Richard Huntington, Saatchi & Saatchi

As Chief Strategy Officer at Saatchi & Saatchi, Richard Huntington looks after the strategic output across all brand clients within the agency.

A man of grit and tenacity, Richard applies this same determination to the brands he looks after. In a turbulent year for the marketing industry Richard Huntington has been a change-maker, ensuring that clients stay ahead of the pack and drive long-term value.

Aware of the need to build on successful brands during a crisis, Richard led the strategic decisions which resulted in some transformational outcomes for clients, including:

•Helping Direct Line retire its most effective campaign and replacing it with one that is already outperforming it within six months of launch

•EE’s most successful phone launch campaign to date

•Over 200k NHS workers taking up EE’s offer of free data

•BT’s TopTech Tips equipping 5.76m people in lockdown with key tech skills to improve their ability to connect with their loved ones.

•Raising £1.3m for Marie Curie while it was facing a funding crisis

•Reaching over 100m people with a tech positivity message from Deutsche Telekom

Richard also designed the Saatchi Ignite curriculum for schools, teaching data arts, persuasive writing and problem solving – in partnership with the Harris Academy in Greenwich. Over the next seven years Richard is committing to providing curriculum learning, career counselling and mentoring as part of this long-term collaboration.

Richard is also a regular columnist for Campaign, where rails against the tired orthodoxies of the business, while celebrating what makes it magical.