LONDON — Chime-owned technology specialist Harvard has launched an agency spin-off called Eat the Fox, to look after consumer tech clients.

Eat the Fox will provide creative, PR and digital capabilities for brands that overlap technology and lifestyle areas such as music, health, fitness and entertainment. It will start work with eight existing Harvard clients, including global consumer audio brand Sennheiser, car sharing start-up Hiyacar, and luxury hi-fi firm Linn.

The new agency will be led by director Alix Vonk (pictured, left), who has run Harvard’s six-strong consumer team for the last six years, all of whom will work within Eat the Fox. She will report into Harvard managing director Ellie Thompson.

Harvard CEO Louie St Claire (right) told the Holmes Report: “We’ve always thought about having a separate consumer brand because Harvard sounds like B2B brand. We’ve done well, with well over 80 people now and will hit £7.5 million in revenue this year, so we felt like it was a time when a consumer agency would add to the Harvard brand rather than take away from it.”

St Claire said there would still likely be crossover between the two agencies: “Square is a great client of ours, for instance, and has been run by the consumer team, but it will probably stay within Harvard. It will depend on whether clients have a massive RFP and want a bigger bench strength, or a mix of both agencies, or a small spiky agency.”

He added that the aim was to have a team of 12 within the next 18 months, looking after global consumer briefs as well as UK work: “As we build out our global offering, Alix can provide support across larger consumer briefs as well as UK-hubbed accounts.”

Vonk said: “We’re so excited to launch Eat the Fox. We have a brilliant team, great founding clients and the backing of the best tech agency out there in Harvard, as well as the UK’s largest independent group in Chime. We think that’s a very powerful combination.”

The agency said that the name comes from the fact that hedgehogs’ biggest power is repelling their main predators, foxes. It stated: “We think consumer tech brands need to take the same approach, harnessing their greatest strength to win in an increasingly crowded and competitive marketplace. In consumer tech it’s not good enough to merely repel the fox, you need to Eat the Fox, with big, bold and brave communications.”