A New Social Practise Built to turn Cultural Power into Commercial Growth.
M+C Saatchi UK has today launched M+C Saatchi Social House, a new integrated social communications practice designed to help brands build Cultural Power by turning social audiences into active communities, creators into growth partners and cultural passion into measurable commercial impact.
Social House brings together and expands the deep specialist expertise from across M+C Saatchi UK, including social strategy and planning, creative and content production, creator and influencer marketing, community management, paid social, media buying, creator commerce and measurement.
The launch marks a step change in how M+C Saatchi UK helps brands show up in social communications. Rather than treating social as a channel, Social House is built around the belief that social is now a complete cultural ecosystem; the place where people discover what they love, participate in culture, build communities, influence purchase and shape brand meaning in real time.
Marcus Peffers, Executive Chair, M+C Saatchi Group UK, said: “Social sits at the centre of how people discover, participate in and shape culture. M+C Saatchi Social House brings together social expertise from across our different specialisms to create a more multi-discipline, connected social proposition for clients when they need it.
“This is about combining, strengthening and expanding our collective capabilities across the Group through a platform that allows our specialist teams to collaborate more effectively and deliver more joined-up thinking, as well as unlocking broader opportunities with clients by giving them a clearer route to expertise.”
Jackie Stevenson, Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer, M+C Saatchi Group, said: “With M+C Saatchi Social House, we’ve fused performance intelligence, fan ecosystem thinking and social-first production into one practice built around how culture actually moves. We are not just making work for social channels; we are designing participatory systems around brands. Systems that can identify fan energy, create at cultural speed and convert participation into measurable growth.”
At the heart of the offer is M+C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment’s new and proprietary Fancom Accumulator methodology, developed to help brands identify, route and compound consumer energy around the passions, communities and behaviours that drive growth. The model moves brands beyond traditional measures of reach and engagement, focusing instead on participation - the degree to which audiences contribute, create, share, buy, advocate and return.
As part of the launch, M+C Saatchi has appointed Katy Ball as Head of Social. Ball joins from Hope&Glory, where she was Board Director, working with brands including Sky, Sony and Le Creuset. Shanice Dover, formerly Head of Social & Communications at gal-dem and most recently Senior Social Account Director at M+C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment, has been promoted into the newly created role of Associate Director, Creator and Community.
Both will report to Laura Coller, UK CEO, M+C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment, and will work across the Group to build a more integrated social model for clients.
Laura Coller, UK CEO, M+C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment, said “For more than 20 years we’ve connected brands to consumers through the things people love, driving Cultural Power through passions. There’s no environment more powerful for developing and fostering passions than on social, where depth of access has the ability to turn any brand, product, trend or interest into a passion point.
“Social has become a complete cultural ecosystem. The beating heart of the marketing mix and the primary environment where brand love is fostered, and commercial outcomes are secured. We view social as a consumer passion in its own right, not just a channel, giving it a completely different entry point to every other marketing discipline, and much more opportunity.”
Katy Ball, Head of Social Communications, M+C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment,added: “Clients need to start thinking about how they build participatory ecosystems around their brands. Our Fancom Accumulator model is built in three stages. First, we help brands act as conductors of culture, connecting fans, creators and communities through participation across platforms. Then we compound those behaviours through repeatable formats and experiences that deepen engagement over time. Finally, we convert that energy into measurable commercial impact, based on our newly developed participation metrics.”
Shanice Dover, Associate Director Creator & Community, M+C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment, concluded: “Our bespoke measurement framework is defined by a Participation Rate. The value of social interactions is determined by how much the audience actually contributes, moving from looking solely at traditional values like engagement and reach and into a more meaningful methodology that prizes creating a regenerative system with participation at its core.”
To coincide with the launch, M+C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment has released the fourth issue of its Fancom report, The Social Issue, anchoring its approach to social-first thinking. Written by specialists from across the agency’s global network and edited by Ant Firth-Clark, Cultural Strategy Lead, the report explores how brands can leverage social as a passion, using it to move consumers from passive attention to active participation.
The launch of Social House forms part of M+C Saatchi UK’s continued investment in Cultural Power: the Group’s belief that brands grow when they earn a meaningful role in the passions, communities and cultural behaviours people care about most
