Deutsch solidified its ever-stronger focus on research and relevant data streams this week by hiring industry veteran Madonna Deverson to fill the newly created role of EVP/brand intelligence.
Deverson joins the Deutsch organization after spending four years with Ogilvy. She was the director of information and intelligence for Ogilvy North America before being promoted to the role of senior partner/executive director of the agency’s “Intelligence Group” unit, and she began her agency career by spending more than eight years in Leo Burnett’s London-based research unit Leo IQ.
Her work has not strictly concerned advertising, though. Before joining Ogilvy, she held media news and research positions with what might seem like two opposing parties: The New York Times and the Fox News Channel.
Deverson’s hire is one of the first visible moves made by Deutsch’s new North American CEO Mike Sheldon, who was promoted from his previous role as chief executive of West Coast operations in January as Donny Deutsch left to begin his new career as a scripted TV star and Linda Sawyer replaced him in the chairman role after an agency-wide restructuring.
The release itself furthers the Sheldon narrative by naming the new position “part of Sheldon’s initiative to align bi-coastal agency resources” and noting that, while Deverson will work primarily out of LA, she will report to chief strategy officers on both coasts.
What will Deverson do in the new role? Sheldon mentions “our development of original and shareable work” while the release says she will “simplify complex data and transform it into insights that provide a new foundation for clients’ marketing strategies.”
Market research, then. She will also drive self-promotional efforts from within the Deutsch organization by assisting in “the development of intellectual property and thought leadership.”
Deverson earned her Bachelor of Arts and English in Popular Culture from Australia’s University of Melbourne, and she teaches college courses in Branding & Integrated Communications as an Adjunct Professor at the CCNY CUNY Masters Program.