Kantar Completes North American Reshuffle

Kantar has announced a series of strategic leadership appointments, underlining the importance of North America in its growth strategy. Former group CGO Chris Petranto becomes Chief Client Officer NA; Brian James becomes Chief Solutions Officer NA; and Rachelle Minnis takes a new EVP role.

Kantar says the moves complete its integration of Media and Creative solutions into a single division led by Rachelle Minnis, whose new title is EVP, Head of Media and Creative, North America.

In his new role, Petranto (pictured) will unite the group's client-facing teams including Industry Partners, Client Partners, Business Development, and Marketing into one connected growth and client success organization. James, whose title was previously 'Industry Executive', is charged with accelerating and streamlining solution capabilities and client service teams, delivering more connected opportunities for brand and business growth.

The changes are intended to make the firm's solutions more impactful for clients, by providing three key benefits:

• focused, localized innovation powered by AI technology
• Stronger partnerships with C-Suite Marketing Leaders,and
• Enhanced, proactive market intelligence and predictive analytics.

'Our focus is on helping brands move from intelligence to impact more seamlessly,' says CEO Americas Jeff Greenspoon. ''By bringing Chris, Brian and Rachelle into expanded leadership roles, we're strengthening how brand, media, creativity and experience intelligence come together - enabling marketing teams to build Meaningful Difference, connect brand and demand, and act with greater speed, clarity and confidence.'

'Our data shows that creative is responsible for about half of media's effectiveness,' adds Minnis, 'so integrating Media and Creative isn't just logical - it's essential. By uniting our solutions, we help brands design ideas that travel across channels and deliver outsized impact in today's fragmented landscape.'

The group is online at www.kantar.com .