Watkins named Chief Innovation, Creative, and Qualitative Solutions Lead for Kantar Insights North America

09 July 2024
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Appointment is latest in establishment of NA’s new executive leadership team

New York, NY (July 10, 2024) – Kantar, the world’s leading marketing data and analytics company, has named Anita Watkins as Chief Innovation, Creative and Qualitative Solutions Lead, for Kantar Insights North America.

Watkins, a 27-year veteran of Kantar, led North America’s Qualitative from 2001 to 2017. In 2017, she was named Global Head of Qualitative and in 2021 took on an additional role as Global Solutions Leader for Innovation.

This appointment is part of an ongoing transformation of the Kantar North America executive leadership team that began with the naming of Wayne Levings, CEO in December of 2023.

In addition to Watkins, Wayne’s appointments earlier this year expanded his executive leadership team, further solidifying Kantar’s position as the Industry Leader North America:

  • Chris Petranto, a 27-year Kantar veteran serves as Chief Growth Officer for NA in addition to leading Kantar’s Global Analytics Practice.
  • Scott Megginson, a 13-year Kantar veteran, formally NA Industry Executive, returns to lead Canada.
  • Rachelle Minnis, a 15-year Kantar veteran and formerly head of the Media Solutions Delivery team was promoted to Chief Media Solutions Officer.
  • Nicole Jones, a 19-year Kantar veteran and formerly Head of the Media Effectiveness Business Development team was promoted to Chief Media Commercial Lead.
  • Brian James, formerly Global Solutions Sales Lead at Morning Consult and a former 12-year veteran of Kantar previously serving as EVP for Brand and Communications for Millward Brown, has returned as Technology and Telecommunications Industry Lead.
  • Ashley Grant, a six-year Kantar veteran formally Global HR Director for Product Team, joined NA as Chief People Officer.

Alongside the expansion of the leadership team, Kantar launched Blueprint for Brand Growth. This global analysis of more than 6.5 billion attitudinal and behavioral datapoints over 10 years quantified, for the first time, the key drivers to brand growth.

Additionally, Kantar introduced the Kantar AI Lab, which is leading efforts to integrate AI into every aspect of the Kantar portfolio and value chain, including KaiA (Kantar’s AI Assistant), a conversational generative assistant that enables marketers to interrogate data more intuitively.

“The evolution of our executive leadership team is reflective of the transformation of Kantar NA itself as we bring unique focus to what matters most to our clients,” says Levings. “As leaders in advancing AI technology to support of marketers, innovating understanding insights into media effectiveness, to showing brands the pathways to growth through our breakthrough Blueprint for Brand Growth research, Kantar is dedicated to helping brands grow. Our leadership team, with the vast experience they bring, is now in place to lead our clients in doing so.”

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