Weber Shandwick hires Ridhi Malhotra as global head of analytics and intelligence

Weber Shandwick has named Ridhi Malhotra as global head of analytics and intelligence. 

Malhotra will lead the firm's global analytics and intelligence unit with the goal of embedding analytics across client work globally. She is reporting to Sung Chang, chief impact officer at Weber.

She steps into the position after Brian Buchwald left his role as Weber Shandwick's president of global intelligence to become chief strategy and business development officer at Talkwalker.  

Malhotra's deep expertise in analytics and intelligence, particularly in media, is an opportunity for the Interpublic Group agency to transform how it applies data to working with clients. 

"Ridhi's background brings us to the intersection of the earned space, the paid space and measurement, with new tools and insights," Chang said. "We can now pull certain aspects from media that our side of the business has probably not seen to be a little more deliberate with how we evolve." 

Having the ability to expand its analytics and intelligence offerings will also help Weber Shandwick collaborate with IPG sister agencies and clients, according to Chang. 

"[Malhotra] can really bridge the gap between the tools we are used to seeing in the communications and advertising worlds," he said. "Having that different perspective, particularly with the type of assignments we get, will change the output of the work but also the measurement and value our clients see." 

Malhotra has joined the firm from Publicis Media's Zenith, where she was most recently EVP, leading the data science, analytics, engineering and data governance practice for the agency. Before Zenith, she spent time at WPP firms GroupM and Gain Theory. 

She also spent more than five years at American Express, where she led a global analytics team. 

Weber Shandwick launched the Weber Shandwick Collective in December, a strategic comms and consulting network. The Network also includes Weber Shandwick Futures, which focuses on strategic business media consulting.