Pete Metcalfe, CEO at SocialChain, is leaving the agency after just over two years to take on a new role at Manchester neighbour THG, the UK’s largest e-commerce retailer.
In his new role as CMO for beauty brands, Metcalfe will help to drive marketing growth for leading pure-play beauty brands Lookfantastic, Cult Beauty, and Dermstore.
Metcalfe joined SocialChain from Carat UK in April 2022 as MD, rising to the role of CEO in November of the same year.
Under his leadership, the business experienced a transformative acquisition by Brave Bison in February 2023, built an award-winning and industry-leading strategy function and also successfully restructured to a creator-led model with new positioning focused on ‘building stronger connections between people and brands.’
These efforts have put SocialChain on track for its best-ever year in terms of revenue and profit in its 10-year history, underpinned by career-defining work and new business wins such as Holland & Barrett, John Lewis, Linkedin and Sony Pictures.
Brave Bison is currently recruiting his successor and hopes to announce new leadership for the agency in the coming months. Metcalfe will depart SocialChain at the end of July and in the interim, the existing SocialChain leadership team, together with the Brave Bison executive team will lead the agency.
Metcalfe said: “Leading SocialChain over the past two years has been an incredible journey. We’ve laid the groundwork for unprecedented growth, and 2024 is set to be our most successful year yet. Our accomplishments, from the exciting acquisition by Brave Bison to assembling a team of top industry talent and creating a unique proposition for our clients, have been nothing short of remarkable.
“What we’ve achieved in such a short time often takes other agencies a decade. I am confident that SocialChain is in excellent hands with Brave Bison and the SocialChain senior leadership team. It has been a privilege to work with such a talented group of people, and I look forward to watching their continued success from the sidelines.”
Oliver Green, executive chairman at Brave Bison, added: “On behalf of all of Brave Bison and especially the SocialChain team, I’d like to thank Pete for everything he has done for the agency during his time as CEO. We head into the second half of 2024 in a stronger position than ever with an enviable roster of clients, a talented team who continue to drive impact and innovation for those clients daily, and excitement as to what this new chapter for the business holds.”
