Host/Havas has appointed digital and customer experience leader Charles Rallings (pictured, right) to the newly created role of managing director of Host/Havas CX as the agency continues to ramp up its CX capabilities in response to growing client demand.
The move follows a raft of creative and CX account wins, with new and existing clients increasingly seeking to leverage their investments in digital, data and martech solutions to drive customer experience.
Charles will lead the dedicated Host/Havas CX team in Australia and leverage the strength and experience of the global Havas CX network to provide local clients with access to some of the world’s brightest CX talent.
Host/Havas CX clients in Australia will also gain access to Havas Group’s proprietary barometer for measuring and managing customer experience, The X index.
Charles is a seasoned leader with experience spanning 20-plus years across digital technologies, channels, and customer experience platforms, including Salesforce, Adobe, Sitecore and various data reporting and visualisation systems.
He joins from 303 MullenLowe, where he spent five years leading the CX offering as director of digital and customer experience. His experience also includes five years as MD of Tribal DDB and three as DDB Group’s chief operating officer.
Charles has worked across numerous industry sectors including telco, FMCG, automotive, retail, financial services, tourism, and pharma, and with leading brands including Telstra, McDonald’s, Volkswagen, Tourism Australia, Audi, Medtronic and HBF.
Host/Havas CEO Laura Aldington (pictured, left) said: “Charles’ deep expertise in CX and his proven capability consulting to solve business problems and leverage digital technology to drive growth makes him an invaluable asset for our business and our clients.
“We’re thrilled to have Charles on board as we take our offering to the next level to deliver on our clients’ growing CX ambitions.”
Charles welcomed the opportunity to lead the local-global CX offering for an evolving experience landscape. “World-class customer experience is the new battleground for brand success in a world where 75 per cent of brands could disappear overnight and most people wouldn’t notice or care,” he said.
“The opportunity for Host/Havas CX as a CX specialist within a creative agency village is to harness the investments made by brands in martech stacks, creating experiences and touchpoints for customers that truly deliver on a brand’s promise, in a way that’s relevant to them.
“The second great opportunity is in utilising data to inform those experiences. While it’s not that long ago we were all taking about ‘big data’, the journey has moved on. Most can now manage their data in more digestible ways. The challenge has become using the data to deliver business insights for more dynamic decision making and that’s what we are focusing on.”
Other senior members of the Host/Havas CX team include chief digital officer Gordon Dougal and senior CX/digital strategist Matt Bowden.
Host/Havas’ CX offering includes data capture and analysis, experience design, CRM design and implementation and omnichannel content creation.
