Jennifer Sosin and Josh Gilbert have been appointed into global roles by the public relations group, with the former set to head strategy and the latter creative
Aiming to calibrate its capabilities to deliver the optimal fusion of strategy and creative whilst elevating its marketing services expertise globally, global public relations firm, Weber Shandwick, has appointed Jennifer Sosin and Josh Gilbert to the roles of Chair, Global Strategy & Insights and Executive Creative Director, Global Practices respectively.
“Clients are increasingly building communications into the core of their overall global business strategy. At Weber Shandwick, we are continuing to evolve our organisation to deliver against those client needs, both now and in the future. That means deepening our capabilities in strategic planning and stretching our creative muscle in order to incite the right audiences and ultimately drive business results for clients,” said Gail Heimann, President of Weber Shandwick.
Sosin, who previously held the role of Chief Research Strategist and before that was President of KRC Research, Weber Shandwick’s attitudinal research arm, will be based in Washington, DC where she will drive the firm’s strategic planning operations to integrate data, research, and analytics across all levels of client service and throughout the group’s global practices, regions, and highly-specialised talent network.
Since joining Weber Shandwick in 1998, Sosin has worked with clients to design research that informs strategy and to ensure that both research and strong strategic thinking are embedded in messaging and communications plans from early planning stages. She has particular expertise in corporate and public affairs, working with a variety of organisations to help manage controversies, communicate over complex issues as well as rebuild damaged reputations.
Prior to joining the agency, Sosin was a principal in a leading American political polling firm. She has managed political campaigns, trained political candidates and their staffs, and was part of the Democratic presidential polling teams in 1988 and 1992. Meanwhile, as ECD, Global Practices, Gilbert is positioned to work out of New York and has been charged with driving multi-disciplinary creative solutions, elevating and delivering on client solutions as well as growing the firm’s best-in-class creative talent across the global network.
Gilbert previously held the role of Executive Vice President of Creative at Weber Shandwick, working with clients to create great brand ideas and creative campaigns. This has included leading the agency’s work on Fisher-Price’s global television and digital advertising, working with MIT and Harvard to develop the brand for edX, their global online learning platform, developing creative campaigns for Unilever’s ‘brightFuture’ programme, and helping Bank of America to create its first brand campaign as a global business.
Prior to joining Weber Shandwick, Gilbert was a founding partner of the communications consulting boutique, Westhill Partners. During his tenure with the company, the firm’s political arm served as the strategy and media consultant for a presidential election in Venezuela among other major domestic political executions.
