Rick Evans

Global Brand and Marketing Strategist

I've been named one of the world's most innovative communicators, picked up Lions at Cannes, and helped brands to double-digit sales growth and deeper brand resonance. How can I help your brand?

Basking in Ólafur Elíasson’s “Sometimes an underground movement is an illuminated bridge” at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas

Who I Am

With an understanding-first approach, I’ve supported businesses by creating brand, marketing and innovation programs designed to engage key stakeholders and create lasting value for more than 17 years.Grounded in curiosity and empathy, I aim to use novel connections to create communications, products and ultimately brands that have an outsized role in people's lives. In 2015, PR Week named me one of the most innovative communicators in the world.In addition to marketing and brand strategy work, I've presented at Cannes Lions on the intersection of nature and creativity and held workshops on how to apply nature-based thinking to business.Outside of my day job, I've used the Patagonia Action Works platform to contribute more than $30k worth of pro-bono marketing and strategy consulting to environmental and climate change-related non-profits.

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Specialty Areas

Brand Marketing: I've been the Marketing Director at (RED) and Marketing Manager at STA Travel where I developed the strategy for and led the execution of multi-channel and multi-stakeholder campaigns. At Airbnb, I led Brand Marketing Strategy for EMEA supporting audience understanding and marketing effectiveness.Brand Strategy: My agency-side work includes stops at R/GA, Ogilvy, Saatchi & Saatchi working on clients including IKEA, Visa, and Dove. In these roles, I created strategies to boost brand trust, optimize messaging, launch new product features, and even create and support a Super Bowl ad.Partnership Marketing: During my time at (RED), American Express and STA Travel, I created and/or managed global partnership marketing campaigns and product collaborations with brands including Red Bull and TripAdvisor and media properties from Sony Pictures and Universal Music.Luxury Brands: My experience includes several projects that target High Net Worth and Ultra High Net Worth audiences. Projects include working with Barclays' Family Offices and International Banking, luxury interiors at Sanderson Design Group, high spending cardmembers at American Express, and building community among tech founders and culture thought leaders for a16z.

Client: Unilever
Agency: Ogilvy
Role: Strategy Director & Lead Strategist
Task: Provide strategic direction to orient a behavior change-focused sustainability program.
Key Partners: Waterbear, Project Drawdown, TED Countdown

Client: Dove
Agency: Ogilvy
Role: Strategy Director
Task: Draft a compelling creative brief and high level comms ideas for a join team of Ogilvy and David creatives.
Awards: Earned a Grand Prix in Media and Gold in Creative Effectiveness at Cannes Lions.

Client: Tequila Cazadores (Bacardi)
Agency: Virtue (Vice Media)
Role: Assoc. Strategy Director & Lead Strategist
Task: Build the core brand strategy into a brand universe to support multi-channel activations.
Result: Double digit sales growth

Client: Andreessen Horowitz
Agency: R/GA
Role: Strategy Director & Lead Strategist
Task: Understand community building when the community is made up of current and future billionaires in the tech industry.

Client: Barclays
Agency: EveryFriday
Role: Strategy Director & Lead Strategist
Task: Bring a strategic brand perspective to the development of a first of its kind financial services product.

Client: IKEA
Agency: R/GA
Role: Strategy Director & Lead Strategist
Task: Create a strategy for reinvigorating IKEA Family, making it more IKEA and more valuable for members.

Client: Harlequin (Sanderson Design Group)
Agency: EveryFriday
Role: Strategy Director & Lead Strategist
Task: Tweak the brand strategy to enable a creative refresh taking the brand in a new direction.
Client Quote: "Over time, Harlequin lost some of its magic. This creative campaign is boldly re-booing the brand."

Client: Archive by SDG (Sanderson Design Group)
Agency: EveryFriday
Role: Strategy Director & Lead Strategist
Task: Create a brand for a reimagined 200-year-old archive collection of products.
Result: Launched in Selfridges on the Strength of the Brand Created

Client: Barclays
Agency: EveryFriday
Role: Strategy Director & Lead Strategist
Task: Transform how the brand engages the LGBTQ+ community inside and out.
Client Feedback: "Groundbreaking" and "F*cking Amazing"

Company: STA Travel
Role: Marketing and Communications Manager
Task: Form compelling partnerships to reach young travelers beyond a limited marketing budget.
Result: Pitched and managed partnerships with JanSport, Urban Outfitters, Universal Music, Red Bull, and foursquare.

Client: Bayer
Agency: OLIVER
Role: Lead Strategist
Task: Develop a brand and go-to-market strategy for a new supplement brand.
Result: Created the Stem & Root visual identity and brand foundation, as well as a launch plan with CVS.

Company: American Express
Role: Manager, Digital Partnerships and Development
Task: Collaborate with a team of developers and product experts to create a unique experience for American Express cardmembers on TripAdvisor.
Result: A first of its kind experience that allowed American Express cardmembers to see reviews from travelers like themselves.

Company: STA Travel
Role: Marketing and Communications Manager
Task: Reinvigorate a stale trip giveaway program
Result: Turned the World Traveler Internship into a content marketing platform to inspire travelers, resulting in an increase of 200% in related product sales and 41% in related content consumption.

Company: STA Travel
Role: Marketing and Communications Manager
Task: Develop a partnership marketing program that would beyond a trip giveaway.
Result: Delivered a 63x return on marketing investment including creating sales-driving film-branded trips.

Company: (RED)
Role: Marketing Director
Task: In collaboration with Apple, launch a global partnership marketing campaign across 140 countries to raise millions around 25 of the world's top apps going (RED).
Result: Tens of millions of dollars raised to fight HIV/AIDS.

How I Can Help

Brand Strategy

Communications Strategy

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Marketing Strategy

Everything Else

*Area of Deep Experience

Kind Words

“Rick is not only a great strategist, he is a fundamentally good human. He is able to go from helping rebrand the Grizzly Bear, so we have a greater appreciation for the animal in the wild, through to helping IKEA unpick and remap what the future of membership looks like. He is a strong team leader and collaborator. I would bring him onto any project and know my colleagues and clients are in great hands.”
-Nicole Armstrong, ex-Executive Strategy Director at R/GA, Current Head of Strategy at AKQA Australia


"The simplifier - if I have to give a persona to Rick it will be it. I believe a strategist should be here to get the noise and complexity of an organisation/brand and take the essence of it all to give the brand a clear path forward. While working together, Rick has consistently done it for global retailer (IKEA), Global FMCG brand (Unilever), Global QSR (McDonald) and Highly connected VC (A16Z). And he is bringing every discipline along with him, and for me and the brands we partner with, a strong and indispensable strategic partner."
- Bertrand Morin, Client Partner at R/GA


“Endorsing Rick. He's very good, and comfortable with big brands and clutch situations.”
- Tom Morton, Ex-R/GA Global Chief Strategy Officer

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"I brought Rick on to lead the brand planning and campaign strategy for one of my biggest clients and he overdelivered in every aspect of his scope. His collaboration with our agency team, the clients many different stakeholders, and the IAT from day one was beyond what we had expected from him. Rick approaches everything with well-researched strategic insights, considers industry trends, and has expertise in culture that you can't find elsewhere."
- Matt Scapelliti, ex-Group Account Director at OLIVER, Current Freelance Executive Producer


"Rick is an experienced strategist whose insights often draw from a deep understanding of nature, inspiring how he approaches challenges for some of the world’s biggest brands. He also excels in creating comprehensive strategies that are rooted in research and aligned with the ambition of the brand. Rick is not only a brilliant strategist but also a dedicated mentor and team player. His encouragement and support fostered a collaborative, healthy challenger-mentality environment. Rick's blend of systems thinking, nature-inspired thinking, and mentorship made a significant impact on our work at R/GA."
-Yuliana Safari, Principal at Ipsos Strategy3, ex-Associate Director at R/GA

Things I've Written

Writing (and reading) has always been a big part of my life, from the school paper to majoring in journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.Included here are some links to pieces I've written for creative industry publications. I've also written a fiction book as part of my Ecosystem Member project that I am currently seeking a literary agent to represent.

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