Digital Agency Essence Appoints Jon Taylor as Global Director of Data Strategy

Taylor joins Essence from Dun & Bradstreet, where he most recently served as VP, Operations, Audience Solutions.  In this position, he was responsible for transforming the company's offline data into audience targeting and analytics products for digital marketers.  Prior, he was Senior Director, Global Market Solutions at Cadreon, IPG's programmatic division, where he drove the expansion of their offering into dozens of global markets.  He also held several director-level positions at UM Worldwide and IPG Mediabrands.  Taylor's role at Essence holds him responsible for growing the agency's new global Data Strategy practice, which will help clients maximize the value of data to improve media targeting and deepen insights in pursuit of an audience-first approach to advertising.

"Audience-centric planning is now a reality for all of our clients," said Andrew Shebbeare, co-founder and chief product officer of Essence.  "This has created new demands on our teams; we recognize that to understand audiences sufficiently well to build more meaningful, additive connections, we must start work well before a campaign brief is written. Having a practice dedicated to driving data strategy will help our clients get to better insights, craft better communications, target audiences more effectively and measure the impact with even greater confidence."

"Programmatic has created the opportunity to plan campaigns around people instead of impressions. However, the simplicity of that idea belies the reality of a technology and data ecosystem that takes real effort to navigate," said Taylor. "In my experience, this often causes brands to miss out on the vast potential of user-first communications planning for media and creative. My goal is to help our global clients choose technology, analyze data and strike partnerships to break new ground and build enduring business advantage."

Taylor's appointment is effective immediately.  He will report into Shebbeare and will be based out of Essence's New York office.

About Essence
Essence is a global digital agency that blends data science, objective media and captivating experiences to build valuable connections between brands and consumers. Clients include Google, FrieslandCampina, Tesco Mobile and the Financial Times. The agency is more than 650 people strong, manages over $850MM in media spend and deploys campaigns in 71 markets via offices in Chicago, Delhi, London, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo. Part of GroupM, Essence is majority owned by WPP, the world's leading communications services group.

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SOURCE Essence

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