• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, March 9, 2012

In a bid to better guide clients through the increasingly complex and demanding consumer landscape, The Halo Group, the New York-based branding and marketing communications agency, has expanded its strategic brand planning group.

The group is also getting a branding makeover and will now be called the Brand Experience and Performance Strategy Group.

As part of the reorganization, Chis Barredo has been promoted to senior brand planner and will manage strategy development related to client goals, brand audits, research and strategic direction.

The unit has also hired a new marketing and consumer analyst, Evan Walker, who will oversee the group’s consumer insights practice, as well as the tracking and management of brand performance metrics.

Chief Strategic Officer Mark Sutter, who oversees the group, said the expansion was carried out in part to meet the growing needs of client CMOs.

“Brands are under siege,” Sutter stated. “Unforgiving consumers are connecting with businesses in new ways, for new reasons and demand perfection in every interaction. Everything from your return policy to valet parking impacts your brand, and goes viral, positively or negatively, in seconds and globally."

Halo was founded in 1994 by CEO Linda Passante. The firm handles an array of branding, advertising and PR issues across multiple media and marketing channels; it claims clients in 40 countries. The firm has worked for companies such as U.S. Airways, Subway and AT&T.