Sonny Mclean leaves Channel 4 to join Joe Churchill’s Fan Club

by | Jul 9, 2025 | News

Fan Club founder and CEO Joe Churchill has turned to his old employer Channel 4 as he starts to staff up his new ‘brand to broadcaster’ agency. 

As of this week, Sonny Mclean has been appointed as Fan Club commercial director. Previously he was group manager, social branded entertainment at Channel 4, and before that he spent three years working on brand partnerships at Jungle Creations.

At Channel 4, Mclean was involved with projects such as Second-Hand Showdown with Vinted and The Secret Life of 5 Year Olds with EON Next.

Mclean said he is thrilled be to joining Churchill to launch “a new venture I’m deeply passionate about. At Fan Club, we believe the future of advertising lies in brands becoming broadcasters in their own right.”

Fan Club has already secured investment from STV Studios. Explaining the company’s rationale, Churchill said: “there is a clear appetite from brands to become publishers in their own right, and Fan Club is here to help them realise that. We bring together social strategy, content production and audience growth to build passionate, engaged audiences on the brands owned and operated channels.”

According to Churchill, “a select few brands have already blazed a trail and I strongly believe this is going to be a huge part of the future of our media landscape. There are boundless opportunities to reach audiences in new ways and cut through the noise to create passionate communities around brands, their culture and what they’re selling.”

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