Partnerships, Hires and Launches for Market Probe

Market Probe has announced a major push into key developing countries with the launch of strategic partnerships around the globe; a new office in Hong Kong; senior hires for brand equity and customer research; and development of a new customer advocacy model.

The company has partnered with four 'well-established, midsize research companies' in Mexico, Poland, Russia and Argentina, enabling it to offer new customer research services to regional clients. Founder and Chief Exec Dr T.R. Rao says working with local firms will help bridge cultural differences and provide more effective research. Staff in each country will provide project support and client servicing, while Market Probe provides analysis and consulting services.

Rao says the company has also added to its leadership team 'in anticipation of the economic turnaround globally and in North America'. Judith Ricker joins as EVP, Brand Research and Consulting. She brings twenty years' experience working with brands, most recently from Harris Interactive where she founded the Brand and Communications Consulting group, and led the development of new methods for understanding the brand life cycle.

Don Ryan, Anu Bhalla and Yvette Wikstrom join as Vice Presidents. Ryan comes to the Technology Practice with more than two decades of consultancy on customer advocacy and brand equity research for IT and communications companies, and was previously VP of technology and media research at TNS.

Bhalla becomes VP, Customer Advocacy Marketing, having spent eighteen years in multi-sector and multi-industry custom and stakeholder research working at Angus Reid Group, Ronin Corp., Advanis and Angus Reid Strategies/Vision Critical.

Wikstrom joins as VP and Advocacy Marketing Consultant, with a background in developing and applying customized multidisciplinary research solutions, and worked previously for KS&R Inc.

The firm is also developing a framework for brand research linking it to customer experience and customer advocacy, according to Rao. Recent studies looking at B2B and B2C services in the US, Europe, South America and Asia found opportunities to monetize customer advocacy, and the company will now extend this model to the technology sector, developing syndicated studies.

Headquartered in Milwaukee, WI, Market Probe has full-service research offices in Canada, the UK, Belgium, Dubai, India, Bahrain, Hong Kong, Singapore and China, and is online at www.marketprobe.com .