Havas Media Group (HMG UK) has announced the appointment of Yvonne O’Brien, formerly Managing Director of IPG Mediabrands Marketing Sciences UK & Ireland, to the newly created role of Group Chief Insight Officer.

 

Reporting directly to HMG’s Group Managing Director Paul Frampton, O’Brien will focus on ensuring that Insight and Effectiveness are at the heart of Havas Media Group. She will oversee the research, insight and econometric teams and work closely with the Group’s unique data and insight capabilities, namely data and marketing tech consultancy DBi and trends agency SCB Partners.  Yvonne will also play an instrumental role in the evolution and direction of HMG’s annual Meaningful Brands research.

 

During her time at IPG Mediabrands, O’Brien established its Marketing Sciences division which comprised insight, research and analytics for the holding group. In her role, she led 18 insight, data, research and analytics specialists to support agency brands.  Focusing on data partnerships and integration of key digital data sets to improve agency insight strategy product.

 

Prior to this, O’Brien held the position of Managing Partner, specialising in research & insight, at Universal McCann. Working on ensuring key insights were integrated into strategy and planning on high profile accounts such as Microsoft, MasterCard, Burtons Foods & Tiffany. She developed thought leadership programme as well as redeveloping new agency and effectiveness tools. She has also held senior insight and marketing roles at Clear Channel UK, Opus and JCDecaux.

 

This appointment signals further commitment to  Havas Media Group’s growth strategy following Julia Jordan joining as Managing Director at Havas Media Group UK Investment and Digital and James Shepherd as Head of Mobile for HMG and Mobext.

 

Paul Frampton, Group Managing Director, HMG UK, said: “I am thrilled to welcome Yvonne to the team. Her reputation in the insight and analytics space is second to none. Her leadership will be instrumental in rolling out the Havas vision of a more human approach to media, defined by genuine insight and data to inform more meaningful connections between people and brands”

 

Yvonne O’Brien added: “Insight and data are in my DNA and I’m looking forward to joining such a successful team. I am delighted to be working on strategies and concepts to help shape the evolving Group and deliver innovative and ground breaking work for its high calibre of clients.”

 

O’Brien will begin working at HMG UK from 11 August 2015.