Planning executive William Charnock has been appointed R/GA‘s chief strategy officer, a newly created role at the agency. He will be based in the New York office and report directly to Bob Greenberg, CEO and global chief creative officer.
Charnock will be responsible for overseeing R/GA’s global strategy across offices in the U.S., and London, as well as in future offices in Brazil and Singapore. He will also manage the strategy, planning, and research teams along with the international development of the strategic services group, and contribute to the development of thought leadership across the agency.
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.
Prior to JWT, Charnock held director roles at FCB, New York, and BBDO New York. In both shops he spearheaded integration efforts.
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.
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More