Joe Kessler is the Global Head of United Talent Agency’s IQ division, which analyzes third-party data and leverages proprietary tools and predictive analytics to deliver actionable intelligence to agents, executives, and clients across UTA’s practice areas.

In leading this new UTA group, Kessler brings decades of research and consumer insights experience within the entertainment industry and beyond. From 2009 through 2014, he was president of The Intelligence Group (IG), a division of Creative Artists Agency and publisher of the Cassandra Report, the iconic on-going study of youth behavior and attitudes. IG provided audience insights, data and strategic counsel to artists, athletes, and media and entertainment companies such as Fox, Sony, Disney and IMAX, and top brands like Red Bull, Adidas and Microsoft, and provided strategic intelligence and analysis for incubated startups and venture investments. Following the acquisition of IG by Engine Group USA, Kessler was CEO and president of youth marketing agency Noise, and after that was president of Deep Focus, one of the fastest growing digital agencies in the world. In this role, he oversaw several key functions that provided research, planning, analytics, social media strategy and account services to clients such as Unilever, Intel and Nestle. Earlier on, Kessler was a senior partner at SS+K, an award winning integrated marketing communications agency that, among its many accomplishments, served as then-candidate Barack Obama’s youth outreach agency of record during the run up to the historic 2008 national elections—lauded as an early exemplar for how campaigns can leverage research and data-driven insights to engage targeted constituencies effectively.