Socially-led creative agency We Are Social has appointed Lore Oxford as its first global head of culture and insights.

In the newly created role, Oxford will be responsible for diversifying the agency’s research and insight function; bringing with her a qualitative specialism which will enable the agency to more effectively respond to questions around society and culture. She will also be leading a series of work-streams across the business, aimed at encouraging greater collaboration between markets, to build on the agency’s already expansive body of global insights.

Oxford will report directly to We Are Social’s chief strategy officer, Mobbie Nazir, who oversees the agency’s strategy and research and insight teams at a global level, with a focus on championing the role of social thinking to drive business value.

Before joining We Are Social, Oxford worked with global brands across a variety of industries to support their creative communications by unearthing cultural insights and consumer behaviours to inform their businesses more broadly. Most recently, she has worked within the strategy teams at AMV BBDO--providing audience understanding for Bacardi and Samsung--and Karmarama, where she delivered cutting edge youth insights for Nando’s and the National Citizen Service (NCS).

Prior to her time in creative agencies, Oxford built her career at global research agency Canvas8, where she worked across multiple markets to help Google understand how teens use their phones globally, and support MTV in understanding the science of boredom and how it manifests across different cultures.

Nazir said, “Cultural insights and understanding are core to our agency offering and Lore will help us to scale and operationalize our expertise in this area at a global level.”

Oxford added, “There’s never been a better time to work in cultural insights. At a time when attention is more fragmented than ever, and declining trust in social platforms is seeing people turn to more private digital spaces, genuinely understanding how people think, feel and behave is the only way brands and marketers can guarantee cutting through the noise.”