WASHINGTON, DC—Omnicom-owned public affairs firm Mercury has hired research consultants Tony Fabrizio and Bob Ward to direct its polling capability and Vance Hickin, Vicky Vadlamani, and Paul Parmley to strengthen its digital capabilities.

Fabrizio and Ward, founding partners of research consultancy Fabrizio Ward, have led polling operations for Fortune 500 companies, presidential campaigns, trade groups, international political campaigns and NGOs, specializing in opinion research, political strategy, corporate strategy as well as issue and crisis management, with clientele that spans the globe.

Fabrizio served as chief pollster and strategist for former Senator Bob Dole’s 1996 Presidential campaign and has consulted with companies including Visa, Hewlett-Packard, AOL/Time-Warner, FedEx, Pfizer, AT&T, and Phillip Morris. Ward served director of opinion research for the Dole campaign and as pollster to Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty and strategic information director at the Republican National Committee.

Hickin will be senior vice president at Mercury’s Los Angeles office. He was previously principal at Highway One Consulting and former California digital director for Obama for America 2012. Vadlamani will be vice president in Mercury’s Washington, DC, office, having previously managed the digital practice at Levick. Parmley will be director in the Sacramento office. He previously led social media strategy, community management and digital crisis communications for PG&E.