Packaging Firm Equator Names New Managing Director

Global packaging strategy and design agency, Equator, has named Rachel Johnson as the company’s new global managing director.

She will have responsibility for all the company’s studios worldwide, including Chicago and Cincinnati in the United States; Manchester and Nottingham in England; and Sydney in Australia as well as new locations due to join the network in 2023, along with a remit of delivering ambitious growth plans.

Equator is part of SGK, a global packaging and brand experience group with 1,500 clients worldwide and expertise across all forms of marketing strategy and implementation. Johnson takes on the role of managing director at Equator with an 18-year track record.

Having begun her career at SGK-owned cross-media production agency, Schawk in 2004, she has risen through the ranks to become commercial vice president of SGK in 2020, before taking the reins at Equator.

“Equator is a force within SGK,” explains Johnson. “The company has never lost the passion and purpose of an entrepreneurial, owner-managed business, with its innovative under-one-roof business model and collaborative approach to delivering insight-centered, category-defining, commercially savvy design.” 

Johnson spent more than a decade at SGK creative agency, Anthem Worldwide, with responsibility across client service, strategy and managing the creative team. At Equator, she will leverage her FMCG experience to build on the company’s portfolio of national brand work, while continuing to play to the company’s strengths in own brand packaging.