FreshMinds Forms Communities Division

FreshMinds Research has announced the formation of a distinct Research Communities and Panels division, and the arrival of James Turner, formerly Head of Research at BT, to lead it.

Turner brings over 12 years' research and consulting experience and has extensive client-side experience of conducting and managing continuous research, pioneering BT's use of numerous web 2.0 research techniques.

Over its two years in business, sister company FreshNetworks has invested in developing technology and expertise to help clients use social media tools for customer insight. Turner told DRNO that clients need to manage the way they use online communities, distinguishing contacts for research from those for wider marketing purposes. FreshMinds Research and FreshNetworks will provide expertise for these two areas, respectively, but the group will ensure clients can deal with a single account team, drawing on both and co-ordinating the approach.

Recent developments in technology have created enormous potential for research using social networks and online communities, according to FreshMinds Research MD Alistair Leathwood. 'We're really excited to be bringing these capabilities to research teams and providing the platform that enables research managers to have an ongoing interaction with key groups. James' experience in this field will be invaluable as we broaden our work in this area and we are delighted to welcome him to the team.'

CEO Charlie Osmond comments: 'As more research moves online and research teams rightly focus on continuous engagement, now is the time to take [FreshNetworks'] investment and for FreshMinds Research to apply it to the research environment. Using online communities for research and marketing purposes are two very distinct disciplines that require different approaches. Online research communities are a highly effective and cost-efficient means for conducting qualitative research - typically clients will save between 25% and 40% by using a community instead of more traditional techniques.'

FreshMinds is a recent double winner of the MRS UK Market Research Agency of the Year award and last year won the £5M HBOS / Sunday Times London Million Entrepreneur Challenge.

Web sites: www.freshminds.co.uk/research and www.freshnetworks.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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