James Kirkham

James Kirkham is the Head of Copa90 and Chief Strategy Officer for Bigballs Media. Leading a team of 55 in the UK office, Kirkham joined the football media network in January 2016 with a brief to grow the Copa90 brand, audiences, and revenue globally.

Kirkham focused on disrupting the sports media model around the world by developing innovations in mobile and social, creating partnerships with emerging platforms and building new and existing brand partnerships with advertisers.

He joined Bigballs Media from Leo Burnett Worldwide where he was the Global Head of Social and Mobile. At Leo Burnett, Kirkham led the combined social media and mobile capabilities of the advertising network, covering clients including Procter & Gamble, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, and Kellogg’s, and operating across 97 offices, in 84 countries.

Kirkham was also co-founder of Holler, the digital agency he formed in February 2001. Following Kirkham’s promotion in 2014, Holler expanded from its UK office into Leo Burnett offices around the world. Its clients included Arla Foods, Mercedes-Benz, P&G and Red Bull. It was named agency of the year by BIMA in 2014 and is best known for digital innovation including the marketing for 'Skins' on E4 that won three IPA Effectiveness Awards.

Kirkham was involved in the stand out hit of 2015, P&G Always’ #Like A Girl. The work amassed over 85 million views and was awarded at Cannes Lions, D&AD, and the CLIO Awards.

A world-class speaker on the digital marketing industry, Kirkham has presented for the past four years at Cannes Lions and was president of The Interactive and Mobile jury at Eurobest 2015. He has also contributed to The Times, Q magazine and Creative Review, was included in BIMA’s top 100 Digital Hall of Fame for three years running, and ranked 20th in the Social Buzz top influencers in UK Marketing