Weber Shandwick Australia leaders launch AI-era agency VOCAL

Weber Shandwick Australia leaders Angela Malkin and Jami Gandha have launched VOCAL, a new independent communications agency focused on how AI is changing search and information discovery.

The agency has launched with foundation clients across corporate, technology, healthcare and consumer sectors.

Malkin and Gandha are co-founders and managing partners of VOCAL, which will provide strategic counsel, earned media and creative campaigns alongside AI-enabled tools.

Measuring visibility across AI

VOCAL has developed an Earned Authority Index, a proprietary framework designed to measure how discoverable and influential a brand is with audiences and AI systems.

The agency's proposition is based on the view that brands increasingly need to consider how they appear in AI-generated responses alongside traditional media and search.

Malkin said the fundamentals of communications remained the same despite changes in how information is found.

"For decades, communications has been about earning attention. Today, it's about Earning Authority.

"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."

Senior-led model

VOCAL will operate with a senior-led structure, with clients working directly with experienced practitioners.

The agency said it would use AI for administrative and repetitive tasks, aiming to give staff more time for strategy, creative work and client relationships.

Gandha said: "Clients are asking for experienced people who stay close to the work, understand their business and deliver measurable commercial impact.

We use AI to remove administration, not relationships. That gives our team more time to think strategically, create stronger ideas and focus on the work that makes the biggest difference for clients."

Malkin and Gandha are joined in the leadership team by Addie Freyne as head of strategy and Akina Taniguchi as client director.

Freyne developed VOCAL's Earned Authority Index and IDEAS Engine methodologies.

The agency will also draw on a broader team of Weber Shandwick talent across earned media, corporate communications, healthcare, consumer, creative and strategy.