Re, part of the M&C Saatchi Group, has promoted Gerald Torto (main photo) to practice director.
The new role follows the recent relaunch of Re as a global design business and will see Torto lead Re’s scale-up offering, helping high-growth tech businesses define their point of difference through brand and experience design.
In addition to partnering with scale-ups, Torto will also be responsible for bringing to life Re’s new positioning Design to Connect’ across the business, defining the role it plays in attracting new clients and delivering world class work.
The newly created role is also in response to a number of new business wins globally (three that can be named being Practice Ignition, Dext and Skyscanner) as well as the accelerated growth of successful tech startups across the APAC region.
Regarding his promotion, Torto said: “We’ve proven we can partner with the biggest, most complex organisations and use design to bring clarity internally and cut-through in market. The opportunity for us now as a business is to bring that same blend of systems thinking, creativity and storytelling to the vibrant scale-up community of businesses that want to scale at speed and stand out.”
Torto’s promotion from his most recent position as strategy director comes almost five years’ after joining the business, during which time he has specialised in brand consultation for clients including Optus, Domain, The Commonwealth Bank, BINGO Industries and SKY Racing.
Torto added: “Every week I’m speaking with really ambitious founders along with their talented teams about what they’re doing and why. Whether it’s in fin-tech, hospitality, property-tech, or healthcare, by and large they all want the same thing, a brand that tells their story, and a system that helps that story and experience scale. I’m excited to now focus entirely on helping these specific types of businesses do just that.”
Of the new role, Benjamin Harrison, managing director at Re APAC said: “Globally we’re seeing that in the tech and SaaS space, many of these brands all look and feel the same, which creates both a problem to solve and an opportunity for us to solve it. We’re excited by this role as it not only plays to G’s strengths, but also positively impacts the whole business in terms of how we work and who we work with to create brands that connect to colleagues, customers and culture.”
