ASIA-PACIFIC – AUSTRALIA, JANUARY 17, 2013 – RGA has officially opened its Sydney office, second in the region next to Singapore and 12th worldwide, recruiting Gavin McLeod as executive creative director and Joshua Rowe as creative director.
R/GA’s expansion to the land down under intends to bring a unique creative and collaborative point of view to the Australian market – creating innovative and integrated digital work and drawing on the agency’s strong experience design capabilities.
“Sydney has long been a hotbed of exciting talent, award winning work and innovative, forward thinking companies, so it was a natural fit for R/GA to eventually set up shop here.” said Nick Law, global chief creative officer, R/GA. “As we look to expand further into the Pacific Rim Region the Sydney office will play a key strategic role, while also benefiting from the experience, expertise and support of our team in Singapore.
McLeod and Rowe joins R/GA from Whybin TBWA and M&C Saatchi respectively and will initially be working on local R/GA clients including Qantas and Rip-Curl. Ameer Youssef, managing director, a long-time R/GA executive with deep specialization in commerce, customization, and technology innovation was brought to Sydney to build the office. Once it is established he will find a long-term replacement for this position.
Since collaboration is an integral part of R/GA’s blueprint, the close working relationship between the Singapore and Sydney offices will play a pivotal role in the agency’s continued expansion into the Asia-Pac region. By sharing best practices and ideas in technology, creativity, local culture and business, the two offices will ensure there is a close synergy whenever collaborating across client work.
“An Achilles heel of many Australian agencies has been their inability to deliver on what they promise in the digital space to clients” said McLeod “R/GA is different – it has proud culture of being a place where people build things, and an impeccable track record of physically building them. My mandate is very simple: Do interesting work that does great things for our clients”.
