The Kite Factory drafts in Harman for chairman role

Former Royal Mail Group managing director of media Jonathan Harman has joined data-driven media agency The Kite Factory as chairman, 12 months after the business rebranded from MC&C Media.

Harman has been working as a consultant at his own business Bloom since leaving Royal Mail in February last year, following a restructure.

Having spent his entire career agency side at Rapp, Claydon Heeley, RMG and Carlson, Harman had joined Royal Mail in 2012 as managing director of MarketReach but eventually took responsibility for the retail letters business, data, marketing and innovation.

While there he commissioned an indepth research project resulting in the publication of the Private Life of Mail study, which has provided insight into the role of mail in people’s homes and the impact this has on advertisers’ ROI ever since.

The Kite Factory was launched in 2001 by former WWAV media chief Mike Colling, as Mike Colling & Company. In July 2017, the agency raised £6.6m in investment from private equity house Key Capital Partners, and rebranded 18 months later.

The new management team is led by chief executive Robin Trust and head of insight, strategy and planning Rik Moore, who joined from Havas in January 2019.

Colling stepped down, although is still a major shareholder, as have most of the senior team he brought in including old school “media lags” Steve Booth, Ian Prager and Simon Foster.

KCP investment partner Mike Fell, who is also board member of The Kite Factory, said: “We are delighted to welcome Jonathan to The Kite Factory team. His skills and experience make him an important addition the board and I look forward to working with him and rest of the team to continue the growth of the agency.”

Harman added: “I am delighted to have joined The Kite Factory at an exciting time in its history and I’m looking forward to working with CEO Robin Trust, Mike Fell at KCP and the rest of our talented team to build a substantial business together.”