Brave Bison promotes chief strategist

London-headquartered media, marketing and technology company Brave Bison has promoted Ric Hayes to chief strategy officer, strengthening its executive leadership team as the business accelerates its strategic ambitions.

Ric steps up from his role as group strategy director at SocialChain to lead a newly centralised strategy function across Brave Bison, SocialChain and Engage Digital Partners. 

In his expanded role, he will oversee a connected strategy team working across performance, innovation and consultancy to help clients navigate changing media and technology landscapes.

Ric brings more than 20 years’ experience across agency, consultancy and brand-side strategy roles, having held senior positions at Carat, Dentsu and McCann. 

His career spans work on major global brands and programmes across the UK, US and ANZ markets.

Ric said: “In today’s rapidly changing landscape, strategic support must move beyond boardroom presentations and become embedded in how brands operate, staying close to customers and effectiveness drivers while harnessing new insight sources, new ways of working and better decision-making to capitalise on complexity.

“As clients grapple with the shift from broadcast-led to networked marketing, I’m incredibly excited to lead Brave Bison’s brilliant strategy team in the development of new solutions that keep our clients ahead in an evolving market.

“With partners like MTM and Mark Ritson in our corner, and AI tools like AudienceGPT in our arsenal, we’ve got everything we need to capitalise on what’s coming next.”

Ric’s promotion reflects Brave Bison’s continued investment in IP-led, outcome-focused strategy, alongside the further development of its consultancy and training offers designed to support long-term client growth.

Executive chairman Oli Green added: “Ric’s new role reflects the critical role strategy plays across every part of our business, and his ability to combine deep audience insight with commercial impact makes him an invaluable new addition to our executive team. 

“As we continue to grow Brave Bison’s consultancy and AI-powered planning capabilities, Ric will play a central role in shaping how we deliver measurable outcomes for our clients—at speed, and at scale.”

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