Hi I’m Matt Harvey

I’m an Earned Media creative with 18 years’ experience. I began my career in advertising working at agencies including Saatchi & Saatchi, Leo Burnett and Ogilvy. Then a few years ago I made the switch to PR, initially at The Romans and now at Freud Communications where I work as an Associate Creative Director. I love coming up with ideas rooted in culture that people want to talk about. I’ve created a best-selling app for the BBC, a perfume that smells of KFC chicken and a selfie-taking robot that invaded the Red Carpet at the BAFTA Awards. Along the way I’ve won a few awards including a Creative Circle Gold.

My Experience

Freud Communications

FEB 2023 - PRESENT
As an ACD in the Freuds creative team I get to work on the most varied range of briefs imaginable. I help lead the creative output for a several of the agency’s consumer brands including KFC, Samsung, McCain and Nike. I also work on behaviour-change campaigns for the NHS and other Third Sector bodies like The UN, the FCDO and Google’s philanthropy arm. I’ve helped creatively launch big film releases including The Devil Wears Prada and the upcoming Toy Story film. I also work on corporate communications campaign for EY, McDonalds and Monzo. Quite a lot to be getting on with!

The Romans

OCT 2022 - FEB 2023
It was while freelancing at this creatively-driven PR agency that I decided I wanted to pivot my career to become an earned-first creative. Working under The Romans’ inspiring founder and CCO Joe Mackay-Sinclair, I realised that PR briefs can be the most exciting creative challenge of all as your idea has to be so interesting that people will want to talk about it – with no media spend to hide behind.

St Lukes

Dec 2020 - Oct 2022
I joined St Luke’s in the midst of the pandemic as the creative lead for their biggest client Ocado. I helped develop a bold and engaging tone of voice for the brand and created 360 advertising campaigns in ATL, digital and social. I also worked on campaigns for The i Paper, Goldman Sachs, KP nuts and The Daily Mail.

Freelance

2014 - 2020
I spent several years freelancing my way around London Adland. Sometimes it was a week or two to help out on pitch, other times I stayed for months and months and got to produce some work. Some of my favourite gigs included:

  • Lucky Generals (Oct 14)

  • Anomaly (Feb 15)

  • WCRS (Aug 15 - Feb 16)

  • Poke (Sep-Dec 16)

  • Uncommon (Oct 17)

  • AMV BBDO (June-Aug 17)

  • AnalogFolk (Feb-May 18)

  • R/GA (Nov 18 - May 19)

  • Edelman (March 20)

Ogilvy

Apr 2014 - Sep 2014
I worked for Blue Hive (now GTB) the dedicated agency within Ogilvy that handled the Ford account. During my time here I was one of the lead creatives on the pan-European ATL launch of the new Ford Focus creating a massive ATL campaign which involved a 6-week shoot in Spain working with the assistant director of the Matrix films!

Leo Burnett

Apr 2013 - Apr 2014
I spent a year at Holler, the social media arm of Leo Burnett working on accounts including Red Bull, McDonalds, Sky and P&G. My favourite project was heading up the social creative team for Old Spice, creating content for the iconic ‘Man your man could smell like’ campaign. I also had responsibility for managing and mentoring a number of junior writers within the creative department.

Saatchi & Saatchi

Oct 2010 - Apr 2013
I worked in the creative department of Saatchi & Saatchi on clients including EE, P&G, Visa, T-Mobile, Toyota and Guinness. As well as working on ATL campaigns for P&G brands including Olay and Head & Shoulders, I also became one of the ‘go-to’ creatives for digital and social briefs.

Digit London

June 2008 - Oct 2010
My first job after college was at a digital and interaction agency owned by WPP where I worked on clients including M&S, Microsoft and The Eden Project.