Synovate Hires Consumer Goods Sector / Qual Research Head

Aegis Group's market research arm Synovate has appointed John Coll as Head of both its UK Consumer Goods Industry group and Qualitative Research business.

Coll has worked in research for more than 20 years. He takes up the new post from Synovate Censydiam, which he joined a year ago as Head of Key Accounts responsible for developing country and key account relationships and for launching a media research offering based on the consumer motivation model ( www.mrweb.com/drno/news6869.htm ). Prior to this, he was Strategy Director at Aegis's media agency Carat, Group Business Manager at AC Nielsen, European Research Director at Reckitt Benckiser and Consumer Intelligence Director at Diageo.

Synovate UK CEO Michelle Norman said that Coll's breadth of experience makes him a 'natural fit' to lead both divisions, and added: 'John will be a key contributor in driving the UK business forward.'

In his new role, Coll will focus on business and team development. He will also be tasked with developing the company's response to the consumer, brand, market and business issues that clients face when planning strategy, and for implementing the firm's global qual strategy in the UK.

Synovate employs more than 5,700 staff in 115 cities across 51 countries and is online at www.synovate.com.