We Are Social picks Forsman & Bodenfors chief as global CEO

Global socially-led creative agency We Are Social has appointed Toby Southgate (pictured) as its global group chief executive officer (CEO), succeeding the agency's co-founder Nathan McDonald, who left the firm in October 2024. Brett Marchand, CEO of the agency’s parent company, Plus Company, held the role in the interim.

In his new role, Southgate will lead a team of 1,200 people across four continents including Europe, North America, Asia and Australia, and evolve the agency's ways of working across its people, work and clients to build a globally connected creative business. He will also be looking to expand and innovate We Are Social’s offering in partnership with its client roster including Samsung, Amazon Music, Starbucks, adidas, Activision, Netflix, and Booking.com.

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Previously as the global CEO of advertising agency Forsman & Bodenfors, Southgate aligned and unified the agency's global offices post-merger, achieved gender pay equity and built cohesive business strategies, including improving cross-border collaboration. Under his leadership, the agency worked with global clients such as Volvo, Google, Procter & Gamble and Diageo.

Southgate has extensive global experience, having worked across North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Prior to Forsman & Bodenfors, he was global chief growth officer at McCann WorldGroup, also serving as the company's regional director and chief client officer across Europe and the United Kingdom (UK). Before joining Worldgroup, Southgate spent 10 years at WPP's brand consulting unit Brand Union, leading it to its successes at Cannes and the Effies.

“I’ve long admired We Are Social. It led the way by recognising the power of social and digital platforms for brands at scale and, as a result, it’s the only truly global agency in its space. Today, We Are Social has an extremely talented team and an incredibly bright future," Southgate said. 

"We’ll be expanding our offering as the world’s most creative social agency, in partnership with what is undeniably a stellar roster of clients. The energy and appetite for growth and evolution with the network is really compelling. The role was very easy to accept," he added.

In tandem, Marchand said "We Are Social has had an extraordinary journey to become the world’s foremost social agency, with a significant global footprint, talented team, amazing work and spectacular clients. I believe that Southgate’s experience in leading multi-national agencies to growth, combined with an exceptional leadership team at We Are Social, will be the winning combination to unlock the agency’s full potential."

"Southgate’s passion for creating a culture where people are a priority so they can thrive and do their best work, was clear from the outset. He’s a first-class leader who will help steer We Are Social steadfastly into the next stage in its evolution," added Marchand.

Closer to home, We Are Social strengthened its leadership team with a series of hire. In October last year, the agency picked Rodrigo Mitma as its new creative director to lead the creative team with fellow creative director Daniel Foo. Together, the duo are tasked to deliver social-first, innovative, and effective work for clients.

Prior to that, the agency appointed Anton Reyniers as head of strategy for Singapore. Reyniers took over from James Honda-Pinder who took on a newly created role within the network as head of growth APAC in Tokyo. In his role, Reyniers is responsible for leading We Are Social Singapore’s strategic planning team to develop innovative and comprehensive strategy solutions to help clients meet their business objectives.

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