New CEO for South Africa's MRF

In South Africa, non-profit industry body the Marketing Research Foundation (MRF) has appointed Johann Koster as Chief Executive Officer, replacing Greg Garden, who held the role for nearly three years.

MRF was launched in 2017 to replace The South African Audience Research Foundation (SAARF), and was tasked with delivering an audience currency to replace the country's discontinued AMPS measure (All Media and Products Survey). At the time, media owners and associations had pulled out of AMPS leaving a vacuum in brand, product and intermedia usage research, with a lack of funding available.

Koster (pictured) joins after previous stints at the MRF and SAARF (the South African Audience Research Foundation). Since 2013, he has run his own business, Johann Koster Consulting, focusing on project management and implementation plans related to customer, communications, media and marketing environments. Prior to this he was interim CEO of SAARF, and earlier he worked for the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), as Head of the Monitoring and Complaints Unit.

He takes over from Garden, who joined in 2017 and was previously CEO of the Marketing Association of South Africa; a Director of SAARF, MD of Sonnenburg Murphy Leo Burnett, and MD of Ogilvy and Mather's Meridian Advertising. Koster thanked Garden for the 'great work' he put in to building and enlisting new members into the MRF, and wished him well for the future.

Commenting on his own appointment, Koster said: 'I'm extremely passionate about the research industry and am especially looking forward to launching and updating the industry on MAPS, the long-awaited products and brands replacement survey for AMPS soon. We know this comprehensive national product and brand data research is long overdue to once again drive improve advertising effectiveness and ROI'.

Web site: www.mrfsa.org.za .

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