Edelman Eyes AI Opportunity Amid Leadership Shift
作者：By Audrey Kemp
Edelman announced an executive leadership shuffle as the independent PR firm looks to capitalize on major shifts in media and marketing—and compete more directly for marketing budgets.
Longtime company veteran Matthew Harrington steps into the role of executive chair as Mainardo de Nardis, board member and former OMD Worldwide CEO, succeeds him as global president and chief operating officer.
Brian Buchwald, formerly global chair of product and AI, has also been elevated to president of global transformation and performance.
“Each of these leaders brings unique strengths that will help us move forward in a rapidly changing communications landscape,” CEO Richard Edelman told ADWEEK. “Their focus will be on delivering greater impact for our clients, strengthening our internal operations, and driving the firm’s ongoing transformation and innovation.”
De Nardis, who has an operations background at agencies, will bring rigor to Edelman’s network globally. His CMO relationships will also help the firm shift from a geography-focused model to one structured around clients, Edelman said.
“We’ve got the right offer, it’s the right time,” De Nardis told ADWEEK.
The leadership shifts come on the heels of a series of senior creative hires at Edelman as it angles for broader marketing budgets beyond PR. Earlier this year, the firm brought on Kate Stanners as chief creative officer, international, and Eduardo Tavares as global executive creative director of health.
AI in PR
Edelman also revealed the Edelman Central Operating System (ECOS), an AI-powered platform that aims to help the PR firm take advantage as AI search creates new opportunities for earned media.
“We’re having our own answer to the moment,” Edelman said. “Firms like ours, which are specialist in earned media, are now finally having an advantage.”
The platform, which underpins the agency’s workflows and client engagements, is being used by select teams interally. The company plans to expand access to clients over the next year.
Buchwald, who has been leading the initiative, described ECOS as the firm’s AI infrastructure, connecting in-house generative models with external tools from OpenAI and Microsoft, while integrating with enterprise software like Workday. He called it a “collaboration layer” that coordinates how AI is applied across campaigns, teams, and clients.
ECOS is build on an agentic framework, with AI agents managing workflows, generating campaigns, and coordinating deliverables. Buchwald described the agents as “operational copilots” that speed up work.
Alongside ECOS, Edelman continues to develop Archie, its proprietary large language model focused on brand trust—a longstanding pillar of the firm’s positioning. With these tools, Edelman is using AI to identify cultural moments before they peak, attribute business value to earned channels, and prove ROI, Buchwald said.
“What AI is enabling us to do now is pretty profound,” he said. “We can identify those cultural moments before they reach critical mass, so we can get to them on behalf of our clients before their competitors do.”
As AI redefines the information ecosystem, Edelman sees earned media becoming more core to overall marketing strategies—and therefore, capturing a larger share of budgets that may have traditionally gone to large holding companies.
“It’s our moment of opportunity, if we can take our share of the spend from 7% to 15%,” Edelman said.
关于《Edelman Eyes AI Opportunity Amid Leadership Shift》的评论
暂无评论