re:act Bolsters Senior Leadership Team with New Strategy and Creative Hires

Image: (left to right) Bilal Abood, Emma Bate, Pamela Uddin, Tom Stone, Nick Hart 

Nick (ex L’Oreal, Unilever and Ecover & Method) and Emma (ex PZ Cussons, Abbott Lyon) join re:act as new hires with immediate effect, with a force of FMCG experience behind them, while Bilal received internal promotion to head up Creative across the agency. 

The trio join, and will report into, agency founders Tom Stone and Pamela Uddin (both ex Unilever and L’Oréal) on the Senior Leadership Team. The hires come after rapid growth by re:act, who now have 41 employees, 15+ Clients, and have increased turnover by an impressive 65% in the last year alone. With a competitive pitching new business win rate of over 60%, they are yet to lose a Client competitively. They credit a large part of their creative success to hiring diverse thinkers, with over one third proudly neurodivergent.

Nick Hart, client strategy director with 14 years’ experience working for L’Oréal, Unilever, Ecover and Method, Nick boasts a wide skillset from consumer insights and commercial strategy, to innovation and sales. During his time at L’Oréal, Nick developed the UK’s largest schools’ recycling programme in partnership with Tesco, educating 500k children and being shortlisted for the Edie sustainability project of the year award. Nick will head up re:act's own client services team of 10, working across all brand portfolios, from beauty and sexual health to pet care, to deliver innovative, data driven marketing campaigns.  

Nick said on joining re:act, “Tom and I worked together for five years at L’Oréal. I knew the agency Tom and Pamela created would be extremely professional, values-driven and, above all, fun. I believe my experience of working 'client-side' better allows me to understand the challenges faced by our clients, and can’t wait to get stuck in.”

Emma Bate, content & strategy director joins from Abbott Lyon where she was head of brand, leading its first-ever foray into TV advertising, maximised via a strategic partnership with ITV. She was formerly a client of re:act’s in her role as senior global brand and digital manager at PZ Cussons Beauty. During her six year tenure, Emma introduced Influencer Marketing across all brands, including signing Amanda Holden to Charles Worthington, and leading the brand’s first immersive event at Tough Mudder. 

Emma commented on her move, “As someone who has worked in brand-side marketing for over a decade, I know how difficult it can be to find a multi-service agency that you can genuinely trust to deliver outstanding results consistently, while keeping the content fresh, through a truly collaborative approach. As a previous long-term client of re:act, I know they do this and more for their clients, so I’m thrilled to be joining them to add value to both Content Production and Strategic challenges.” 

Bilal Abood, creative director, received promotion to the senior leadership team as creative director in his first year working for re:act as strategy and content director. He led on campaigns such as Childs Farm ‘Conquering Mighty Milestones and ‘The Power of C’ for luxury beauty brand Aurelia. Prior to joining re:act, Bilal worked on a range of campaigns and content strategy across multiple industries: from automotive at Nissan and Hyundai to drinks brands Glenfiddich and Hendrick’s. He is also a trained journalist. 

Commenting on the experience he brings to re:act, Bilal said, “I’m excited to encourage and inspire creative ambition amongst the wider team. Our objective is to raise the bar and produce best in class content, thinking disruptively and bringing a unique perspective to creative. Diversity is in re:act’s DNA, and I’d like to think that in some way, my own potpourri of experience is another valuable stitch in this agency’s growing patchwork quilt.”

Tom Stone, joint managing partner and co-founder of re:act commented, “We're delighted to have Nick, Emma and Bilal join our Senior Leadership Team. Having worked with both Nick and Emma previously, I know just how dedicated they are when it comes to offering world-class creative and strategic counsel. Bilal has impressed us from day one of joining re:act by pairing unexpected, bold creative with insanely shareable content, a rare skill we are keen to nurture further. They will all play key roles in nurturing our team and client base whilst we put our hugely exciting 2024 growth strategy into action.”

Founded and sole-owned by ex-Unilever and L’Oréal married marketeers Tom Stone and Pamela Uddin, re:act handles paid media performance, creative content (including TVCs), community building, influencer management and social strategy for UK and Global leading personal care brands. Their Client portfolio includes Church and Dwight (Batiste, Toppik, Viviscal, Trojan and Magnum Condoms and acne solution range Hero), PZ Cussons (Childs Farm, Charles Worthington, Fudge Professional and Fudge Urban), Health and Happiness Group (Aurelia), Galderma Aesthetics and most recently, pet care nutrition brand Barking Heads within the Inspired Pet Nutrition Group.