Havas Media names regional research and analytics head

Sharma is relocating to Asia from West Africa, where he was in charge of research and strategy for OMD.  He will be based in Singapore and report to SK Biswas, Havas Media’s chief strategy officer.

In the new role, Sharma will be responsible for leading the research and analytics discipline and managing the group’s proprietary tools. He will also develop an econometric modeling function, according to Havas.

Sharma began his career with Nielsen in India in 2001. He has also worked at Prudential, Aegis Media and Carat.

Biswas said that Havas had put emphasis on research and analytics as “the cornerstone of an effective marketing strategy” and that Sharma would prove to be a “major asset” in that strategy.