Impact Hits the Ground Running

Two former employees of UK agency Holden Pearmain have launched their own company, Impact Research. Darryl Swift and Michael Brainch will focus initially on clients in the utilities, retail and FMCG sectors.

Swift left Holden Pearmain shortly after Brainch, in April this year. The new agency began to take shape in May and now has its own web site and a number of clients including a major FMCG firm.

Brainch worked for the Surrey-based agency for five years after graduating from Southampton University, and was most recently a Research Manager. He worked on tracking and ad hoc studies and took responsibility for three major clients.

Swift spent seven years at Holden Pearmain, the last five of them in a business development role, and earlier worked for Research International for five years and briefly at Philip Townsend Associates.

Both will work on project management while Swift will also take charge of business development, and the founders are likely to look for a third person to join the business shortly.

According to Swift, Impact's Managing Director, the new company will place a strong emphasis on considered, customised project work, not only encouraging but incentivising research staff to look for opportunities to add value for clients, and avoiding commoditisation. This will mean profit sharing, and bonuses geared towards project managers rather than business developers, for example where satisfied clients commission repeat business on the back of a successful survey.

Impact Research's plans for the next few months include the development of specific services aimed at smaller utilities, who Brainch says are not well served by currently available research. Similar niche offerings for FMCG and retail clients may follow, along with expansion into other sectors.

The company offers qual and quant surveys, and will also position itself as a resource for overworked client research departments needing extra capacity. Its own capacity will be boosted by close relationships with two established agencies, Toluna and Market Probe.

Web site: www.impactmr.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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