Unmetric names Rick Liebling as head of global marketing

Chennai- and New York-based social media benchmarking startup Unmetric Inc has appointed Rick Liebling as head of global marketing. In the new role, Liebling will lead Unmetric's marketing initiatives across brand, product and content communication strategies.

Prior to joining Unmetric, Liebling served as the creative culturalist at Young & Rubicam Advertising. Previously he served in a variety of digital and social media planning and strategy roles on global initiatives for iconic brands such as MasterCard, Gillette, Sony Ericsson, Verizon, General Mills and Diageo.

"The ability to unlock competitive intelligence is crucial for brands and agencies alike and I look forward to the opportunity to help Unmetric further serve the needs of the Fortune 500 companies it works with," said Liebling.

The startup has also roped in Adam Kmiec from The Walgreens Family of Companies to its board of advisors.

Founded in February 2011 by IIT Madras graduate Lakshmanan Narayan, Unmetric uses a combination of advanced algorithms and human computing power to deliver relevant data and benchmarking insights into social media metrics, and caters to several industries. Its deliverables essentially span key metrics such as content strategy, social media engagement, timing and frequency of tweets and posts on social sites.

Last September, the firm had raised $5.5 million in Series B round of funding, led by JAFCO Asia with participation from existing investor Nexus Venture Partners. This followed $3.2 million in Series A funding, led by Nexus Venture Partners, in April 2012.

The company claims that last year it nearly tripled its client base and added new clients, including Frito-Lay, American Airlines, NARS Cosmetics, ITC Hotels, Sapient, Wieden+Kennedy, Deep Focus and Changi Airport Singapore.

Unmetric recently introduced LinkedIn analytics to its platform to provide brands with insights around their in-house content and career opportunities, helping them determine the engagement and overall success of different publishing strategies. The company has also rolled out an enhanced Twitter platform, called T+, which helps brands understand the effects of adopting hashtags, evaluate campaign engagement and optimise customer service teams.

Unmetric says that it now hosts over 15,000 brands from across the globe to offer social media analysis across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest and LinkedIn. Its clients also include Zocalo Group, Under Armour, Lowe's Home Improvement, MRY, GroupM, Volvo Cars and Dow Chemical Company.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)