Rethink Recruits Anomaly Veteran as First Chief Production Officer

Manufacturing has lengthy been a part of Rethink’s enterprise. Now the impartial inventive company is making it a precedence.

The company has appointed Jon Legere to the brand new function of chief manufacturing officer. Legere spent 14 years at Anomaly, the place he constructed and ran Unreasonable Studios, the agency’s in-house production arm. At Rethink, he’ll scale manufacturing capabilities throughout promoting, PR, and design, reporting to international chief working officer Caleb Goodman.

Legere’s appointment is designed to embed manufacturing into Rethink’s workflow from the beginning fairly than treating it as a downstream operate. “Manufacturing as of late is simply too necessary to sit down on the finish of the method,” Legere advised ADWEEK. “By creating this function, it’s an actual signal that it’s simply as necessary to be proper firstly.”

Goodman mentioned the rent was pushed by an “unmet want” he has noticed throughout the trade, each amongst purchasers bringing manufacturing in-house and businesses struggling to adapt their very own fashions. As Rethink has expanded its follow areas, he sees a possibility for manufacturing to function not as a siloed unit, however as an built-in service providing that runs via all of them.

“There’s just a few superb outcomes for our work and for our purchasers in doing that,” Goodman mentioned.

At Unreasonable Studios, Legere oversaw operations throughout studios within the U.S., Canada, and Europe. Goodman mentioned he is among the few individuals who has efficiently constructed high-quality manufacturing at scale inside an impartial group. Legere additionally had a front-row seat to what occurs when an indie will get absorbed right into a holding firm, after Anomaly was acquired by Stagwell, an expertise Goodman mentioned brings helpful perspective to Rethink’s personal journey.

For Legere, Rethink’s independence was the draw. “The fierce independence and dedication to its tradition and placing concepts first is uncommon,” he mentioned. “That freedom is crucial to the way forward for manufacturing.”

That independence additionally shapes how Rethink thinks about manufacturing versus the in-housing development sweeping the trade. Legere was cautious to tell apart between the 2: Inside manufacturing capabilities clear up totally different issues than exterior companions, he argued, and best-in-class exterior expertise will all the time have a job.

AI funding is already woven all through Rethink’s course of, and Legere sees manufacturing as uniquely positioned to introduce and combine new instruments throughout the company as they emerge.