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.
Ron Cicero and Bo Clancey Launch Production House 34North
Executive producers Ron Cicero and Bo Clancey have teamed to launch 34North. The shop opens with a roster which includes accomplished directors Jan Wentz, Ben Nakamura Whitehouse, David Edwards and Mario Feil, as well as such up-and-coming filmmakers as Glenn Stewart and Chris Fowles. Nakamura Whitehouse, Edwards, Feil and Fowles come over from CoMPANY Films, the production company for which Cicero served as an EP for the past nearly five years. Director Wentz had most recently been with production house Skunk while Stewart now gains his first U.S. representation. EP Clancey was freelance producing prior to the formation of 34North. He and Cicero have known each other for some 25 years, recently reconnecting on a job directed by Fowles. Cicero said that he and Clancey “want to keep a highly focused roster where talent management can be one on one--where we all share in the directors’ success together.” Clancey also brings an agency pedigree to the new venture. “I started at Campbell Ewald in accounts, no less,” said Clancey. “I saw firsthand how much work agencies put in before we even see a script. You have to respect that investment. These agency experiences really shaped my approach to production--it’s about empathy, listening between the lines, and ultimately making the process seamless.” 34North represents a meeting point--both literally and creatively. Named after the latitude of Malibu, Calif., where the idea for the company was born, it also embraces the power of storytelling. “34North118West was the first GPS-enabled narrative,” Cicero explained. “That blend of art and technology, to captivate an audience, mirrors what we do here--create compelling work, with talented people, harnessing state-of-the-art... Read More