Former Infotools and Conquest Execs Launch New Firm

Former Infotools MD Ian Murray and Conquest Research Director Catherine Heaney have launched a new agency called house51, which will offer brand, communications and social research through a network of senior consultants.

Murray joined Infotools in 2012, and was promoted to MD for Europe the following year. He previously served as MD of Hall & Partners, Executive Partner at HPI, and as an AD at MORI. Heaney has been a freelancer for the past two years, before which she worked at Conquest, was an Account Manager at HPI, and a Media Researcher at NOP World.

Their new 'research collective' will tap into a network of consultants who specialise in integrating market research with psychology, behavioural economics and neuro-scientific approaches, to solve commercial and policy challenges.

Heaney says the company's aim is to offer 'genuine creative partnership and a powerful, scalable and cost effective alternative' to the traditional agency model. Murray adds: 'We are interested in people not consumers, and we think our clients should be too. Brands and policy makers are striving to find new roles and a shared social purpose. Our goal is to provide the real world understanding that supports their ambition.'

Web site: www.house51.co.uk .