Wunderman chief joins Valtech to lead Euro expansion

Valtech, the global digital agency with more than 3,500 employees but a low profile in the media, has raided Wunderman Thompson to appoint global managing partner William Rolt to spearhead its growth across Europe.

Founded in 1993, Valtech is one of the largest independent global agency groups, with over 45 offices in 17 countries, combining experience design, business consulting, technology engineering and marketing execution. Its clients include L’Oreal, BMW, Pandora, Carnegie, Lufthansa, Dolby, Alcon, Danone, Levi’s and PepsiCo.

Rolt has spent more than a decade focused on driving growth for Digitas LBI, AIS and most recently Wunderman Thomson, where has been since 2013, winning a number of high-profile pitches including the Samsung Europe CRM account.

He joins Valtech during a period of considerable growth across the region, including a number of high-profile new business wins, signification organic growth and two major acquisitions in the region (eCapacity and Radon) in the past month.

Rolt will be part of the EMEA senior leadership team, with responsibility for all aspects of growth across Europe.

His appointment follows that of Chris Daplyn, who had spent the previous eight years with WPP as managing director of Wunderman UK and most recently as chief executive of Mirum in Europe after overseeing the merger of Possible and Mirum in the UK. He joined Valtech last month to lead the UK market.

Valtech global chief growth officer Joacim Jeppesen said: “Handing Will the reins to drive our European growth, driving our business development and go-to-market strategies in Europe, we expect a substantial acceleration of our growth and continued expansion.

“Will’s experience, drive, commercial mindset and not least his personality matches our values and culture like few others. People are everything to us in Valtech, and we truly believe William is the perfect person to serve Valtech’s full value proposition and service offerings into even more markets and clients across Europe.”

Rolt added: “Culture is very high on my agenda and as soon as I met Joacim and Olivier Padiou, I knew Valtech would be the right step for me. Being an independent agency, with world-class capabilities and the ability to move and adapt much faster than many of its competitors was such a draw for me. And one I know clients will be very excited to know more about.

“Valtech is the right sort of agency at the right time. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to take on this new role and can’t wait to connect all our capabilities with the incredible talent we have across the region.”