Verve Hires Adrian Sanger as First Innovation Director

London-based community panels and digital research specialist Verve has hired long-time industry exec Adrian Sanger for its newly created role of Innovation Director.

Verve, which also has an office in Chicago, uses commonly adopted technology to gather feedback, and integrates multiple data sources to deliver more in-depth insight. In December, the UK business of communities company Potentiate became part of Verve, which has since integrated Potentiate's model for combining community panels and CX (customer experience) programmes.

Sanger (pictured) joins after roles as Global Head of Shopper at GfK and at Nielsen, and Head of Research & Insight at dunnhumby, where he founded the firm's research panel shopperthoughts.com. He began his career at Kantar Millward Brown, and more recently, held interim positions as Group Director at STRAT7, and Global Head of Data Community at Specsavers.

In his new role, Sanger will focus on developing Verve's core business, and accelerating growth internationally through the launch of new products and propositions across the firm's portfolio. He will also work in collaboration with Daniel Alexander-Head, Potentiate's Innovation Director, to develop ideas relating to the expertise that both agencies hold on the intersection of community panels and CX.

Commenting on the appointment, CEO and founder Andrew Cooper said: 'We had a strong Q1 and are on track to deliver growth of 25% again this year - we're pouring fuel on the flames with investment in innovation and are delighted to have Adrian on board to help us do just that.'

Web site: www.addverve.com .