Y&R NY Appoints Dick de Lange as Chief Strategy Officer

Y&R today announced the appointment of Dick de Lange as Chief Strategy Officer, Y&R New York. Reporting into Y&R New York President Jim Radosevic and Global Chief Strategy Officer Sandy Thompson, de Lange oversees strategy across the agency’s client roster, which includes Dell, Land Rover, Xerox, Campbell Soup Company, Pfizer, Hillshire Brands, and Conrad and Waldorf Astoria Hotels and Resorts. De Lange joins the agency from R/GA, where he served as Group Strategy Lead on Samsung, and played a key role on Converse, Hunter Douglas, Unilever and Nike Digital Sport and Commerce, including Nike+ and NikeiD.

“Dick is an inspirational, collaborative leader with a genuine curiosity and passion for uncovering new truths about brands and people. He is a classically trained brand planner with the speed and agility to work on integrated and digital accounts. His holistic world view will be a great asset to our global clients, too,” said Radosevic. “Dick is the perfect person to head our strategy team here in New York. We’re thrilled to have him.”

De Lange’s career to date has spanned three continents and a variety of brands, including General Mills, Cadbury, McDonald’s, Volkswagen, Lexus, State Farm, Sony, MillerCoors and Dell. He has served in strategic leadership roles at JWT in New York, and DDB and Saatchi & Saatchi in the United States, Australia and the Netherlands. Early in his career, de Lange worked at a boutique youth agency and co-founded a new media company in Amsterdam.

“I am a big believer in a right brain/left brain approach that combines rigor with imagination, and Y&R’s proprietary strategic tools – the one-of-a-kind BrandAsset Valuator and the qualitative eXploring methodology – will enable me to take this approach to the next level,” said de Lange. “On top of that, I feel like I am joining a family here. I’m so excited to be part of the Y&R New York team.”