Rise at Seven start-up takes on first creative director

Rise at Seven, the creative-led SEO agency launched by two former Kin + Carta colleagues, has appointed former EE and Moonpig social media chief Joe Goulcher as creative director.

Goulcher, who started his agency career at M&C Saatchi as an account executive in 2010, switched to EE as social media manager and then had a spell as freelance, working with global brands including Playstation, P&G, Disney, Reebok, EE, and Durex. In 2018, he joined Moonpig heading up its social team, then worked at Saatch & Saatchi.

At Rise at Seven, Goulcher will be based in the agency’s London office and tasked with pitching search-first creative campaigns.

Founded by Carrie Rose and Stephen Kenwright, the agency launched in June 2019 and has gone from 2 to 50 staff in just 15 months; it opened its London office in January this year.

The agency works with clients across the UK, Europe and North America and is currently seeking to open offices in Germany, Spain and the Netherlands. Clients include Missguided, Parkdean Resorts, GoCompare, House of Fraser, Made.com, Odeon, Game, Microsoft Xbox, MyProtein and Look Fantastic across search and creative services including strategy, content marketing, social media, digital PR and SEO. The agency has grown by more than 200% since May.

Goulcher said: “After over a decade in PR, social and creative, I’m absolutely delighted to be part of one of the most exciting new agencies in the world. The team are incredibly talented and together we’re going to shake up the industry. I can’t wait to show everyone what we’re capable of.”

Rose added: “Speaking to creative directors from some of the most famous agencies in the country made us realise that bringing in a big name whose bread and butter is TV or print won’t take us to the next level – we needed someone who thinks like us, a big name who instead has a mind for grabbing attention on social and across digital.

“Joe is that person – I remember his work on Moonpig and PlayStation and it’s so obvious to us how he can take our search-led campaigns and make them disrupt the entire industry. His famous case study examples caught my attention several years ago and he has been my inspiration ever since.

“When I started the agency I wrote a list of both dream clients and dream hires and Joe sat at the top of that list. So as you can imagine, I am very excited to have him with us to take a lead in the space for search led creativity.”

Goulcher’s appointment coincides with Rose and Kenwright taking up new roles as CEO and COO respectively.