, communications, and social and influencer capabilities. Matt will continue to lead Engine's work across clients, including the RAF, the UK Government, Cazoo and the ECB.

He will be supported by Engine Creative's head of strategy, Georgina Murray-Burton, in leading and growing the strategy team. He reports to CEO Phil Fearnley.

Matt has been head of strategy at Engine for over three years, leading clients including the RAF, the UK Government, ECB and Greene King and stand-out creative work, including Engine's launch campaign for The Hundred last year, which led to record-breaking attendance and viewers for women's sport in particular, and multi-award-winning diversity and inclusion campaigns for the RAF.

He first joined Engine, then known as WCRS, in 2015 as head of digital strategy and led the agency's successful pitch for Moneysupermarket and its award-winning work on Warburtons before moving within the Engine group to head of strategy across DF London and WCRS. 

Prior to joining Engine, Matt was co-founder and director of FreshNetworks, a top-three European social media agency with clients including Telefonica, Tesco and Jimmy Choo.

Phil Fearnley, CEO of Engine Creative & group CEO ODD said: “In these turbulent times, there's never been a greater need for innovative, quality strategy, to deliver the business outcomes our clients want. We have a fantastic strategy team here and Matt’s appointment as CSO is a clear sign of our continued investment in this area. Together with leaders like Georgie, we have the opportunity to support our clients more deeply and broadly."

Matt Rhodes said: "Our strategy team brings together specialists including brand planners, data analysts, connections planners and social and influencer specialists - all working together to deliver effective work. It's such a delight to be part of this team every day and a privilege to get the opportunity to lead and champion these skills and people and grow our capabilities as the agency grows."