• Brand Champions on track for 700% SOS revenue growth since 2023 baseline as brands turn to agile, on-demand experts over permanent hires.

• Industry heavy-hitter Greg Barter joins the senior team as Chief Growth Officer to support continued expansion.

• Team expands with 10+ new hires in 2026 to service high-profile roster including Costa Coffee and PizzaExpress.

Brand Champions, the leading independent marketing agency, has today announced a record-breaking surge in demand for its "Service on Stand-by" (SOS) fractional marketing offering. The company is on track to deliver a staggering 700% increase in SOS revenue by the end of 2026 compared to its 2023 baseline, marking a definitive tipping point in how modern brands source senior marketing talent.

To support this rapid scaling and capitalise on the industry shift toward fractional talent, Brand Champions has appointed industry veteran Greg Barter as Chief Growth Officer.

“Brand Champions has built something genuinely differentiated, blending strategy, creative and senior fractional talent to give clients a partner they trust, not just resources they can flex,” says Barter. “Clients consistently tell us that trust, senior expertise and genuine business involvement matter more than broad capability claims when choosing who to work with. At the same time, fractional, embedded talent is moving from a last resort to a strategic first choice for ambitious marketing teams. Brand Champions is built for exactly that shift, and I’m excited to build on what’s already working as we scale the business into its next chapter.”

The agency has also expanded its delivery team with 10+ new hires since January 2026, with active recruitment ongoing for pivotal roles, including Client Lead.

The Rise of Fractional Marketing

The traditional recruitment model is failing to keep pace with the agility modern businesses require. Brand Champions’ SOS model bridges this gap, parachuting highly experienced, high-tier marketing talent into organisations within days, not months. Proving this unmatched agility, the agency recently recorded its fastest turnaround on record: receiving a client request on a Friday and deploying a senior marketer to start the following Monday.

The financial trajectory of the SOS service highlights a massive macroeconomic shift toward flexible, on-demand resourcing:

• 2024: +17% YoY growth

• 2025: +240% YoY growth (+300% vs 2023)

• 2026 (H1 Actual): Mid-year revenue has already reached ~95% of the full-year 2025 total.

• 2026 (Full-Year Target): On track for +100% YoY growth vs 2025, representing a 700% increase from 2023.

From Retention Tool to New Business Driver

The data also reveals a dramatic evolution in how companies utilise Brand Champions. In 2023, SOS was primarily a retention tool, with 70% of revenue coming from existing clients. In 2026, the mix has fundamentally transformed to 52% new business, 42% "Business Behind the Business" (BBTB), and just 6% traditional client extensions. The traction of the BBTB model demonstrates that once Brand Champions embeds within an organisation, its reach naturally extends deeper into the wider business, solving complex operational challenges beyond standard marketing briefs.

Elite Talent Deployed Across Blue-Chip Brands

Brand Champions currently has 10 elite team members on active SOS placements, spanning critical sectors such as healthcare, QSR (Costa Coffee, PizzaExpress), and hospitality. Placements range from a few weeks to several months, covering critical business junctures including product launches, campaign support, parental leave, and interim brand management.

The impact of this model is heavily backed by client testimonials:

"Brand Champions are like the fifth emergency service that parachute in and save the day!" - Marketing Director, Pizza Express

"Brand Champions joined our team at a time of flux. They immediately galvanised the team behind a clear vision for the execution of the brand and went on to deliver our most successful brand campaign in recent years." - Vice President of Marketing, Travel industry.

"Brand Champions are like a life support machine." - Marketing Director, Hospitality industry.

The consultancy’s embedded talent doesn't just steady the ship; they deliver award-winning commercial results. While on an SOS placement with a pharmaceutical giant, the Brand Champions-supported team won the prestigious Most Innovative OTC Launch of the Year for Gina OTC at the OTC Marketing Awards.

On Brand Champion’s successful SOS service, Founder and CEO of Brand Champions Fiona Wylie says, "We've been quietly building the most responsive marketing talent model in the industry for several years - and the numbers now reflect that. The shift we're seeing, from reactive gap-fill to strategic fractional deployment, signals a real change in how ambitious brands are thinking about their teams. Welcoming Greg to our senior team at this moment feels exactly right."

With a strengthened senior team and a rapidly expanding roster, Brand Champions is firmly cementing its position as the definitive pioneer in the fractional marketing revolution.

For more information or assets, contact hannah@thebrandchampions.com.

About Brand Champions

Brand Champions is an award-winning, independent marketing agency specialising in on-demand and embedded marketing talent across multiple sectors, including healthcare, QSR, travel and retail. Founded by industry veteran Fiona Wylie, who has over two decades of professional experience working with renowned household brands such as British Airways, Nestle and Pfizer, and a team boasting a cumulative 200 years of experience in marketing, Brand Champions is uniquely positioned to tackle complex marketing challenges.

Through its SOS (Service on Stand-by) model, Brand Champions deploys experienced marketing professionals into client organisations at pace (from short-term campaign and launch support, to longer-term interim cover), giving brands the senior expertise they need, exactly when they need it. With a team of specialists spanning strategy, brand management, and marketing execution, Brand Champions works with some of the UK's most recognised consumer and healthcare brands.

To learn more about Brand Champions, visit: www.thebrandchampions.co.uk 

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