Senior Hire for Touchstone Shoppercentric

Oxfordshire, UK-based brand, NPD, category and shopper consultancy Touchstone Shoppercentric has appointed Savanta veteran Ian Hext as Research Director.

B2C and B2B researchers Touchstone was founded in 2002 by Jon Darby and Tim Baker, and acquired Shoppercentric two and a half years ago. Hext (pictured) joins the combined company with thirty years of consumer insight experience, all from Savanta and its predecessor companies The Oxford Research Agency and Future Thinking. During this time he has helped FMCG and consumer brands bring their products to market through developing integrated programmes of research covering concept and product development, packaging, pricing and range research, with particular focus on behaviour and volumetric modelling.

Shoppercentric MD Jamie Rayner says the hire 'provides a further expansion and depth to our research capabilities and our commercial sense', adding: 'It's imperative that we have the ability to provide our clients with as full an understanding of how their brands work, both in-store and outside'. Touchstone Chairman Tim Baker adds: 'This appointment helps us fuse existing skillsets, apply our unique research tools around conscious / pre conscious decision making and execute incisive research through a great team'.

Web sites: www.shoppercentric.com and www.touchstonepartners.co.uk .