After a sequence of serious modifications to IPG company R/GA because it restructures and strikes away from its metropolis mannequin within the U.S. and as an alternative implements a rustic mannequin with 5 disciplines powering the enterprise, the company is making one other noteworthy change by selling Shannon Washington to chief inventive officer, making her the primary Black girl U.S. chief inventive officer within the historical past of all holding firm businesses.
“My job is to create the absolute best setting at R/GA to make the very best work. This represents a extremely pivotal time, not simply with me, however for R/GA as an entire,” Washington informed Adweek.
In her earlier function as svp, group government inventive director at R/GA, Washington led inventive work for shoppers akin to Advert Council, Google, Sephora, Samsung and Uber and can now proceed her inventive efforts on a a lot bigger scale. On this new place, Washington continues to point out the affect she will make within the inventive world.
A few of her notable works embrace Advert Council’s “Love Has No Labels” marketing campaign which powerfully tells the story between siblings and Sephora’s “Black Magnificence Is Magnificence” marketing campaign which sheds gentle on the importance of Black magnificence and tradition campaigns. As a testomony to her expertise, Washington was featured in Adweek’s Inventive 100 in 2020.
Regardless of R/GA’s restructuring—it laid off about 5% of its New York workplace in June and closed its bodily workplace areas in New York and San Francisco in November—the company and Washington stay devoted to evolving and bringing numerous individuals collectively to create significant work, particularly by a pandemic.
“The worth of intersectionality is one thing that satirically got here to gentle within the pandemic due to the best way we needed to work,” Washington mentioned. “In particular person I wished to verify I acknowledged the worth that everybody delivered to the method and [help everyone feel] seen and heard, however working in a hybrid tradition, it turned clear to me that I had to consider new methods to do this.”
Serving to creatives be seen and heard
Now three years into her time on the company, Washington hopes to proceed her private aim of placing work on the forefront as she finds a solution to take the very best of what the company does and inject a way of place and tradition into the work.
Washington is constantly aiming to create an area the place everybody can really feel seen and heard. And as a inventive girl of shade, she emphasizes the significance of making areas the place different creatives of shade can have alternatives.
“It’s important to maintain the door that you simply open; you don’t stroll by that door by your self,” Washington mentioned. “There was a generational shift in our business [and] we’re beginning to see far more girls of shade in medium and junior positions. My aim is to maintain them right here. Recruitment is one factor, however for me it’s all about retention. For creatives of shade it’s actually about supporting and seeing [others] and acknowledging that [they] are going to have a unique expertise.”
