Gannett Names Gilding VP Research & Strategy

Gannett Co. today named Emma Gilding vice president of brand research and strategy. Gilding formerly was president and principle strategist of in:site, a strategic and planning advisory group for Omnicom Group Inc. She will be based in New York and report to Maryam Banikarim, SVP-chief marketing officer at Gannett.

Gannett said Gilding will be responsible for “delivering forward-looking consumer, brand and market insights that will help drive the growth of Gannett’s businesses. She will also work closely with Gannett’s advertising partners to provide key knowledge to help solve their challenges and meet their objectives.”

In addition to being president and principle strategist of in:site, Gilding formerly was strategist for Omnicom Group’s Diversified Agency Services and was a founding partner of Omnicom Group’s G23, which focused on communications to women. Prior to joining Omnicom Group, Gilding was senior partner/executive director, discovery, within Ogilvy & Mather; and president of Behavioral & Cultural Insights Ltd. (BCI).

In 2001, Gilding was named one of the top 100 business innovators by Time magazine and Crain’s Magazine included her in the “40 Under 40 Executives to Watch.”

She has been a visiting professor at Yale University, Brown University, Columbia University and New York University since 2001. In 2005, she designed and taught a four-week credited course on consumer insights at the Virginia Commonwealth University Brandcenter. In 2008, she designed and taught the credited course Anthropology for Creative Services at West Virginia University.

Gilding’s education includes First Class BA (Hons) from Brunel University, London; and a CSSD Master of Arts (British Council Scholarship Award).