NEW YORK: DeVries Global has launched a business intelligence practice and hired FleishmanHillard veteran Colby Vogt to lead it.
Vogt joined DeVries as global EVP of business intelligence on Monday. He is reporting to DeVries Global CEO Heidi Hovland and is based in the firm’s New York office. While Vogt is initially overseeing a team of three staffers, he told PRWeek he eventually plans to grow that number to 10.
DeVries established its business intelligence practice as a corollary to the agency’s creative intelligence practice, which is led by global EVP Loretta Markevics and includes strategy, creative, and social.
"Business intelligence is the yin to creative intelligence’s yang," explained Hovland on why the firm created the practice. "You can’t have strategy without the rich and deep research and insights that [our business intelligence practice] will enable."
In his global role, Vogt is tasked with delivering analytics, insights, and measurement services, and "increasing DeVries’ visibility as a leader in end-to-end research innovation," he explained. Vogt is also responsible for providing support to teams and clients outside of the U.S. to demonstrate the value an elevated research offering can bring to their businesses.
"We are focused on bringing intelligence, insights, and the democratization of data to all of our clients," Vogt said. "We feel this is extremely important in today’s competitive environment that we provide the most insightful, strategic recommendations."
He joined DeVries from FleishmanHillard, where he was an SVP, leading research and analytics for the East U.S. region, as well as EMEA and APAC.
While there, Vogt was primarily responsible for client consulting, thought leadership, new product offerings, and business development, according to his LinkedIn profile. His clients at Fleishman included L’Oréal, Samsung, Chase, Genentech, SAP, and JetBlue.
He departed Fleishman, where he had worked since 2009, on March 18. Previously, Vogt was a senior client manager at Edelman and regional director of client services at Gallup.
DeVries Global also hired Andres Vejarano as regional MD for Asia last month. He steps into the position in April.
Other recent appointments include Maddy Rao as EVP for client management and strategy, based in Singapore; Helena Bloomer as regional MD for Europe; and Gemma Chaldecott as deputy MD for the firm’s UK operation, known as DeVries SLAM.
DeVries is headquartered in New York, with offices in London, Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei, Singapore, and Mumbai.
"The power of communications is only as great as our ability to measure the impact, and we are going to be able to do that in ways our competitors won’t," added Hovland.
