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Weber Shandwick Australia Team Launches Independent Agency VOCAL
(MENAFN- PRovoke)
SYDNEY - The leadership team behind Weber Shandwick Australia has launched VOCAL, a new independent earned-first communications agency led by co-founders and managing partners Angela Malkin and Jami Gandha.
Malkin and Gandha are joined on the leadership team by Addie Freyne as head of strategy and Akina Taniguchi as client director, alongside a broader team of former Weber Shandwick talent across earned media, corporate communications, healthcare, consumer, creative and strategy.
The agency launches with foundation clients spanning corporate, technology, healthcare and consumer sectors.
The launch marks the latest chapter for the former Weber Shandwick Australia operation, which was sold by Interpublic to local management in 2021. Helen Graney became majority shareholder of Weber Shandwick and experiential sister agency Jack Morton Australia through the management buyout, while IPG retained a minority stake.
The independently owned Australian operation continued to trade under the Weber Shandwick brand and operate within the IPG network. Malkin joined in 2023 as head of Weber Shandwick Australia, working alongside Graney, and that Freyne had been appointed director of earned creative strategy.
VOCAL is positioning itself around what it calls“Earn Authority”, helping brands build credibility not only with people and journalists but with AI systems as generative platforms play a growing role in information discovery.
The agency has developed a proprietary Earned Authority Index to measure how discoverable, trusted and influential brands are across both people and AI. Its model combines strategic counsel, earned media and creative campaigns with AI-enabled methodologies.
“For decades, communications has been about earning attention. Today, it's about earning authority,” said Malkin.“The fundamentals haven't changed. Great ideas, trusted relationships and independent credibility still influence decisions. What has changed is how people find information.”
“People search differently. Journalists work differently. AI is becoming another gateway to information. Brands need to become trusted sources across all of them, and that's why we built VOCAL.”
The agency is also adopting a senior-led operating model intended to give clients direct access to experienced practitioners, while using AI to reduce administrative and repetitive work.
“Clients are asking for experienced people who stay close to the work, understand their business and deliver measurable commercial impact,” said Gandha.“We use AI to remove administration, not relationships.”
The launch comes amid wider changes to Weber Shandwick's global and Asia-Pacific structure following Omnicom's acquisition of Interpublic. In May, Omnicom Public Relations named Joanne Wong CEO of its APAC operation, giving her oversight of the group's agency brands across the region.
The following month, OPR unveiled a consolidated APAC leadership structure spanning Weber Shandwick, FleishmanHillard, Golin, Ketchum and DeVries Global. The market leadership team includes Yisi Liu in China, Carol Yeung in Hong Kong, Ryo Kanayama in Japan, Elizabeth Bae in Korea and Carolyn Ann Devanayagam in Singapore. Devanayagam will also take on the additional role of head of advisory for APAC.
VOCAL describes itself as an independent Australian communications agency specialising in earned media, strategic counsel, creative communications and AI-enabled methodologies.
Malkin and Gandha are joined on the leadership team by Addie Freyne as head of strategy and Akina Taniguchi as client director, alongside a broader team of former Weber Shandwick talent across earned media, corporate communications, healthcare, consumer, creative and strategy.
The agency launches with foundation clients spanning corporate, technology, healthcare and consumer sectors.
The launch marks the latest chapter for the former Weber Shandwick Australia operation, which was sold by Interpublic to local management in 2021. Helen Graney became majority shareholder of Weber Shandwick and experiential sister agency Jack Morton Australia through the management buyout, while IPG retained a minority stake.
The independently owned Australian operation continued to trade under the Weber Shandwick brand and operate within the IPG network. Malkin joined in 2023 as head of Weber Shandwick Australia, working alongside Graney, and that Freyne had been appointed director of earned creative strategy.
VOCAL is positioning itself around what it calls“Earn Authority”, helping brands build credibility not only with people and journalists but with AI systems as generative platforms play a growing role in information discovery.
The agency has developed a proprietary Earned Authority Index to measure how discoverable, trusted and influential brands are across both people and AI. Its model combines strategic counsel, earned media and creative campaigns with AI-enabled methodologies.
“For decades, communications has been about earning attention. Today, it's about earning authority,” said Malkin.“The fundamentals haven't changed. Great ideas, trusted relationships and independent credibility still influence decisions. What has changed is how people find information.”
“People search differently. Journalists work differently. AI is becoming another gateway to information. Brands need to become trusted sources across all of them, and that's why we built VOCAL.”
The agency is also adopting a senior-led operating model intended to give clients direct access to experienced practitioners, while using AI to reduce administrative and repetitive work.
“Clients are asking for experienced people who stay close to the work, understand their business and deliver measurable commercial impact,” said Gandha.“We use AI to remove administration, not relationships.”
The launch comes amid wider changes to Weber Shandwick's global and Asia-Pacific structure following Omnicom's acquisition of Interpublic. In May, Omnicom Public Relations named Joanne Wong CEO of its APAC operation, giving her oversight of the group's agency brands across the region.
The following month, OPR unveiled a consolidated APAC leadership structure spanning Weber Shandwick, FleishmanHillard, Golin, Ketchum and DeVries Global. The market leadership team includes Yisi Liu in China, Carol Yeung in Hong Kong, Ryo Kanayama in Japan, Elizabeth Bae in Korea and Carolyn Ann Devanayagam in Singapore. Devanayagam will also take on the additional role of head of advisory for APAC.
VOCAL describes itself as an independent Australian communications agency specialising in earned media, strategic counsel, creative communications and AI-enabled methodologies.
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