Driving revenue growth: Refreshing commercial talent for Kantar across North America

Before searching the market, Kantar needed a clear, objective definition of the commercial leadership required to reignite growth.

Kantar’s North American business operated in a mature, highly competitive market where growth had plateaued. To rebuild momentum, the organization needed to refresh its leadership with people who could combine sector expertise with genuine commercial drive, stronger client relationships and an appetite to grow revenue where every point of market share was hard won.

But the challenge went beyond finding new people. Kantar first needed to understand what ‘good’ actually looked like.

Its existing view of commercial talent had been relatively instinctive and ad hoc. The business needed a more objective standard against which it could benchmark its current team, evaluate the external market and make confident decisions about where new capability was required.

Essenta created one evidence-based benchmark for success, then applied it consistently to both Kantar’s existing team and the external market.

Defining the challenge

Working closely with Kantar’s leadership team, we translated the ambition to refresh commercial talent into a precise success profile spanning commercial acumen, client leadership, sector knowledge and the behaviours needed to drive lasting growth in a mature market.

Mapping the market

We then mapped commercial talent across North America, focusing on the location hubs and priority sectors most strategically important to Kantar.

Working in focused sprints, we engaged established senior leaders alongside high-potential emerging talent across data, insights, consumer and adjacent commercial markets, with deliberate emphasis on diversity of background and perspective.

The result was a real-time view of the external market against which Kantar could compare its existing capability.

Assessing for success

Every shortlisted candidate was assessed through the Essenta Discovery Process®, applying the same agreed benchmark to capability, motivation and behaviour.

Rather than relying on credentials and interviews alone, the process gave Kantar evidence of how each individual was likely to perform in role, engage clients and contribute to growth, giving Kantar a more consistent basis for assessing both fit and potential.

Kantar and Essenta built one joined-up programme spanning Assessment, search and longer-term talent decisions.

The agreed success profile became the foundation for the entire engagement. Kantar could assess its existing commercial team, compare internal capability with the external market and identify where new leadership would have the greatest impact.

Where external appointments were required, we ran targeted Executive Searches against the same benchmark, combining market insight with structured Assessment to maintain consistency from initial mapping through to final selection.

Seven commercial leaders were ultimately identified and appointed across North America.

The value of the work extended beyond selection. Insights from the Essenta Discovery Process® informed onboarding for successful candidates and fed into Kantar’s broader hiring strategy, helping establish a clearer and more consistent approach to commercial talent for the future.

Throughout, we balanced the pace of live hiring requirements with the discipline of a longer-term talent strategy, giving Kantar the evidence and confidence to make significant leadership decisions.