Sandy Thompson
Global Planning Director, Y&R
Sandy Thompson joined Young & Rubicam as Global Planning Director in October 2010. Sandy is regarded as one of the industry’s most innovative and productive strategists. Prior to joining Y&R, Sandy spent 15 years with Saatchi & Saatchi, where she played a key role in strengthening both the Asian and North American regions.
As Regional Planning Director of Asia and then Planning Director of New York and Canada combined, she helped transform Saatchi into one of the world’s most successful networks in recent years.
A Canuck, Sandy first joined Saatchi & Saatchi in their Toronto office as their Canadian planning director. Before Saatchi, she founded a successful consulting agency working with both Clients and Agencies across the US and Canada and built her career at Chiat Day’s Toronto office.
Sandy is a champion of understanding real people and their real motivations in purchase decisions. She gets that the best strategies are about simple human truths. She knows that connecting with people is about connecting with their hearts.
In this pursuit, Sandy has travelled the globe, spent time immersing herself in different cultures—having lived with families in China, travelled by train with the youth of Russia, gone under the veil in Saudi Arabia, connected with seniors in America, talked marriage and divorce in India, washed hair in Japan and renovated homes in Canada.
Sandy has helped create award-winning ideas and successful results for brands including JCPenney, Ameriprise, Toyota, Visa and Guinness.
In the time Sandy spends away from work, you can often find her with her two children, riding horses, hiking and skiing.
