Red & Co. Appoints Clare Pickens as Global Managing Director

Independent, female- and minority-owned brand consultancy Red & Co. announced today that Clare Pickens has been promoted to global managing director. 

Clare, previously global business director, will be tasked with leading the company’s growth and business development in the US and Europe, while overseeing existing client relationships. Most importantly, she will focus on attracting like minded client partners that share Red & Co.’s mission to help brands make a larger, more meaningful impact on business, culture and society. Clare will work alongside Founder/ECD Mira Kaddoura, who continues to pioneer female-led opportunity, diversity and empathetic values within the marketing and advertising industries.

“Red & Co. continues to attract and grow its roster of values-aligned clients,” said Mira. “Clare, along with the rest of the leadership team, has managed to move smoothly into a highly agile, remote working model with teams based all over the world. This has not only optimised the agency talent pool but has allowed us to create a more sustainable way of working and a strong team bond. This new role reflects the growth and ambition of the company and there is no better person to lead that growth than Clare.”

Since joining Red & Co. in 2019, Pickens has helped steer the consultancy through the pandemic, return to consecutive years of growth and bring in a number of new clients such as Babyganics, Unilever, Diageo, Transcend, Thousand Miles and Nike EMEA. Pickens will continue to be based in Amsterdam and is also planning to expand its client base further into Europe and Asia. 

Prior to Red & Co., Clare spent 10 years leading global business for a number of brands at Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam, such as Instagram, P&G, Mondelēz, Netflix, Booking.com, Levi’s and Nike. She is most proud of winning the Cannes Effectiveness Award for five solid years of brand building and growth for Heineken. 

“I am excited to take on this new challenge and look forward to onboarding new clients and talent in the coming months,” said Clare. “However, I’m most passionate about advancing Red & Co.’s purpose-driven mission, both internally and externally, and to create meaningful work with clients that want to make an impact. Ultimately it’s about helping drive the much overdue change that is needed within our industry and beyond.”

When Clare joined the team at Red & Co. she was also studying a Masters degree in International Relations, which she received in late 2020, and had recently disembarked from a stint offshore with Sea Shepherd. She is an avid reader of historical literature, a netball player and umpire, travel enthusiast, and passionate scuba diver.