Havas London Welcomes Matt Springate as Chief Strategy Officer

Havas London has announced the appointment of Matt Springate, most recently regional chief strategy officer, Australia and New Zealand at TBWA, as its new chief strategy officer (CSO). Matt, who relocates to London from Sydney for the role, will sit alongside CEO James Fox and chief creative officer Vicki Maguire on the Havas London leadership team, reporting into James. His appointment marks the first time in several years the agency has employed a dedicated CSO.

With a career spanning more than 20 years, across multiple continents and several leading agencies, Matt boasts a wealth of experience, both within strategy and leadership positions. He’s spent the past seven years at TBWA, first as chief strategy officer at TBWA Sydney, before being promoted to regional CSO for Australia and New Zealand in 2020. Since 2023, alongside his TBWA role, he co-founded and was CSO of +61, a bespoke agency built to service Australia’s largest telco, Telstra, powered by a network agency (TBWA) and an independent creative agency (Bear Meets Eagle on Fire), with media (OMD) fully integrated – a first-of-its-kind in the region. He has also taught at Miami Ad School Sydney since 2020.

Before joining TBWA in 2017, Matt spent two years as managing planning partner at Grey London – working alongside Vicki throughout arguably the most successful period in the agency’s history – where he was the strategic lead on key clients including Vodafone, Tate, Lucozade and The Science Museum.

He previously spent three years at Droga5 New York, where he was group strategy director – working on brands including American Express, Quilted Northern and Diet Coke, as well as being strategy lead on Mondalēz brands Honey Maid and belVita – as well as roles at The Brooklyn Brothers and Fallon.    

At Havas London, he will be responsible for driving effectiveness and creative excellence for its clients, as well as developing a culture of strategic stewardship which enables marketers continue to grow and protect their respective brands at a time of budgetary pressures and in a rapidly changing communications environment. Crucially, he will also lead its implementation of Havas’ new global strategic plan and operating system, Converged. 

Building on the success of Havas’ Together Strategy and the unique Village approach launched in 2014, Converged is designed to bring global collaboration at Havas even further, seamlessly fusing talent, capabilities, platforms and expertise. With meaningful ideas and a new Operating System at its heart, it leverages Havas’ standout creativity, media, and production capabilities, powered by the best data, technology and AI, bringing its global networks and agencies even closer to help drive clients’ businesses.

James Fox, CEO, Havas London says, “I am so excited Matt is returning to the UK to join us on the next stage of Havas London’s journey. Not only is he held in extremely high regard by everyone that has had the privilege of spending time with him, he also boasts one of the best strategic minds in the business. He has extensive high-level network experience, and an intrinsic knowledge of how modern strategy can impact client business. He also has a big heart, and I know he’ll be loved by everyone who gets to work with him. I can’t wait to see what magic a Matt/Vicki team will conjure up.”

Matt Springate, chief strategy officer, Havas London added, “I loved my time at TBWA, but after seven years away, it feels good to be coming home. It’s the people that make any opportunity feel right. I know how lucky I am to have the chance to work with Vicki again and to build something special with her and James, a brilliant leader who I’ve loved getting to know. It’s a partnership I’m genuinely excited about. I wanted to come home to a place that puts creativity first and I'm looking forward to helping the rest of the team build on what makes the agency unique. When something feels this right, you’re excited and grateful in equal measure to be part of this next chapter"

Matt’s arrival follows a strategy department restructure at Havas London, which saw executive head of strategy Britt Iversen depart the agency.

James says, “I’d like to give my sincerest thanks to Britt for all her efforts and energy over the past three years. Having helped Havas London to its most awarded year on record in 2023, she leaves on a high – and with our very warmest wishes.’’

Britt Iversen says, “It’s been a total riot and a privilege working with Vix, Fox and the fantastic Havas London team over the past three years. I’m so proud of the work we’ve done together and being part of making Havas London the most awarded creative agency it’s ever been. I’ll be cheering the whole team on from the side lines.”