Former R/GA Australia boss Jon Holloway rejoins the firm

Jon Holloway, who was Managing Director of R/GA Australia between 2014 and 2016, has rejoined the firm as an Executive Strategy Director. He is tasked with co-leading R/GA’s transformation into a new age innovative consultancy.

Holloway is vastly experienced, having worked in senior leadership positions across tier one brands in the brand and marketing consultancy space. Among others, he served as Chief Digital & Product Officer at BeTheHurricane, Head of Strategy at The Works Sydney, Managing Director at the Conscience Organisation, and Chief Product Officer at superannuation fund Zuper.

Known for his bold thinking and creative approach to business, Holloway has been brought back to R/GA to boost the firm’s relevance in a market where consumer preferences are changing by the day. Since the start of this year, brands in Australia and across the world have had to rethink their priorities as they serve an ever more conscientious and demanding consumer.

According to Michael Titshall, Vice President & Managing Director at R/GA Australia, Holloway will play a leading role in helping the firm lean towards these new circumstances. “With his diverse experience across brand consultancy and innovation, along with being a founder of several startups and leading globally renowned creative work, Jon has the rare capability to combine brand strategy, commercial design and behaviour change,” he said.

“These capabilities and his passion for challenging the status quo, makes Jon the perfect strategic leader for R/GA Australia as we continue our journey of building a new breed of creative business,” he added.

Holloway’s new mandate is broadly geared at improving R/GA Australia’s strategic offerings, including the commercial design, strategic desig, customer experience and data science propositions. R/GA’s Australia clientele will be Holloway’s main area of focus, although he will also advise other clients across the Asia Pacific region.

R/GA has offices five offices in the region: Melbourne and Sydney in Australia; Shanghai in China; Singapore in the same-named state; and Tokyo in Japan.

While his direct and opinionated approach has made him subject to some controversy in the past, Holloway said in discussion with Mumbrella that he returns a changed man. He comes prepared to work as a team as R/GA looks to navigate an increasingly competitive  marketing and innovation landscape in Australia. A number of new consultancies are entering the arena, while incumbents are strengthening their practice. For Holloway, R/GA has the mettle to stand out from the rest.

“Returning to R/GA was such an easy choice for two reasons: R/GA always felt like home to me. The smartest people; working with the smartest clients to really challenge convention and drive growth. Then, as we deal with the new world order, looking at what brands and businesses are being challenged to do in this new economy, there has never been a better time for the R/GA mindset to help businesses thrive,” he said.

Earlier this month, R/GA appointed Ben Miles as the creative head of its APAC consulting division.