Verve Ramps Up Brand Communities Team

UK-based Verve - which specialises in customer advisory panels and online brand communities - has appointed five new members of staff, and promoted Client Services Director Jeremy Hollow to the position of Sales Director.

Verve was launched in 2008 by the founders of Research Now, Hall & Partners and the iD Factor - Andrew Cooper, Mike Hall and Jon Gumbrell.

Hollow joined the firm last November from Tribal where he worked as a Management Consultant. Before this, he was Head of Public Sector Research at Freshminds.

His new team members include Client Services Directors Vicki Aran and Paul Lawson, Research Analyst Lunna Lopes, Marketing and Community Manager Ana Garcia, and Graphic Designer Laurence Taylor.

Aran joins from vitamins, minerals and supplements provider Seven Seas, where she established the Consumer Insight team. Prior to this, she spent six years in senior roles at Nunwood.

Lawson was previously Research Director in the Consumer Goods team at Synovate, where he specialised in NPD, benchmarking, volumetric forecasting, concept testing and segmentation.

Before joining, Lopes was a Research Associate at the Public Policy Institute of California, and worked as a Project Associate at Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research. She was also a New Media Intern for the Obama Presidential campaign.

Most recently, Garcia was Marketing and Senior Project Manager at online fieldwork specialist Research Now. Prior to this, she served as a Client Services Executive at Harris Interactive.

Taylor has joined the web design team from Printout where he was Creative / Web Designer. Before this he worked as a Web Developer with digital arts consultancy Machina.

Commenting on the recent appointments, UK MD Jeannie Arthur says: 'We are delighted to be expanding the team to deliver the full range of technology, research and community management services required to deliver successful online brand communities for our clients.'

Web site: www.addverve.com .