Member Article

The Gild increases strategic and insights firepower

Brand consultancy The Gild has today announced four new hires across insights, strategy and account management, headlining with ex-Aesop board director Andrew Colyer as its new executive strategy director. Colyer is joined by Esther Garland as insight & strategy director, Cassandra Hall as strategist and Sarah Burns as senior account manager.

The four-strong appointment sees the brand consultancy increasing its firepower, expanding its team after a number of new business wins including Nike, Campari and Microsoft.

In his role as executive strategy director, Colyer brings over 20 years’ experience from the engine room of some of the UK’s best known independent agencies and networks, including Aesop, Elvis and Engine. He will help blend the science of deep insight and strong commercial direction with the art of consumer facing creative platforms.

Esther Garland joins from an eight year tenure at insight and innovation agency FACE. She is a highly experienced, fully accredited Unilever research lead and moderator and in her new role at The Gild she will drive the insights team to deliver in-depth analysis for all clients.

Cassandra Hall joins as strategist from Naked Communications and Sarah Burns as senior account manager from Multiply, an integrated agency based in Edinburgh specialising in shopper, digital and experiential marketing.

Andrew Mullholland, CEO at The Gild, said: “The current model of brand consultancy is no longer fit for purpose; but a new breed is coming to the fore placing consumer insight at its heart and reinvigorating the future of the industry. With this comes the need for a new breed of strategist; one that not only understands the intricacies of conjoint analysis and equity flows, but also our digitally-driven landscape and how to craft a brand positioning that’s one and the same as the creative platform. With a wealth of knowledge and experience between them all, our new hires have been chosen with this new model and skillset in mind.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Alex Sampson .