RKCR/Y&R elevates Priya Patel to managing director
RKCR/Y&R has appointed managing partner Priya Patel to the role of managing director, replacing Vicky Jacobs.
RKCR/Y&R elevates Priya Patel to managing director
She will keep her previous responsibilities managing a roster of client business but also assumes oversight of the agency’s operations. Patel reporter to Jon Sharpe, who took over as chief executive last December.
Patel takes the reins from Jacobs, who is taking time out of the agency for health reasons after taking on the role in 2014. Patel’s appointment caps a 10-year career at the agency that has spanned some of the firm's most celebrated work, including those for Virgin Money, Volvic, BBC, Bank of Scotland, TUI and M&S. During that period, Patel was new business director, a time when the agency topped the new business league tables between 2010 and 2012.
Patel said: “I’ve worked at RKCR/Y&R for 10 years and have loved every minute of it. Having just ’survived' the most life changing and brilliant of experiences – having a baby; I’m now relishing the idea of fully engaging my brain on a completely different, but equally brilliant new challenge.
Agencies change all the time; the key is how they adapt to the change. I believe that the latest change at RKCR/Y&R - the establishment of our new 'leadership triumvirate’ Jon, Jon and Emily and their vision for how we should work with clients to create Cultural Capital – is an incredibly positive one and I’m looking forward to implementing that vision.”
Much has changed at the agency over the last 18 months, including the high-profile losses of Land Rover and Lloyds Bank in 2015 followed by M&S earlier this year. Sharpe replaced Ben Kay as the agency’s chief last December, with industry observers mindful of the challenge he faces returning it to its former glory. There have been some early signs of positivity this year off the back of it winning the Premier League’s creative business in February and work on the BBC’s lauded campaign for this year’s Olympic Games.