Callebaut and Synovate Part Company

Synovate Censydiam co-founder and former CEO Jan Callebaut has left his part-time consultancy post with Synovate after just four months.

In a statement, the firm said that the agreement to end the arrangement had been mutual. Ged Parton, CEO of Synovate's Brand & Communication Practice thanked Callebaut for his contributions and wished him well in the future. He described Callebaut's work in adapting psychology to study consumer motivations as having provided 'a solid foundation for the next generation of Synovate Censydiam offerings.'

Callebaut was recently involved with developing training methods and policies for the Synovate Censydiam Institute, the body responsible for consolidating the methodology and techniques of Censydiam research from around the world. Parton said that 140 new Synovate Censydiam researchers had been trained during the past nine months, and added that the firm plans to further invest in people and product development.

Belgian psychodynamic research specialist Censydiam was set up by Callebaut and Co-founder Hendrik Hendrickx in 1987 to use psychodynamic mapping, methods, and techniques to provide an in-depth understanding of consumer motivations. The firm, which was acquired by Synovate in 2003 (www.mrweb.com/drno2k/news2607.htm ), last week unveiled a suite of interactive tools to help understand consumer motivations online (www.mrweb.com/drno/news7371.htm ).

Web sites are at www.synovate.com and www.censydiam.com.