Prophet, a next generation brand strategy and marketing consultancy, welcomes Christine Brandt Jones as a partner in the Insights practice, and Shiv Gupta as a partner in the Analytics practice, effective immediately.

Shiv Gupta, partner at Prophet. (Business Wire)

The addition of Brandt Jones and Gupta builds on Prophet’s legacy of understanding brands and leveraging customer research to uncover smarter ways to grow. At Prophet, the Insights and Analytics practices partner closely using a sequential approach to paint a more comprehensive and holistic picture of the consumer as a person rather than as a collection of behaviors, attitudes and psychographics. Further, the two practices team up to track and test brand strategy, mine social media and third-party data to measure brand health and leverage analytics for the targeting and personalization of digital and web experiences.

“Prophet is committed to building our insights and analytics expertise, and by adding Christine and Shiv, we’ll be positioned to seamlessly connect the drivers of human behavior to the economics of demand,” explained Andrew Pierce, the firm’s President, U.S. “Together, they provide the integration of the behavioral insights gleaned from deep dives into consumer data with the attitudinal and behavioral overlay of what makes customers tick.”

Gupta joins the firm from Merkle, where he was the vice president of analytics in the insurance and wealth management practice. Brandt Jones is a market insights strategist who spent 17 years at American Express, where she led the Global Marketplace Insights department.

CHRISTINE BRANDT JONES

Brandt Jones is a market insights and consumer strategist with 27 years of experience, including a 17-year tenure at American Express. There, Brandt Jones led the Global Marketplace Insights department, driving strategic initiatives including the development of Blue from American Express®, the Centurion® Card and Membership Rewards®. She was also part of the team responsible for licensing the American Express brand to banks all over the world.

“At Prophet, I look forward to building a world-class insights practice aimed at helping our clients deliver more meaningful, relevant and differentiated offers and experiences by uncovering and embedding critical market insights into brand and marketing strategy, innovation, new product/market development and customer experience,” explained Brandt Jones.

For six years, Brandt Jones ran her own consultancy where she provided strategic, tactical, and organizational consulting to clients in a wide range of industries including financial services, hospitality, beverages, insurance, audio equipment, consumer health care and transportation. Brandt Jones was the interim CMO for the 2014 NY/NJ Super Bowl Host Committee and served on their Social Media Advisory Board.

Brandt Jones received her BSBA from Boston University. She was born in Germany, is fluent in German and is a naturalized citizen of the U.S.

SHIV GUPTA

Gupta has over 15 years of experience creating and executing analytics-driven strategies for Fortune 500 companies. While at Merkle, he led engagements at some of the world’s most recognized brands in insurance, wealth management and retail, developing growth and acquisition strategies using digital and non-digital media.

“The highly disruptive capabilities of big data and analytics are, literally, around the corner and are already impacting the way our clients approach growth, brand development and the customer experience. I am looking forward to partnering with the amazing talent at Prophet to help our clients navigate and leverage big data to generate powerful growth opportunities,” said Gupta.

A noted expert on customer equity, customer lifetime value strategy and the use of predictive modeling in marketing, Gupta has been recognized for his innovative approach towards retention and profitable loyalty.

Gupta holds an MBA from the Chicago Booth School of Business and a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Illinois; he received a BS in Chemistry from Loyola University.

About Prophet

Prophet is a next generation consultancy that fuses insights, strategy, creativity and imagination to help clients create better ways to grow. We uncover deeper customer insights, build stronger brand relevance and deliver engaging customer experiences for some of the world’s most successful companies such as BMW, Cisco, Electrolux, GE, Johnson & Johnson, McDonald's, Siemens, UBS and Zurich Financial. Our 300+ experts in marketing, innovation, digital and design help companies bridge the gap between strategy and execution to drive real market impact.

ProphetKathleen Hatfield, +1 305-934-6696khatfield@prophet.com