This morning Y&R’s New York office officially announced the signing of Juan Charvet to fill the newly-created role of “director of experience strategy.”
Charvet, who joined Y&R in January but received the press release treatment today, joined the agency after spending nearly two years at 360i (which should no longer be known as “the Oreo agency”). He served as the latter shop’s technical director, leading “experience designers, developers, content strategists” on campaigns for clients like Ben & Jerry’s, Canon, and Mondelez.
Charvet’s own bio downplays the “technologist” label: in it, he writes that “I am most known for my innovation in user experience, digital strategy, and process methodology” and that his primary focus is design. His resume is quite tech-heavy, though, including a three-year period as tech lead at fellow WPP agency VML and a similar stint at design firm frog. He also worked in game design and app development.
Charvet reports to Chief Strategy Officer Dick de Lange (who you may recall joined the agency last October after running Nike and Samsung at R/GA). On the creative side, he will “proactively monitor the latest in emerging technologies and the creative experiences they provide” in order to keep the team updated.
The new hire marks the latest shift under Y&R New York President Jim Radosevic, who was promoted from EVP/global creative director back in May of 2014: the agency’s CCO Jim Elliott left for Arnold to be replaced by McCann’s Leslie Sims and Ronny Northrop was promoted to replace Mimi Cook as chief creative at Y&R’s California office.