LONDON, Wednesday 4 February 2026: 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’s the model for how brands are built. The launch follows the merger of elvis and House 337.
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.
ELVIS is led by Phil Fearnley (CEO), alongside Lucy Freedman (Chief Growth Officer), Matt Rhodes (Chief Strategy Officer), Josh Green (Chief Creative Officer), and Kate Kelsey (Chief Finance Officer).
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 Fearnley, CEO, ELVIS. “Entertainment works because it respects choice; it earns attention rather than demanding it.”
The challenge, according to Josh Green, CCO, ELVIS, 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.”
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.
All work is tested against a single creative filter: “Would you buy a ticket?” said Green. “If the answer is no, the work hasn’t earned its right to exist.”
ELVIS 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.
“We’re moving marketing from a cost to a source of revenue,” said Lucy Freedman, Chief Growth Officer, ELVIS. “IP is becoming the next asset class for brands. Done properly, marketing shows up on a balance sheet, not just a media plan.”
This approach extends to original IP development, with ELVIS originating and developing entertainment properties designed to generate revenue through distribution, licensing and long-term extension.
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 modeled on entertainment power-players stress-test concepts through studio-style development cycles.
“Backstage works like a virtual writers’ room,” said Green. “It allows us to evaluate ideas the way entertainment companies do, through audience feedback and cultural context, not merely gut instinct.”
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 Rhodes, Chief Strategy Officer, ELVIS. “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.”
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. “The industry frames this moment as one of decline,” said Fearnley. “Creativity isn’t dead, it’s being misapplied. The brands that will grow are the ones that behave more like entertainment studios. That’s why we’re in the business of Serious Entertainment™.“