‘I wanted something meaningfully different’: Alex Sol Watts joins Poem
Alex Sol Watts
Independent comms agency Poem has welcomed Alex Sol Watts to head up strategy and social.
Speaking exclusively to Mumbrella, Watts explained the move comes as the agency looks to refocus on social and cultural-first thinking.
Watts joins following a period of strategy consulting, after a stint at indie creative agency Bullfrog as partner. During his time there, Watts led the agency’s expansion into Sydney. Prior to that, he spent nearly three years as Ogilvy’s head of social from 2017-2020, before moving to DDB in the same role from 2020-2022.
“I’ve spent a lot of time in network agencies, a bit of time in independent agencies as well, and what I was looking for in whatever I did next was something that felt good,” Watts told Mumbrella.
“I wanted something meaningfully different, and not just using a different deck template or whatever, but actually where the ambition is to do something that feels different in the industry.”
He said Poem is aiming to set a standard for what the industry can and should be doing – more purposeful, strategic creative communications.
Alex Sol Watts
“The future of comms is something that is deeply obsessed with what the human being at the end of the ad is interested in, and it’s about giving them something that actually makes them want to talk about your brand,” he explained. “And in some ways, that’s a real classic view of advertising but it’s something we’ve lost in the past few years.
“The future is having a real understanding of people’s interests, which means practically you need to be somewhere between a great PR, a great social, and a great creative agency – and nobody is doing that really well in the market, because, well, nobody is actually trying to do that,” he told Mumbrella.
His appointment will further develop Poem’s ‘deeply human’ proposition, with a social and cultural-first strategy.
Co-founder and managing director of the agency, Rob Lowe, told Mumbrella: “Poem’s ‘deeply human’ positioning means we’re trying to really get behind the reasons why people change behaviours, and showing that earned creativity can do more than its currently doing – and can do better than straight advertising and media.
“I’m looking forward to this partnership and this vision as a way to actually change the industry and change people’s mindsets about what PR and social can do.”
He said there’s a space that hasn’t fully explored or taken advantage yet – earned creative culture-led communications.
“You’ve got traditional advertising on one end, and traditional PR on the other, and there’ just that funny grey area in the middle,” he said.
“That’s the merging of PR and social, it’s a different way to do creative, and that’s where we’re looking.”
The agency has also recently appointed Jess Cluff as creative director and has promoted Rhiania Farah to general manager.
Poem’s client roster include Sony PlayStation, Sonos, Oporto, Uber Carshare, Cashrewards, and more.
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