Brazil Office for Kantar Retail

Kantar Retail is to open its first South American office, in Brazil, where it will team up with WPP sister company TNS to use the latter's primary shopper research capabilities. Former Mars and LVMH executive Eric Debarnot will head up the new office as MD.

The firms say the combination will offer South American FMCG manufacturers and retailers a unique offering integrating Kantar Retail's expertise in insight-based category strategies and category leadership with shopper insights from the established TNS Brazil.

Debarnot, who will be will based in the new São Paulo office, was previously SVP for Business and Customer Development for European processed meat company Campofrio. Prior to this he worked at Mars and spent more than six years in Brazil, latterly as General Manager of Moet Hennessy (previously Chandon do Brasil), part of LVMH.

Debarnot comments: 'Brazil is a complex country because of its size and geography - the balance of using wholesalers, distributors and direct operations is one of the challenges in this vast country... The emergence of a new kind of shopper in Brazil, who has access to more consumer goods than ever before, is adding to the complexity'.

Web site: www.kantarretail.com .

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