Rise at Seven hires Matt Holmes to drive AI era reset

Rise at Seven has appointed Matt Holmes as Executive Director of Integrated Strategy, adding another senior brand-side hire as it reshapes its leadership team and operating model.

Holmes joins from senior marketing roles at British Gas, PrettyLittleThing, Emirates, Thomas Cook, Card Factory and Chill Insurance. He has led integrated marketing teams, managed multi-million-pound budgets and worked at board level.

He has also worked with Rise at Seven from the client side, appointing the agency as a partner in previous in-house roles. The move comes as the business enters its next phase of growth.

The appointment follows another recent leadership hire. Phil Clark, formerly Global Director of Digital Performance at Canada Goose, joined as Managing Partner of Product & Performance. Together, the hires add more client-side commercial experience to the agency's senior team.

Agency reset

Rise at Seven is framing the hires as part of a broader reset in how agencies structure teams and deliver work. It pointed to AI-driven changes in production and delivery that are shifting the economics of execution across content, reporting and optimisation.

As repeatable production tasks become more automated and delivery more commoditised, the agency is investing in senior strategic consultants and changing how it integrates creative and performance work.

Holmes will work alongside Founder and CEO Carrie Rose and Clark. The leadership team will focus on deeper strategic integration across the agency's paid, earned, shared and owned proposition, aiming to align search insight, creative execution and performance work more closely.

Over the past year, Rise at Seven has made structural changes and continues to describe itself as a search-first content marketing agency. It has also shifted its positioning towards "category leadership" across Google, TikTok, YouTube, Amazon and AI-driven discovery platforms.

In a statement, Rose linked the hires to how agencies compete as automation increases.

"If agencies want to survive - and lead - the next decade, we need to behave like embedded strategic partners, not just delivery teams. As AI absorbs more execution, the real value of agencies lies in commercial judgement and integration. That means hiring leaders who have managed multi-million-pound budgets, integrated paid, earned, owned and shared channels inside complex organisations, advised boards and carried accountability for growth. Matt has experienced Rise from the client side, which makes this next chapter particularly powerful," said Carrie Rose, Founder & CEO, Rise at Seven.

Performance focus

Clark said the hires combine client-side leadership with delivery expertise across brand and performance marketing, and support closer alignment between strategy, product and performance across the agency.

"Bringing together client-side leadership with award-winning execution strengthens our ability to connect brand and performance at every level. Matt's experience leading integrated teams inside global organisations complements the direction we're building at Rise - one where strategy, product and performance are fully aligned around client growth," said Clark.

Holmes said he had worked with the agency previously and welcomed the chance to build on that relationship from inside the business.

"Having hired Rise as an agency partner, I've seen first-hand the strength of its execution. Joining at this stage of growth is an exciting opportunity to help elevate that further - ensuring strategy, insight and performance are fully integrated to drive sustainable business outcomes," said Holmes.

The appointments come during a period of growth. Rise at Seven reported that multi-channel strategy adoption across its client base rose from 38% to more than 70% over the past 12 months.

The agency also cited recent client wins including Red Bull and Birkenstock, and said its US expansion has continued, with the business reaching $3m in revenue.

Rise at Seven was founded in 2019 and operates across the UK and US.