ELVIS Relaunches as ‘Entertainment-First Growth Studio’ Following Merger with House 337
ELVIS today announced its relaunch as an entertainment-first growth studio, built on the belief that in an era of attention scarcity, entertainment is no longer a tactic – it is the model for how brands are built.
The launch follows the merger of ELVIS and House 337.
Speaking to LBB, chief creative officer Josh Green addressed the decision to retire the House 337 brand – born from the 2022 merger of Engine and ODD – in favour of the ELVIS heritage. Describing the choice as a “no-brainer,” Josh noted that while House 337 launched with a bang, it carried “legacy baggage,” whereas ELVIS offered a global, “clean” brand with deep equity.
“It would have felt like looking a gift horse in the mouth not to take what is an absolutely brilliant name in ELVIS,” Josh told LBB. “It is a totally new proposition. We just happened to call it ELVIS because otherwise, I think we would have been quite silly not to.”
Serious Entertainment™
ELVIS’s new proposition, Serious Entertainment™, combines strategic brand-building with entertainment-grade creativity. The relaunch is marked by the appointment of a soon-to-be-announced head of entertainment joining April 2026, and the introduction of an Ethical Entertainment Charter.
Crucially, Josh is keen to distinguish this from the “branded entertainment” of the early 2000s, a term he argues carries “baggage” and implies a narrow focus on product placement or film partnerships. Instead, the agency is focused on “capital-E Entertainment” – work that stands on its own merits, regardless of format.
ELVIS is led by Phil Fearnley (chief executive), alongside Lucy Freedman (chief growth officer), Matt Rhodes (chief strategy officer), Josh Green (chief creative officer), and Kate Kelsey (chief finance officer). Backed by Next 15 Group plc, the studio operates with a degree of commercial independence that Josh credits as vital to its new model, noting that the group allows them to be “quite liberated to explore and innovate” unlike traditional holding companies.
The studio's positioning comes as global ad spend continues to rise while attention becomes increasingly difficult to earn. ELVIS argues that audiences have become highly fluent at recognising persuasion and avoiding it.
“People don't hate brands. They hate being sold to,” said Phil. “Entertainment works because it respects choice; it earns attention rather than demanding it.”
The challenge, according to Josh, is structural: “Entertainment fails brands when it’s treated as fluff, and brands fail entertainment when they treat it as a tactic. We built ELVIS to close that gap – bringing brand rigour and entertainment credibility into the same room.”
Ultimately, the rebrand aims to shift marketing from an expense to an asset class. Josh argues that if work is good enough, it shouldn't just buy attention; it should generate revenue. “We believe that marketing... has the ability to sit on a balance sheet,” he said. This feeds into the studio’s internal ‘ticket test’ – a creative filter asking if a consumer would pay to see the work. “If it’s not something that people are willing to pay for, then we go again,” said Josh. “The point of comparison is no longer advertising work... [it is] the things that people pay for.”
The Offering
ELVIS operates with three focused offerings:
- Creating entertainment brands: Developing brand strategy the way studios develop IP, building worlds, characters and narrative logic designed to sustain long-term formats rather than campaign-to-campaign messaging.
- Designing entertainment experiences: Treating every touchpoint as part of a brand's story, creating cohesive experiences across retail, digital, social, paid media and physical spaces.
- Making entertainment formats: Building franchises designed to last, from documentaries and podcasts to recurring content and original IP with potential to scale, license and monetise.
Going Beyond the Timesheet
ELVIS states it has abandoned traditional agency economics built on time sheets and day rates, and will operate on progressive commercial models including co-ownership, co-financing and shared-upside partnerships.
While many agencies threaten to kill the timesheet, ELVIS confirms it is already operating on “value-based and output-based pricing” for the vast majority of its clients, a shift driven by CFO Kate Kelsey over the last 18 months. Josh emphasises that you cannot build an entertainment proposition on top of an ad agency operating model – it is a “recipe for absolute disaster.”
Instead, the studio is actively pursuing shared IP deals where the agency shares in the upside of the formats it creates. “We’re really excited about testing some really interesting new commercial models that are much more native to the entertainment space than they are to the advertising space,” he told LBB.
Crucially, Josh is keen to stress that the studio isn’t taking a dogmatic approach to remuneration. Acknowledging that not every client is ready for a shared-revenue deal immediately, he notes that ELVIS will offer a “portfolio of ways” to work. “This isn't going to be a studio that has one commercial model,” he explained, citing the freedom afforded by parent company Next 15 to “explore and innovate” beyond the rigid structures of traditional networks.
“We're moving marketing from a cost to a source of revenue,” said Lucy. “IP is becoming the next asset class for brands. Done properly, marketing shows up on a balance sheet, not just a media plan.”
Backstage™ and the Work
The studio model is supported by Backstage™, ELVIS's AI-powered cultural intelligence and creative development platform. Backstage™ scans culture in real-time, tracking emerging formats and fandoms, while synthetic personas modelled on entertainment power-players stress-test concepts through studio-style development cycles.
“Backstage works like a virtual writers' room,” said Josh. “It allows us to evaluate ideas the way entertainment companies do, through audience feedback and cultural context, not merely gut instinct.”
It also functions as a risk-mitigation tool for clients. Josh describes a “Netflix-style development engine” within the platform that iterates ideas based on audience feedback until they are ‘greenlit,’ de-risking the investment in non-traditional formats.
However, the studio is keen to prove this model isn’t just for obviously "sexy" brands. Challenging the “fallacy” that entertainment strategies are reserved for the likes of Red Bull and LEGO, the studio points to recent work for the Current Account Switch Service (CASS). Rather than traditional ads to reach gen z, the agency produced music videos with artists Libby Whitehouse and Keanan that were promoted strictly as music tracks. The ultimate proof of concept came not from data, but the playground. “One of our business directors was at a school event... and all of a sudden a bunch of the kids did one of the dances from the songs,” Josh recalled. “That was a really interesting example of a reasonably functional brand doing something that felt totally different and unexpected.”
Walking the Walk
To prove the philosophy isn’t just client-facing, ELVIS has gamified its own launch. Visitors to the new website can toggle between ‘Serious Mode’ (a standard corporate site) and ‘Entertainment Mode,’ which transforms the agency’s story into a playable 8-bit video game. “It’s not just us talking about entertainment, it’s behaving as an entertainment brand ourselves,” Josh said.
The site also features ‘ELVIS Selects,’ a curated list of films, books, art, and podcasts recommended by the agency. Josh describes this as an attempt to be “generous” and treat entertainment as a “gift” to the audience, rather than just a sales channel.
Talent and Ethics
The studio has formalised its approach to responsible creation through an Ethical Entertainment Charter and B Corp certification. The Charter commits the studio to protecting creators' rights, prioritising inclusion, deploying AI only with consent and compensation, and refusing work with harmful industries.
“Serious Entertainment isn’t a tagline. It’s a philosophy,” said Matt. “Culture is a shared space, and brands don’t have an automatic right to occupy it. Our responsibility is to earn attention in ways that build and compound meaning, trust and long-term brand value.”
The studio’s commitment to the model is underscored by its incoming head of entertainment, a role Josh describes as the “missing link” often absent when ad agencies try to play in Hollywood. The new hire – who will be announced in April – was selected for a rare hybrid background spanning production companies, media agencies, and in-house development roles.
“It’s a connectivity to Hollywood, to agents, to production companies,” Josh explained. “When agencies have tried to play in the proper entertainment space and they’ve tried to do it without somebody that can bring genuine understanding of a complex industry, it’s just not possible.”
For Josh, whose own background includes leadership roles at music and entertainment agency FRUKT and sports agency Octagon, the shift represents a return to his roots. “My background has always spanned entertainment and advertising. So for me personally, I feel like I’m operating in my sweet spot,” he said.
New entertainment-led projects are currently in development with Mondelez and the UK Ministry of Justice, building on an existing roster including Amazon, Verizon, Sky, E.ON, and the England & Wales Cricket Board.
Speaking on the MoJ specifically, Josh noted that while a government department isn’t a typical “day one” entertainment client, the recruitment project currently in development (following its recent ‘Ripples of Change’ campaign) is the “biggest piece of work” on the agency’s books and represents “big, proper entertainment”.
Reflecting on the wider industry shift, Josh believes the UK is catching up to a model already taking root across the Atlantic. “I fundamentally think the US is probably a little bit ahead of this market in terms of entertainment,” he told LBB. “I fundamentally believe this is the way the wind is blowing on everything.”
“The industry frames this moment as one of decline,” said Phil. “Creativity isn't dead, it's being misapplied. The brands that will grow are the ones that behave more like entertainment studios than advertisers. That's why we're in the business of Serious Entertainment™.”
