Manchester agency Social Chain Group has made a series of key hires from media companies including the Daily Mail, The Telegraph, ITV and MediaCom.
The Group is now made up of social-first marketing agency Social Chain and social media publishing house Media Chain. Matt Breen joins as Commercial Director of Media Chain from MailOnline, where he was Head of Digital and led digital sales teams across London and Manchester, as well as launching their Branded Video offering.
Before this, he was Head of Video at Havas, advising clients on shifting traditional media spend to online video channels. He said: “I am incredibly excited to join the Social Chain Group team, the opportunity to drive Media Chain’s commercial offering, and launch the London office was too good to miss.
“Our focus for 2018 is to grow our portfolio of Social Media brands, and continue to lead the way in original content creation. We have very exciting plans to grow our portfolio of Brands in 2018, delivering value to our users on and off Social platforms.
“At Media Chain, we will make it easier for Advertisers to reach and engage with audiences across Social platforms, to help achieve their business goals.”
Michael Hodkinson has been appointed as Sales Director of Media Chain and will be responsible for growing revenue streams from UK clients and media agencies. He was previously Director of Spark-Regions, The Telegraph’s in-house creative solutions department.
Sharlene Hanley (above) joins Social Chain as Planning Director, responsible for implementing insight-driven, strategic planning processes across the business.
Hanley has been in the media industry for 11 years and brings experience from both media agency and media owner roles, having most recently been in Content and Partnerships at ITV and Insight and Planning at MEC.
Paul Stevens is the new Operations Director and will be focused on developing Social Chain strategies, campaigns and insights for clients. Stevens is a MediaCom veteran
And Adam Mills joins from McCann, as Head of Talent & Development, responsible for driving business growth by attracting and developing industry leading talent.
CEO and co-founder Steve Bartlett said: “Social Chain Group has seen exponential growth in the last year alone, with even larger plans for 2018. The appointment of these exceptionally talented individuals is testament to our vision, and proven success. We are incredibly excited to welcome everyone to team”
