Starting our new chapter
Back in 2015 in a uni dorm room & a shed, Chris and myself sat down to create Kairos Talent. At the time, we had no idea what the next nine years would hold for us. I had wanted to dial down YouTube, and all I knew was that there was an amazing opportunity to connect creators to brands, and that’s what we did.
Over the last few years, the business has shapeshifted in many ways, meeting market demands and incorporating everything we have learnt along the way. From the introduction and scaling of Kyma Media which allowed us to fully support creators with content syndication and talent opportunities, to our acquisition of Horizon Union that introduced a fresh wave of talent particularly in esports and gaming.
Even for our brand Kairos Media, we have been able to work with hero brands and creators such as Samsung, Blizzard Entertainment, Hasbro, Pepsi and more. However with our growth, it has created a mixed brand, a confused brand, and if you ask 10 people what Kairos do, you’ll get 10 different answers.
That leads us up to where we are now.
After many years of rapid growth and multiple entities, we need to keep things simple. A more concise and clear identity for all of our 100+ staff across the globe, all working on the same brand, instead of for multiple companies inside a wider organisation. Externally, we want it to reflect who we are today, and where we’re going in the future.
Our agency has expanded into one of the only agencies with a dedicated talent division, amassing 100m+ followers across our roster, a social publishing division that generates 500m+ views a month across social platforms, and a technology offering that brings gamification and community interaction with creator campaigns.
Our goal is to bring this together, to be reflective of who we are today, and to create a more compelling service for our clients.
I couldn’t be happier to introduce you to NewGen – the agency of the future.
Bringing all of our siloed entities together to become a force to be reckoned with, NewGen encompasses all of what Kairos was alongside everything we can be. One brand. One vision. One identity. One focus.
In a more technical sense, Kairos Media, Kyma Media and Horizon will now all be centrally housed under NewGen. One agency with one mission: to seamlessly bridge the gap between brands and creators.
NewGen flips the traditional marketing model on its head and ensures that everything starts in social. Whether that is mining for insights, finding human and cultural truths, and identifying communities we want to tap into. NewGen is social-first in everything it does, but not social only – often moving beyond social into PR, events and experiential to deliver truly integrated campaigns.
To the future
Over the last few months we’ve been working on bolstering this with key personnel in the business, and also some wider exciting initiatives that we can share soon..
We’ve brought on Laura Tannenbaum, as our managing director (EMEA). Laura is one of the founding partners of the social creative agency, That Lot, before exiting to Weber Shandwick. We’re incredibly excited for Laura to be on the next phase of the journey as the business progresses.
We’ve brought on Katy Sumption – As our Executive Creative director. Katy comes with a wealth of experience from the likes of Iris, and Atomic. Katy has been brought onto the business to expand our creative width as a business, ensuring creativity sits at the forefront of all of our work.
The business has also appointed a non-exec chairman, alongside 2 non-exec directors (soon to be announced) to enhance the experience within the business.
Both myself and Chris want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported Kairos in every moment; the good and the bad. We can’t wait to see what the future holds for NewGen and we look forward to bringing you all on the journey with us.
From, Mike Craddock – CEO & Co-Founder of NewGen