R/GA UK

In a year defined by collapsing holding companies, AI anxiety, and global political uncertainty, one optimistic story rose above the chaos — not about who won the latest pitch or the newest Cannes darling — but who would survive and lead the industry forward.

This is the story of an unbelievable escape. For years, the holding company model suffocated reinvention. Margin pressure, bureaucracy, short-termism — whenever things went wrong, innovation agencies like ours were made convenient scapegoats for decades-long systemic failures. But we refused to go quietly. R/GA has reinvented itself every nine years since its origin in film, through the internet era, mobile, social. And this year, we took a risk. We asked ourselves: what if we took ownership of our future again? While the industry braced for impact, we sprinted toward the future. With backing from Truelink Capital, a $50M innovation fund, a group of our committed leaders jumped on the back of the AI “shark” everyone feared, and steered. We reclaimed our future and became a 48-year-old startup, “Unheld” after 23 years. Nine months in, we’ve built the groundwork as the leading UK creative innovation company for the intelligence age.