Rubinson and InsightsNow Partner for NPD Innovation

In the US, former ARF leader Joel Rubinson has partnered with product development specialist InsightsNow to develop research tools to help consumer packaged goods (CPG) clients with product innovation.

Since leaving his role as Chief Research Officer (CRO) at the ARF last July, Rubinson has set up his own consultancy - Rubinson Partners - whose specialist areas include innovation; metrics and insights for digital marketing; conversation mining; and biometrics. Earlier in his career, he held shopper insights/advanced analytics roles at Synovate, and was CRO at The NPD Group, where he helped create the firm's approaches for new product forecasting, brand equity measurement and category management reporting.

InsightsNow founder and CEO Dave Lundahl says that Rubinson's contribution will be 'integral' to the firm's team of researchers who are designing and building the new tools. Rubinson will also work closely with the company's clients.

'Marketing's innovation emphasis must be on discovering ideas for products and experiences that address unmet needs in people's daily behaviors, and then testing those ideas in ways that are consistent,' Rubinson states.

Web sites: www.joelrubinson.net and www.insightsnow.com .