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Steven Bartlett
Born
Botswana
Occupation(s)CEO and co-founder of The Social Chain AG
Websitehttp://www.socialchain.com/

Steven Bartlett (born 1992) is an entrepreneur, speaker, and investor. He is the CEO and co-founder of The Social Chain, a marketing agency and production house headquartered in Manchester, England.[1][2]

Early life and career[edit]

Bartlett was born in Botswana and grew up in Plymouth, Devon, England.[3][4] Bartlett attended Manchester Metropolitan University.[1][4] In 2013, he dropped out of university at the age of 18 to start Wallpark,[5] an online student community and platform of web noticeboards.[6][2]

In 2014, Bartlett reached out to Dominic McGregor, founder of comedic social media account 'Student Problems', to discuss promoting Wallpark with his channel's followers.[2] The success of the campaign led Bartlett and McGregor to co-found Social Chain and Media Chain, the two flagship companies of what would become The Social Chain AG.[7]

The Social Chain AG[edit]

Bartlett founded Social Chain in 2014. By the end of its first year, he was employing over 300 people from offices in Manchester, London, New York City, and Berlin.[1][3]

Social Chain continued to grow and by September 2019, Bartlett claimed it owned "over 400 digital communities reaching 1.8 billion millennials and Gen Zs monthly."[7]

The agency has worked with the likes of Amazon, Apple Inc., BBC, Coca-Cola, FIFA, Fox, McDonald’s, Nokia, Puma, Spotify, and Superdry.[3][4][2] In 2015, Social Chain won The Drum’s Social Media Agency of the Year Award.[2] It also won the 2016 Prolific North Award for Best Large Digital Agency.[8]

Initial Public Offering and merger[edit]

In October 2019, Social Chain revealed plans for an Initial Public Offering, to take place in mid-2020.[9] At the same time, it was announced that the company was to merge with German retailer Lumaland AG.[10] The merger with the already publicly traded business meant The Social Chain AG was listed on the Xetra electronic exchange and Düsseldorf stock exchange, with a value of €186 million.[11] The new entity is headquartered in Berlin, with additional locations in Manchester, London, New York and Munich, employing about 500 employees.[12]

Following the merger, Bartlett, along with the rest of the management, held 42% of the company. Georg Kofler, chairman of Lumaland, held approximately 47%.[11]

Speaking of the merger, Bartlett said it would enable Social Chain to "own the end-to-end process of creating a brand and scaling a brand,” giving it “the infrastructure and logistics to store and deliver products”.[9]

Awards[edit]

Bartlett has won several awards:

  • Lloyds TSB Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2013[13]
  • Growing Business Awards - Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2014[14]
  • Digital Entrepreneur Awards - Digital Entrepreneur of the Year 2016[15]
  • Econsultancy Rising Star 2017[16]
  • NatWest Great British Entrepreneur Awards - Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2017[17]
  • Black British Business Awards - Entrepreneur Rising Star 2018[18]
  • Econsultancy Most Influential Industry Figure 2018[19]
  • The Drum Most Inspirational Independent Agency Leaders Award 2018[20]

Speaking engagements and podcast[edit]

Bartlett is a frequent speaker and has spoken at events such as South by Southwest (SXSW)[21][22] and Social Media Week.[23] He also appeared as a guest on the BBC's DIY Generation.[24] In 2016, Bartlett gave a TEDx Talk in London, titled 'Entrepreneurs should follow their instincts'.[25]

Bartlett hosts a podcast, The Diary of a CEO.[26] Guests have included Ella Mills, Ben Francis, Tom Bilyeu, and Sarah Bahbah.

Charitable causes[edit]

In March 2018, Bartlett started the Rewrite Foundation, an organization that helps young people with their goals of becoming entrepreneurs.[27] Since 2016, Bartlett has been an ambassador for the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital.[28]

Social Chain Pledge[edit]

The Social Change Pledge is an initiative set up by Bartlett to achieve the seventeen global goals for a better world by 2030, which were adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015. As of September 2019, the campaign had raised over $500,000, and was reportedly on track to hit $1 million within a few months.[7]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Luckhurst, Phoebe (2017-05-11). "The man who can make anything go viral online in just 26 minutes". Evening Standard. Retrieved 28 October 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ^ a b c d e Parkin, Simon (2018-01-14). "Inside Britain's meme factory". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 2019-06-25.
  3. ^ a b c "Steven Bartlett". Startups.co.uk. 2018-01-08. Retrieved 2019-06-25.
  4. ^ a b c Dean, Sam (2017-08-14). "The unsung king of social media". The Daily Telegraph: 30.
  5. ^ Mahy, Elisabeth (19 April 2018). "The office where the average age of employees is just 25". BBC News. Retrieved 28 October 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ^ "Quit Uni to Startup Full Time - Steve Bartlett Wallpark Founder". YHP. 2012-09-11. Retrieved 2019-06-25.
  7. ^ a b c Greathouse, John (9 September 2019). "This Entrepreneur Is Leveraging His 2 Million Followers To Drive Dramatic Social Change". Forbes. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
  8. ^ "Prolific North Awards 2016: The Winners". Prolific North. 2016-04-29. Retrieved 2019-06-25.
  9. ^ a b Bounds, Andy (17 October 2019). "Social Chain agency links up with German retailer Lumaland". Financial Times. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
  10. ^ Glenday, John (21 October 2019). "Social Chain's Lumaland merger heralded as 'an advertising gamechanger'". The Drum. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
  11. ^ a b Burden, Elizabeth (21 October 2019). "Media influencer Social Chain to go public after merger". The Times. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
  12. ^ Ord, Matthew (18 October 2019). "Social Chain goes public after German merger". Insider Media. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
  13. ^ "Growing Business Awards 2013 – the winners - Real Business". Growing Business Awards 2013 – the winners - Real Business : Real Business. 2013-10-24. Retrieved 2019-06-25.
  14. ^ "Growing Business Awards 2013 – the winners - Real Business". Growing Business Awards 2013 – the winners - Real Business : Real Business. 2013-10-24. Retrieved 2019-06-25.
  15. ^ "Social Chain co-founder lands top award". BusinessCloud.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-06-25.
  16. ^ Davis, Ben (28 September 2017). "An interview with Social Chain's Steve Bartlett, agency land's most influential person in 2017". Econsultancy. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  17. ^ Symcox, Jonathan (15 November 2017). "Tech stars shine at Great British Entrepreneur Awards". BusinessCloud. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  18. ^ Caines, Matthew (4 October 2018). "Winners announced at the Black British Business Awards 2018". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  19. ^ Forrester, Joele (2019-06-24). "Creative Agency Social Chain to Become a Public Company". [Talking Influence]. Retrieved 2019-06-25.
  20. ^ Forrester, Joele (2019-06-24). "Creative Agency Social Chain to Become a Public Company". [Talking Influence]. Retrieved 2019-06-25.
  21. ^ "Steven Bartlett". SXSW 2019 Schedule. Retrieved 2019-07-29.
  22. ^ March 07, Campaign Staff; 2019. "Steven Bartlett and other top ad names join lineup for U.K. SXSW takeover". www.campaignlive.com. Retrieved 2019-10-28. {{cite web}}: |last2= has numeric name (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  23. ^ "Steven Bartlett". Event / Speaker Platform. Retrieved 2019-07-29.
  24. ^ "BBC Radio 1Xtra - Jamz Supernova, DIY Generation: Steve Bartlett". BBC.co.uk. Retrieved 28 October 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  25. ^ TEDx Talks (2016-07-14), Entrepreneurs should follow their instincts | Steve Bartlett | TEDxLondon, retrieved 2019-07-29
  26. ^ "‎The Diary Of A CEO by Steven Bartlett on Apple Podcasts". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 2019-07-29.
  27. ^ "roots". The Rewrite Foundation. Retrieved 2019-06-25.
  28. ^ "Our Ambassadors | RMCH". rmchcharity.org.uk. Retrieved 2019-06-25.