Facts and Opinion Leader Rolled into Watermelon

In the UK, Chime's Insight and Engagement Division (CIE) is consolidating and restructuring its agencies, bringing established firms Facts International and Opinion Leader under the Watermelon brand.

At the same time, Watermelon itself joins Chime's VCCP group of creative agencies, allowing it to 'enhance and expand its range of CX services', Chime says.

Customer Experience consultancy Watermelon Research was launched in March 2012 as a digital MR agency. Facts International was launched in the 1970s and Chime bought it in 2007 from founder Barbara Lee; Opinion Leader was already part of Chime, which bought it from founders Viki Cooke and Deborah Mattinson six years after its launch in 1992 - the pair stayed within the group for a dozen more years before leaving to start Britain Thinks in 2010.

As the two older brands disappear, Watermelon CEO and co-founder Mark Squires says existing clients will experience 'business as usual', but bringing together all the expertise and services in the group's 'legacy agencies' will make 'an extremely powerful team, fully able to deliver the really large-scale customer experience programmes'. Squires says the VCCP move will open the group's clients to Watermelon's services, but will also 'enable us to contribute directly to the really exciting work VCCP are delivering on Customer Experience Design'.

Adrian Coleman, Group CEO, VCCP, adds: 'Combining the services, expertise and insights under the Watermelon brand enables us to further build on our integrated customer experience offering. Growth in this market has been phenomenal in recent years and working closely with Watermelon puts us in a strong position to help brands better understand their customers'.

Web site: www.watermelonresearch.com .