Greentarget, a leading business-to-business public relations firm, announced the addition of Betsy Hoag as director of research and planning in the firm’s Chicago office. Hoag will lead Greentarget’s award-winning Research and Market Intelligence team to design and execute quantitative and qualitative research campaigns. Additionally, Hoag will provide strategic planning and brand strategy, leveraging her diverse experience across the research spectrum as clients look for support activating and interpreting research-based insights.
“As our clients continue to compete on the basis of expertise, differentiated thought leadership programs require us to go deeper to find unique perspectives and insights that serve audience needs,” said Aaron Schoenherr, founding partner of Greentarget. “We’re bullish on the role research plays in our work as more of our clients have come to rely on Greentarget not only for traditional research-based thought leadership programs but also for insights to help better understand the B2B customer journey and the impact of their brands. We’re thrilled to welcome Betsy to the team as we evolve our research offering to include strategic planning and continue to counsel our clients on the latest approaches to market intelligence and analysis.”
Hoag has more than 20 years of experience in marketing, research, strategic planning and consulting, including the past nine years at Kairos Consumers, an international consumer and B2B research firm that she co-founded. Kairos’ client base, which included Greentarget, is comprised of a wide range of companies, such as Fortune 500 organizations, startups, government associations, nonprofits and marketing, advertising and research agencies.
Prior to Kairos, Hoag worked in a strategic planning role at J. Walter Thompson, where she developed and then integrated both quantitative and qualitative consumer research initiatives. Specifically, she used surveys, ethnographies, focus groups and in-depth interviews to build foundations for brand strategies. She also worked as a consultant for Euromonitor International, where she designed and managed custom global B2B and B2C research projects across a variety of industries and sectors. Her career in marketing began with the Chicago White Sox, but over the years she has worked with such clients as PwC, Bank of America, Johnson & Johnson, Kimberly-Clark, PepsiCo, the American Bar Association, Hyatt, TCS Education System and the Illinois Office of Tourism.
“Research and market intelligence is a fast-paced and evolving category, with new innovations and tools launching every month,” Hoag said. “I’m excited to join Greentarget, which has consistently shown that it can provide the expertise that is increasingly important to B2B and professional services organizations as they look for ways to elevate their brands and uncover actionable insights.”
Greentarget is a back-to-back finalist for the 2019 Diamond SABRE Award from the Holmes Report for Research and Planning. Last year, the firm won the award for its campaign titled “Rallying Big Data, AI and PR in Defense of Fairness Opinions.”