Leo UK has strengthened its creative department with a wave of new talent, bringing fresh skillsets to the agency to meet the agency’s ambition to create populist work that gets people involved and talking.

Matt Jones and Abi Stephenson join from BETC Paris, bringing with them a portfolio of culturally ambitious, internationally awarded campaigns. Their recent work includes Deezer: Dance Fight, a cinematic film rooted in Gen Z dance culture, and Canal+ No Bad Choices, a surreal take on streaming indecision. Both campaigns were recognised at international shows including D&AD and One Show. The pair have also worked at VMLY&R, Droga5, BBC Creative, Lucky Generals and VCCP. 

Holly Henderson and Georgia Horrocks join from BBC Creative, where their work included a viral stunt for The Traitors – presenting fan-favourite Linda with a tongue-in-cheek Golden Cloak just as The Golden Globes kicked off – and a striking campaign for David Attenborough’s Asia. Between them, they bring experience from creative roles at Ogilvy, McCann, and Grey. 

The appointments follow several new creative hires at Leo this year, including midweight teams, Will Butler and Matt Adams, and Sam Oldham and Julia Mathew. The agency has also promoted David Allen from creative director of design to executive design director. It comes as POPDesign, the agency’s in-house design department, has continued to expand in size and capabilities. With over 30 creative designers, the team undertakes large scale domestic and global work in-house.

These appointments follow a period of creative momentum for the agency, which recently earned seven Cannes Lions and over 40 wins at this year’s Creative Circle Awards – reinforcing its position as one of the UK’s most celebrated creative shops.

Mark Elwood, chief creative officer, Leo UK, stated, “At Leo, we’re building a department full of different thinkers. Someone much wiser than me once said ‘different brains, different thinking’. I love that mantra. Matt and Abi are fearless creatives with brilliant craft and big populist ideas that start conversations. Holly and Georgia have that rare instinct for what gets people talking too, their work for ‘The Traitors’ is proof. Will and Matt bring a different edge from sport, sponsorship, and brand experience, whilst Sam and Julia strengthen our gen-z thinking and digital, social firepower. And with David’s promotion, our design offering continues to grow in ambition and impact. Together, they embody the mix of skills and perspectives we need to keep evolving how we connect brands to culture.”

Cover image: Holly Henderson, Matt Jones, Georgia Horrocks and Abi Stephenson