LONDON — MHP Group has hired its first head of data and insights, to lead the expansion of its research, measurement and analytics services, which help brands navigate an increasingly fragmented, noisy and polarised communications environment.

Nisa Bayindir will lead the agency’s research, measurement and AI innovation programmes, including its Trust Analytics tool, and will further develop MHP’s Polarisation Tracker, a collaborative project with Cambridge University. She will also help design and implement the group’s AI strategy and product development.

Bayindir (pictured, left) has a background in planning and research, with training in behavioural science and machine learning. She was previously EVP of research and behavioural science at Pulsar Group, and before that, director of global insights at GWI and head of consumer research for the Telegraph Group.

Most recently, Bayindir advised AI start-up VOOP, while studying machine learning at MIT and completing a PhD. In her new role, she will report to MHP’s deputy CEO Nick Barron and work alongside head of strategy Kate Gomes.

Speaking to PRovoke Media about the appointment, Barron (pictured, right) said appointing a data and analytics chief was a required next step for the group, which includes agencies MHP, Mischief and La Plage: “We have a large and growing strategy team, but we came to realise that strategy is only as good as the data and insights fed into it, and that we really needed proper rigour in terms of our use of research and data. As communications becomes more sophisticated, the need for quality data and analytics has got greater, so we needed a specialist.

“Also, with the growing role of AI in everyone’s business, we needed someone who really knows about AI – we have access to brilliant technologists within the Next15 family, but we wanted someone who understands AI at a deep level and is thinking specifically of its application for our clients’ challenges and in the comms mix.

“We never thought we’d find anyone who really understands comms, AI, data and behavioural science, but Nisa has an interesting background – we couldn’t believe our luck.”

From Bayindir’s point of view, MHP’s complex requirement was an equal surprise: “I knew of MHP from my time at Engine [MHP’s former owner, where she was a social and content strategist between 2013-2015] and knew the amazing work they were delivering, and I was really impressed by the job description.

“Most businesses don’t see the value in the amalgamation of those things, don’t merge behavioural science and comms, or integrate data into tech innovation and influence; it’s hard to come by, this kind of appetite, and having people who can think with you – strategists who are collaborating with real rigour and understanding. It feels like I’m in the right place – the ball is rolling at MHP and hopefully I will contribute to that,” she told PRovoke Media.

Bayindir said one of the skills she would bring to the role was “synthesising insights and information and packaging them in a way to allow us and clients understand how we can act on that. The stragegy team are brilliant and my addition is to be a dedicated brain to that synthesis of information, and knowing where and how to ask the question, in terms of tools, sister agencies and partners.”

She said her background – being raised in Turkey near the eastern border with Syria and then being educated in Istanbul, London and Belfast, where she did her PhD in Cognition and Culture at Queen’s University – gave her a unique cross-cultural view: “We’re dealing with multicultural audience bases and need to think about the impact of different perspectives so we can integrate that cultural lens in all our work.”

Barron said part of Bayindir’s brief was to develop a road map for the agency’s use of data, analytics and strategy: “Broadly, we want better answers to difficult questions, whether in our own IP or the huge amount of data we gather on behalf of clients. We’re not really joining all the dots on those insights yet, we want a real data hub in the business and to use AI to manage that.

“The second part as that we’re doing more and more work focused on strategic products, such as our nascent Trust Analytics business, where we measure trust in a brand and look at how brands can move the needle on their trust scores. Those areas really benefit from having data science in the mix and we want to build that business at scale. Synthetic personas and predictive analysis are another real opportunity for us and clients, so we can test, predict and measure audience responses to messages.

“We believe in creating messages and content – and working with messengers – that people will respond to, and there’s a whole range of products and services we want to develop in this space. Finally, we are doing more primary research for clients: they want us to help them research audiences and issues and so we need specialists – it’s a commercial opportunity as well as being about quality and efficiency.”

As a practical example of how the new role will help the agency to improve its offer, Barron said: “For instance, when we present clients with insights from our Polarisation Tracker findings and they want to dig deeper into the data about what makes people tick, as a comms person I can’t quickly do the analysis linking the data points together, so the ability to do things in real time and do dynamic analysis of data sets will be gamechanging for us.”

In terms of the next iteration of MHP’s Polarisation Tracker – a long-term sentiment and trends study conducted with a cross-section of the British public every six months to act as an ‘early warning system’ for brands and businesses – Barron said the agency was aiming to look at changing perceptions of areas that have come to the fore in recent months, such as DEI, defence, Britain’s relationship with the EU, net zero. The report may also look at whether Britain’s perceptions of other countries are changing, given the rapidly-shifting geopolitical landscape.

“And of course we really need to dig into the Reform voter mindset – we saw in the last wave of the report that Labour would be losing voters to Reform and that’s become clear now with the local elections and the polls,” he said.

Bayindir added: “With the Polarisation Tracker, we can definitely focus more on synthetic personas to understand who are the super-distrusters [a growing section of the public first identified by the report in 2023] and what really rubs them the wrong way. And, in this day and age where we have generative AI and agentic AI and people are promiscuous with social media usage, we can’t look at trust in a linear way anymore. It’s a sliding scale, so with the strategy team we’ll be looking at how to develop Trust Analytics further with Influence at Work.”

Barron said the growing prevalence of AI in the comms world was another motivator for hiring Bayindir: “Clients are increasing asking us – and I’m sure their other agency partners – how to use AI to do things better. It’s about understanding the potential, getting the most out of tools, plugging them together, driving efficiencies and operational improvements – and adding value. Our head of financial services Nick Woods has done the work to drive this through the business, and his work has led us to this point. We’ve got good tools, we’ve done the basics, and now it’s time to bring in Nisa as our specialist.”