R/GA has shuttered its Stockholm office, effectively ending its presence in Sweden after approximately four and a half years.
The move ultimately stems from Volvo’s decision to move its global digital marketing account to AKQA early last year. The agency did not confirm or offer details on the news, but we hear that R/GA is currently attempting to find other roles for its Stockholm-based employees and that the agency will announce plans for a new European location at some point within the next six months. Sources tell us that employees received notice several weeks ago; the office, which previously worked with R/GA’s New York headquarters, had been reporting to its London office following the Volvo loss.
ECD/growth officer Kay Höök left R/GA in September to become managing director of Vice Media’s operations in Sweden. VP/managing director Anders Erlandsson, previously with Digitas, continued to run the office until the closing.
The Stockholm location (which was the agency’s eighth overall and second in Europe after London) opened in 2011 in order to make better use of “a talented pool of individuals who have a deep understanding of the web, social and mobile, and a diverse group of progressive clients.”
A second Swedish office in Gothenburg opened in summer 2014 to work on the Volvo account, but we hear that location has been closed for several months.
We have no definitive number for R/GA staff in Sweden, but the 2011 press release estimated that total employment would reach 25 by 2012, so the number of staffers affected was almost certainly in the low double digits.
R/GA representatives declined to comment on this story or future plans for alternate locations in Europe.