R/GA SG's Brady Ambler takes on added strategy remit, shares plans for new role

R/GA APAC has named Brady Ambler (pictured) as executive strategy director of its Brand Design and Consulting unit, where he will lead the unit's strategy arm as it expands into Southeast Asia. This latest remit is in addition to Ambler's existing role as head of strategy for R/GA's Singapore office. He will be leading Brand Design and Consulting APAC alongside ECD Ben Miles, who was appointed last year.

Having doubled his team in the past three years, Ambler now leads a team of strategists across product strategy, brand strategy, experience strategy, creative strategy, social strategy, and community management, working across R/GA’s pillars of business and brand transformation, experience transformation, and marketing transformation.

Ambler brings a great wealth of regional experience to the team. Having spent over seven years between Hong Kong and Singapore, Ambler has played regional roles in the past and worked with clients across China, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Australia, and New Zealand.

Ambler told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE that he had spent his 15-year strategy career at creative shops, design studios and digital agencies all over the world, which enables him to advise clients on every aspect of their brand from long-term strategy to concrete go-to-market plans. Ambler also oversees all strategy work for R/GA’s Singapore office, including brand, experience, product, communication, and social strategy.  

Launched last year, Brand Design and Consulting was set up to partner with clients to build strong, relevant brands rooted in business and connected across experiences. Since its launch, Brand Design and Consulting has worked with clients such as ComfortDelGro, CottonOnGroup, Reejig, Reebelo, Singlife, Smartpay, and UUB, among others.

This year, Ambler said Brand Design and Consulting looks to work with brave client partners who want to make a positive impact on the triple bottom line. "At R/GA, our purpose is to create a more human future and we want to work with brands who share that ambition. One area we’re looking to make a difference is in the Web3 space. We’re already talking with several clients about how to bring more humanity into the metaverse, crypto and blockchain conversations," he added. 

Dorothy Peng, VP, MD, R/GA Singapore said that Ambler has been a force to be reckoned with. "In the past three years, Ambler has been instrumental in pioneering new ways of working and practices, partnering with our clients to create strategies that have impacted innovation roadmaps, business visions and strategies, communication platforms”, he added.

Read the rest of his interview here:

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: What are Miles' and your vision for the team?

Ambler: We’re concentrating on creating a new global standard out of APAC. We believe this is the most exciting region in the world and the most powerful brands of tomorrow will emerge from here. However, for this to happen, brand has to be done right. At R/GA, we turn brands into an operating system. Brand is the animating force behind business growth. It’s what inspires employees, informs new products and services, and gives purpose to everything an organisation says or does. It’s one of the most important investments any organisation will ever make. 

We also want to continue to build brands that matter. We’ve had the opportunity to work with a re-commerce platform committed to reducing e-waste. We’ve helped a workforce intelligence company focused on making the future of work more meaningful. We’re partnering with a climate consultancy that helps large enterprises become more sustainable and a global retailer devoted to improving wellbeing and belonging among young people. It’s important our values always match our output.

Culturally, we’ve got something special, and we want to protect it. We practice a rare form of collaboration where there’s a collective responsibility among the team for every piece of a project. It’s really a SWAT team approach to brand building and it’s proven highly successful. This extends into the broader R/GA network where we collaborate seamlessly to bring brands to life through experience, technology and communication.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: How has brand design evolved over the course of the pandemic?

Ambler: We’ve seen a surge of clients starting to take brand purpose seriously. There’s now broad recognition that purpose can’t be a lofty aspiration, it has to be actionable. It must be the driving force behind company behaviour. Many brands have realised they either don’t have a purpose or the one they have is insufficient. Related to this, many clients have put a greater focus on internal engagement. There’s a clear need for better employer branding to recruit and retain talent. 

From a design perspective there’s increased appetite for more well-rounded brand systems. Verbal design, behavioural design, motion design and sonic branding are all now just as important as visual design. This is intrinsic to R/GA’s brand as an operating system philosophy.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: What trends does the team looking forward to in 2022?

Ambler: We’re passionate about ESG. We’re currently working with an information governance platform that helps companies deliver on ESG. It’s one of the most important projects we’ve ever taken on. ESG should be at the core of every brand’s purpose and integral to every business decision. We’re looking forward to partnering with more companies to help them build their brands around ESG. 

We’re also excited about all the opportunities Web3 is offering. Brands can serve people in so many new ways and it’s challenging us to reimagine what’s possible. 

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