Former Staples Executive Joins AMP Agency as VP of Analytics

Ken Blake has joined AMP Agency as VP of analytics, a position that will elevate the analytic footprint of the agency with a focus on clients, such as Zillow. Blake comes to AMP from Staples where he was senior director of customer analytics and led a team of 45 statisticians, analysts and BI developers responsible for data science, data mining, customer segmentation, marketing analytics, media optimisation, web analytics and primary research.

Based in Boston, Blake will report into SVP, media and analytics, Doug Grumet.

“Our agency value proposition is grounded in driving growth for our band partners. Advanced analytics, data science and modelling is an area that AMP will continue to invest in to enable us to identify, recommend and prioritise high value initiatives. We’re excited to welcome Ken to the team”, said Michael Mish, general manager, AMP Agency.

AMP’s analytics team builds custom data solutions focused on strengthening and growing relationships between brands and customers. Specialties include media optimisation, customer journey analysis, engagement analysis and predictive analytics.

“We want to continue to enhance the analytics practice at AMP and lead with analytics as a service offering. Many agencies have strong measurement and dashboard capabilities, but fall short with predictive analytics and customer insight,” said Blake. “For us, it’s about using data to figure out which customers our clients should invest in, and then applying deep insight to help them better serve those customers.”

Before his role at Staples, Blake was head of analytic innovation and SVP analytics at Harte Hanks, and previously was a senior director at Targetbase.

“AMP has always had a strong presence in media and other digital services, and is now prioritising integrated relationships more than ever to support our clients’ broader business strategies. The breadth and depth of AMP’s client relationships was a key reason why I joined the company. I’m excited about the opportunity to further optimise our clients’ media activities while also helping them evaluate and pursue broader strategic initiatives,” concluded Blake.