William Charnock Moves To R/GA As Chief Strategy Officer

NEW YORK, Jan. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- R/GA, the agency for the digital age(TM), is pleased to announce that acclaimed planning executive William Charnock will be joining the executive team as Chief Strategy Officer. In this newly created role, he will be responsible for overseeing R/GA's global strategy and will partner closely with all creative disciplines to ensure that the agency's work is both innovative and integrated.

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"William is uniquely qualified for this role at R/GA," said Bob Greenberg, CEO, and Global Chief Creative Officer. "His background combines not only traditional and digital insights and planning experience, but he also has extensive expertise in managing large, multi-regional teams and crafting innovative relationships with partners on a global scale."

In his position at R/GA, Charnock will be managing the strategy, planning, and research teams along with the international development of the strategic services group. Additionally, he will contribute significantly to the development of thought leadership across the agency. He reports to Bob Greenberg.

Previously, Charnock was at JWT New York as Director of Strategic Innovation and Co-Head of Strategic Planning. In the latter role, he doubled the size of the department to over 40 planners and strategically transformed the structure, integrating communications planning, digital, and analytics into a single department. He was instrumental in helping JWT and WPP win pitches for HSBC, Samsung, Nokia, Dell, and Jet Blue and was responsible for ongoing strategic leadership for Domino's, Merrill Lynch, Nokia, Cadbury, and Johnson & Johnson. Charnock sat on JWT's Worldwide Planning Council and was the architect of JWT's Anxiety Index, an ongoing research study that tracks and measures global trends. As Director of Strategic Innovation, Charnock led JWT's experimentation with new revenue streams and venture capital/technology partnerships.

Before joining JWT, Charnock held director roles at FCB, NY and BBDO, NY. In both instances he spearheaded integration efforts. At FCB, he unified brand, CRM, and digital strategy for the global Compaq/HP and JPMorgan Chase businesses; while at BBDO, he partnered with internal creative directors and those at the newly formed digital agency Atmosphere for a range of brands, such as FinancialTimes.com, Doritos, Frito-Lay, and Pizza Hut.

Earlier in his career he was recruited from Ogilvy's London office to work as Partner, Planning Director for the IBM account in New York. As a core member of the IBM team, he was integral to the development of IBM's e-business strategy and advertising campaigns that aligned all 17 global business units around a single brand strategy and, subsequently, turned the brand around.

"I've done a lot of innovative work for big brands over the years and wanted to take this to the next level," said Charnock. "Bob's vision and R/GA's digital capabilities are unmatched in the industry and, in this digital age, these are the resources you need at your fingertips to do innovative, brand building work."

Charnock served as Chair of the 4A's Jay Chiat Awards for strategic excellence from 2005-2009, turning the awards into a global showcase of the world's best strategic thinking and introducing new categories for brand experience, brand content, social strategy, and strategic use of design.

About R/GA

R/GA is a full-service digital agency that transforms the way people interact with brands. A commitment to design, technology, strategy and innovation has defined R/GA's continuing legacy as an iconoclast in the world of communications and marketing. With a holistic range of offerings that includes brand design, mobile, and retail, R/GA's agency model is adaptable to the ever-changing needs of consumers in the digital landscape.

Founded in 1977, R/GA has received the most prestigious creative awards for film, broadcast, design, advertising, and interactive. It was selected for Adweek's "Digital Agency of the Decade" in 2009, Ad Age's "Digital A-List" in 2009 and Agency "A-List" in 2008 and Creativity's "Interactive Agency of the Year" in 2007. R/GA, with locations in New York, San Francisco and London, is part of The Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG), one of the world's largest advertising and marketing services organizations.

For more information on R/GA, please visit us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/rga) and Twitter (http://twitter.com/rga).

SOURCE R/GA