July 2024: Independent creative agency, Fold7, has appointed Tommy Willis as its first Social Creative Director. Willis’s hire follows on from the growth of Fold7’s social capability over the last two years, having won the Carlsberg UK social business (from The Corner) and received broader social briefs from the PZ Cussons portfolio, Capital One, Audible and Somersby.
He joins Fold7 from entertainment marketing group Tommy, where he led the creative department through social-first campaigns and pitch wins for Netflix, Paramount Pictures, Adobe and Tesco Mobile.
Before that he held roles at We Are Social, AMV BBDO and LADbible Group, overseeing social campaigns for KFC, The British Army, BT, Snickers, Cancer Research and Guinness. His work includes KFC’s one-of-a-kind Gravy Card, creating a Netflix x Rebel Moon sci-fi experience for gamers within Farming Simulator and launching Twitter’s first live-streamed game show, #GuessThePrize for BT. Having started his career as a social media manager at MEC, now known as Wavemaker.
Willis has a packed awards cabinet for his culturally connected campaigns, including The Drum Marketing Awards, Campaign Brand Film, Digiday, Caples, Webbies and Marketing Society Awards.
As part of an integrated Creative department, Willis will report into ECD, Dave Billing. His hire will further bring together Fold7’s heritage of big brand ideas with their growing culture first capability, working across the existing client portfolio and helping drive new business across social and digital-first clients.
Dave Billing, ECD of Fold7, said : “Some of the most exciting work in our industry draws on the power of culture to really cut through. Today, the cauldron of culture is social media. Tommy swims in this domain with the grace of a particularly clever dolphin, and he’ll bring some serious creative firepower to Fold7 as we focus our efforts on making the agency the home of social and culture-first ideas, as much as it is to brand-out communications. He is a brilliant and exciting addition to our team.”
Tommy said: “I’m delighted to be joining Dave and the team at such an exciting time for the agency. The power of social media allows brands of all shapes and sizes to cut through with smart, simple and unexpected ideas that resonate within culture. I look forward to collaborating with everyone at Fold7 to help achieve this for their brilliant roster of clients, both present and future.”
