TRA Hires Cultural Strategy Head

Auckland, New Zealand-based insight consultancy TRA Group (The Research Agency) has appointed futurist and trend forecaster Laura Mulcahy in the newly created role of Director, Cultural Strategy. She is based in its Melbourne office, where two other senior hires have also been announced.

Mulcahy (pictured), who reports to TRA Melbourne Managing Partner Mark Hobart, will lead the firm's cultural strategy and foresight initiatives in both Australia and New Zealand, working in close collaboration with the leadership team and starting with a 'deep dive' into its annual review of cultural currents driving change and their relevance to brands. She has spent most of the last decade at Nike USA, most recently as Research Manager leading and executing work across the US, Europe and Asia in support of the sportswear giant's design, brand and business. Earlier she worked as Nike's Senior Trend Forecaster, analysing the global trends and lifestyle shifts that drive sport and culture.

TRA co-founder and MD Andrew Lewis states: 'We needed a practitioner with a deep knowledge of cultural foresight, critical thinking and cultural practice to lead Trans-Tasman client work across TRA's cultural strategy offering and I am confident we have found that person in Laura... Her experience working on large-scale Nike projects, driving brand strategy through intelligence and insight gathering; and ultimately translating data into meaningful insights, will help our clients' brands be at the cutting edge of cultural relevance'.

TRA Melbourne has made several other recent hires, including Account Director Kristian Williams, previously Research Design Manager at ANZ; and Senior Consultant Daniel Kobrin, previously a Senior Consultant at ISG. Both will help establish and build relationships with TRA clients.

Web site: www.theresearchagency.com .

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