Spilsbury Leaves, Britton Steps Up

Independent UK agency IFF Research, which celebrates its fortieth birthday in May this year, has announced the departure of Dave Spilsbury and his replacement as MD by Tim Britton. Spilsbury, who took over from Ed Smith in 1992, is keeping his future plans under wraps.

Spilsbury has worked for IFF since leaving University in 1978, and says he has 'been thinking of doing other things for a year or two'. Whilst a Director of the company in 1988, he gave DRNO Editor Nick Thomas his first break in market research, reportedly on the strength of a throwaway remark on a CV about a gastro-intestinal malady contracted whilst travelling in the orient (CV-writers take note).

In thirteen years as the third MD of the company (following Smith and founder Andrew McIntosh, now Lord McIntosh) he has taken the firm from a turnover of around £1m to a robust £4-5m, and brought it a new financial stability, according to his successor. 'With the ongoing debate about whether medium-sized agencies have a future, Dave has taken us up a step... and given us a spread of clients which means we are not over-dependent on any one' Britton told DRNO.

Britton says the company has 'a young team of directors who are really keen to take the company forward. We are not planning any radical shake up, but we do intend to bring greater focus onto our core areas of expertise, most notably financial services, business services and the public sector'. Already, in the last decade, the company has changed emphasis from being 'strictly b2b' to combining expertise in business markets with specific consumer specialisms. Britton says the b2b heritage will continue to be important, but he is known to have little time for the view that b2b researchers are inherently different and 'never the twain shall meet'. 'We are still one of the best in the business for research in business markets, but that's not the thing that should differentiate you in the market... that would be like someone saying 'we only do quant' - it's not the relevant thing for clients'.

Britton joined IFF as his 'first real graduate job' in 1993 and left in 1997 to get a better understanding of customer decision-making - he worked for an affinity marketing company in financial services and then briefly as an independent for clients including IFF, before being asked back as a Director in 2000.

Spilsbury will be leaving in April 2005 and the only clues to his future direction are photographs taken earlier this week of him going into meetings with Roman Abramovich with a can of beer in one hand and a fag in the other *.

Founded in 1965, IFF is independently owned by its working directors - its web site is at www.iffresearch.com


* Safe Harbour Statement
The paragraph about Chelsea is completely made up.

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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