Reinvention or Brain Drain? Inside R/GA's Transition

R/GA has long taken pride in its ability to reinvent itself for the times. In an industry where agency names and their selling points easily become jumbled, R/GA has managed to stand out with the promise of reinvention every nine years, a signal to brands that it’s never content with the status quo. But a recent exodus of talent has left many wondering whether its next reinvention will come by choice or default. Six of R/GA’s leaders, including global chief innovation officer Saneel Radia, global head of brand Mike Rigby and global chief strategy officer Barry Wacksman, recently left to form an innovation consultancy. Richard Ting, a 20-year veteran of the agency who most recently served as both global chief experience officer and U.S. co-CCO, landed at Twitter this month. Carl Desir, the agency’s DEI lead, also recently called it quits. R/GA's global chief marketing officer, Jess Greenwood, has left for Apple. Granted, many in the agency world likely wouldn't pass up an opportunity to work for Apple, but her departure is the latest in a succession of exits that has certainly raised eyebrows. While it's striking to see this many people leave in such a short time span, R/GA global CEO Sean Lyons claims the flurry of departures come as the agency plans to reinvent itself once again, a process that began at the start of the year. Lyons said R/GA's next phase has been designed around client needs and is separate from the leadership changes. An evolution also allows internal talent to step up and fill in these or newly created roles. “Change brings opportunity: change in how business works, change in leadership,” he said. “On a personal level, I’ve known these people for a long time, but at a certain point it’s good to bring in new people or raise up people within the company. We value [departing staff's] contributions, but this company has always adapted through major shifts.” Bob Greenberg famously started R/GA as a filmmaking company in 1973. It’s since gone through a number of iterations, including becoming a digital studio. In recent years, it’s positioned itself as an agency-consultancy hybrid of sorts, a description that Lyons appears to be leaning into as he looks ahead. “We have two core businesses we thrive in: digital experience and digital marketing. Those are our key areas of expertise,” he explained. “The key element there is that we’re not afraid to call ourselves a company, we’re not afraid to call ourselves an agency. We’re consultative and work with clients as they need. We play a connector role between chief experience officers and chief marketing officers.” This approach is likely why R/GA promoted Tiffany Rolfe and Ben Williams to global chief creative officer and global chief experience officer, respectively, earlier this month. The hope is that they will further bridge the gap between the agency’s creative and customer experience teams. It’s also perhaps why Radia and the other previous leaders left, as many of them had helped build out R/GA’s consulting, or “business transformation,” practice. A source with knowledge of the agency’s operations said that Radia was instrumental in shaping this practice and viewed it as a distinct entity. Lyons, meanwhile, has made moves to more closely align the consulting practice with the agency's other offerings under R/GA’s new direction. The source also said that Wacksman’s decision to leave could stem from Greenberg’s departure in 2018, when he stepped down from his CEO role. According to the source, Wacksman, who joined the agency in 1999, had a very specific role under Greenberg and spent decades in a culture shaped by the legendary founder. It's also possible that Wacksman was hoping to take on the CEO role that Lyons ultimately got, the source explained. “When you make that decision, you clearly are choosing among potential candidates, and one of the possible outcomes is someone being disappointed and choosing to leave,” they said. The immediate impact How exactly R/GA will be impacted by the recent exits remains to be seen, but it’s clear that its business transformation practice has taken a hit. The loss of such leaders could potentially serve as a setback for the agency as it tries to carve out a space for itself in the consulting world. Jay Wilson, vp and analyst at Gartner, said these departures could make it more difficult for R/GA to stay on that path. “R/GA was in a really good position to be able to compete head-on with the Deloittes of the world. That’s where I think we’ll essentially see an impact—in their ability to continue to do that,” he said. R/GA was in a really good position to be able to compete head-on with the Deloittes of the world. That’s where I think we’ll essentially see an impact.Jay Wilson, vp and analyst, Gartner But Avi Dan, CEO of agency search consultancy Avidan Strategies, is skeptical of how much of a dent agencies can realistically make in the first place when it comes to consulting, regardless of who is—or isn’t—leading those efforts. “Clients are going to pick up Accenture and Deloitte over ad agencies,” he said. “They deal with issues that are broader than ad campaigns.” Even so, Dan said losing “almost the entire top echelon of the agency” is no joke. “When you lose that many senior people in such a short period of time, it’s highly unusual. It’s going to impact the organization; there is no question about it,” he said. The departures could also potentially spook R/GA’s clients. Or, in the case of the six who’ve broken off to form their own consultancy, spur clients to come along. “Clients, like all of us, are dependent upon relationships and value their partnerships with their agencies,” said Jay Pattisall, principal analyst at Forrester. “When someone that they’ve developed a relationship with leaves, it can impact their overall business with the agency. With this many people leaving, it could impact it that much more.” Yet Pattisall stressed that the departures, while high-level, only represent a small fraction of R/GA’s workforce. While it’s anyone’s guess as to how much impact and sway each individual executive had, the reality is that the majority of its employees remain. Plus, in a memo Lyons recently sent to staffers in light of the leadership exodus, he shared that R/GA has brought on 50 clients this year—a sign that perhaps the optics of what's going on are worse than what's actually happening internally. “Let’s acknowledge that this is a handful of people,” Pattisall said. “Maybe a dozen out of well over 2,000 people. They all played important leadership positions, but the work still gets done. If it were a vast percentage of their headcount that were leaving, it would be different.” What’s next It's clear that Lyons has his work cut out for him as he navigates evolving and repositioning the agency while dealing with a leadership shakeup that could be ongoing. Lyons previously told Adweek that “expanding its software development and AI capabilities” is on the agenda, but didn’t elaborate much beyond that. In terms of its actual output for clients, R/GA is somewhat all over the board. Recent work from the agency ranges from a mobile app created for drive-in chain Sonic to more traditional campaigns, such as a recent push for craft store Michaels that involved print and video ads. At last year’s Cannes Lions, R/GA brought home accolades for various projects, including a media campaign for ESPN that involved targeting millennial basketball fans in real time during the NBA Playoffs to encourage live viewing. Its business transformation practice is somewhat opaque. According to its site, this division helped PepsiCo coin the name and identity for Bubly, the company’s two-year-old sparkling water brand. The agency also crafted a campaign for the product’s launch. They’ve grown beyond their original remit as a digital agency. That is beneficial when it comes to our ability to connect them into integrated teams because they can play multiple roles.Philippe Krakowsky, COO, IPG IPG chief operating officer Philippe Krakowsky said the agency’s range of capabilities gives it a versatility that helps it collaborate with the holding company’s other shops. “They’ve grown beyond their original remit as a digital agency,” he said. “That is beneficial when it comes to our ability to connect them into integrated teams because they can play multiple roles.” But some think the all-encompassing approach is working against R/GA. A digital agency executive who asked to stay anonymous said R/GA is perhaps going through an “identity crisis.” “If they claim that they’re going through a reinvention, that’s not of their own volition,” they said. “They need to go through it because it’s being thrusted upon them to figure out who they are.” They added that it seems as though R/GA struggles to communicate what it can actually offer to clients and what its core strengths are. “I think a lot of that comes from a lack of defined focus for the company,” they said.