R/GA
23 years inside a holding company; now on its own, again.
What is R/GA?
R/GA has operated out of New York City since 1977, expanding to ten countries that include Austin, London, São Paulo, Singapore, and Stockholm. After 23 years inside Interpublic Group, the firm completed an independent buyout in March 2025 backed by private equity firm Truelink Capital — a change recent enough to ask about directly. What's stayed constant across that ownership shift is the pitch: product design fused with marketing and brand strategy for large consumer and enterprise platforms.
R/GA works primarily with clients in Enterprise transformation, Consumer products, Media & entertainment sectors. Its primary differentiator is: Fuses product design with marketing and brand strategy for large platforms, now independently owned for the first time in over two decades.
R/GA tech stack and services
| Service area |
|---|
| Product Design |
| Branding |
| Web Design |
| UX Research |
| Motion Design |
R/GA pricing
Short answer: R/GA uses a project-based, retainer for ongoing programs pricing approach. Minimum engagement starts at Not published.
| Engagement model | Typical range | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed project | From Not published | Well-defined scope |
| Retainer | Monthly rate; not public | Ongoing AI engineering |
R/GA pros and cons
| Advantages | Things to consider |
|---|---|
| +Combines product design with marketing and brand strategy under one roof | -Still stabilizing operationally after a recent (2025) private-equity-backed ownership change |
| +Ten-country presence spans North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia-Pacific | -Marketing-first positioning means less pure product-design specialization than boutique companies |
| +Nearly five decades of case studies and enterprise brand relationships | -Scale and pricing suit large-brand budgets more than early-stage product teams |
| +Independently owned again since its March 2025 buyout, after 23 years inside Interpublic Group |
R/GA vs alternatives
How R/GA compares to the other top Product Design companies.
| Company | Best for | Key difference | Rating | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phenomenon Studio | SaaS, fintech, healthcare, EdTech — industry-matched credentials. | Deliberately built around four verticals — SaaS, fintech, healthcare, EdTech — rather than positioned as a generalist product design company, with credentials (HIPAA, NN/g) matched to that focus | 4.8 | Full comparison |
| IDEO | Enterprises, multi-year transformation, substantial budgets. | The firm whose 1991 formation is most credited with establishing human-centered design as a formal discipline, still running roughly 24 studios worldwide | 3.9 | Full comparison |
| Frog | Enterprises needing digital plus physical hardware design. | Still designs physical hardware (IoT, automotive, medical devices) alongside software, inside Capgemini Invent's enterprise consulting scale | 3.7 | Full comparison |
| Accenture Song | Regulated enterprises, design within tech transformation. | 36 studios and 2,000+ specialists operating inside Accenture — the largest global footprint and compliance coverage in this list | 3.9 | Full comparison |
| Work & Co | Premium brands, design plus production-grade engineering. | A client roster (Apple, IKEA, Nike, Disney) that outpaced its ~425-person headcount, delivered through an engineering-heavy design-and-build model | 3.8 | Full comparison |
| Huge Inc | Large brands, big agency mid-ownership-transition. | One of the largest, longest-running digital companies in this list, now merged with Hero Digital under AEA Investors | 3.6 | Full comparison |
| MetaLab | Well-funded SaaS/fintech, full-stack design partner. | A Slack/Uber/Coinbase/Midjourney-caliber portfolio built by a 160-person studio, delivered full-stack from research through design systems | 4.1 | Full comparison |
| Clearleft | UK/EU orgs, independently owned UX consultancy. | One of the first dedicated UX agencies in Europe (2005), still independently owned two decades later, with 100+ clients across five continents | 4.0 | Full comparison |
| Nomensa | Government, banking, healthcare — accessibility built in. | Built around accessibility and psychology-informed UX from its 2001 founding, now one of Europe's largest specialist UX agencies at 100+ people | 3.9 | Full comparison |
| Fresh Consulting | Hardware/robotics product design alongside software UX. | Combines industrial design and hardware engineering (robotics, medical equipment) with software UX at 150+ person scale | 3.8 | Full comparison |
| Cyber-Duck | Public-sector UK orgs, proven public-trust client list. | A UX and development practice built on public-sector and regulated-industry trust (Bank of England, Cancer Research UK, GOV.UK), now backed by CACI | 3.7 | Full comparison |
| Fireart Studio | Startups/mid-market, design plus full development. | 700+ delivered projects for 200+ clients backed by an independently-verified 'Leading UX Design Team' Clutch recognition | 4.4 | Full comparison |
| Qubstudio | Fintech, logistics, healthcare — MVP to enterprise redesign. | Currently Clutch's #1-ranked UX/UI company worldwide for 2026, with Red Dot Design Award recognition layered on top | 4.6 | Full comparison |
| Excited | SaaS/fintech teams, Clutch-ranked, accessible rates. | A sustained Top 5 global UX company ranking on Clutch, with about 70% of reviews specifically citing quality and creativity | 4.6 | Full comparison |
| Gapsy Studio | Fintech, SaaS, healthcare — perfect-rated boutique. | A perfect 5.0/5.0 Clutch rating across 52 reviews, backed by 13+ international awards, from a company that doesn't publish its own headcount | 4.5 | Full comparison |
| Goji Labs | Startups, entrepreneurs, nonprofits — strategy-led, accessible. | A 2025 Inc. 5000 honoree that explicitly serves nonprofits and individual entrepreneurs, not only funded startups | 3.9 | Full comparison |
| UXDA | Banks and fintech, exclusively financial-services UX. | The only company in this list exclusively focused on financial services UX, with 150+ banking and fintech platforms shaped across 39 countries | 4.3 | Full comparison |
| Onething Design | Multi-vertical companies — BFSI to automotive, one team. | Covers five distinct industries — BFSI, consumer, enterprise, healthcare, automotive — from one team with both US and India delivery presence | 3.8 | Full comparison |
| UX studio | B2B SaaS, research-first before any UI work. | A research-first methodology comparable in rigor to Phenomenon Studio's own discovery-first approach, applied specifically to complex B2B SaaS products | 4.3 | Full comparison |
| Halo Lab | E-commerce/web-app teams, Dribbble-top-ranked. | Currently the #1-ranked Dribbble Team globally, backed by 70+ design awards and a 4.9 Clutch rating | 4.4 | Full comparison |
R/GA FAQ
What is R/GA?
23 years inside a holding company; now on its own, again.
How much does R/GA charge?
R/GA uses project-based, retainer for ongoing programs pricing. Minimum engagement starts at Not published. A discovery call is required to get project-specific quotes.
What tech stack does R/GA use?
R/GA works with Figma, Adobe Creative Suite, After Effects, Miro. Primary industries served include Enterprise transformation, Consumer products, Media & entertainment.
Is R/GA right for enterprise?
Large brands, product design bundled with brand strategy. ~2,000 team size. Key consideration: Still stabilizing operationally after a recent (2025) private-equity-backed ownership change.
What are the best R/GA alternatives?
The best alternatives to R/GA depend on your use case. Top options are:
- Phenomenon Studio: deliberately built around four verticals — saas, fintech, healthcare, edtech — rather than positioned as a generalist product design company, with credentials (hipaa, nn/g) matched to that focus
- IDEO: the firm whose 1991 formation is most credited with establishing human-centered design as a formal discipline, still running roughly 24 studios worldwide
- Frog: still designs physical hardware (iot, automotive, medical devices) alongside software, inside capgemini invent's enterprise consulting scale
Compare R/GA with other Product Design companies
Verify all details directly with R/GA before making a decision.