Ex-Hall & Partners Exec Opens Mobile Agency

In London, former Hall & Partners researcher Richard Owen has founded CrowdLab, which offers a mobile sampling and research platform as well as full qual/quant agency services.

Owen, who is a 20-year veteran of the market research industry, most recently worked as Global Head of Innovation at brand and communications research agency Hall & Partners, prior to which he spent a decade at Millward Brown in the UK, US and Latin America.

He has launched the new venture with technology partner Mat Mabe and 'interaction partner' Jim Willis, with support from user experience affiliate Dr Will Green, who previously worked in the strategic design team at Vodafone, and currently works at the University of Leicester.

The team also employs coders, programmers, database and software developers, and digital creatives, as well as consultants and freelancers.

CrowdLab has already developed phone and Android Smartphone apps, and plans to launch versions for Blackberry and Windows phones later in the year. The firm says its platform can be used for research on shopping experiences, or to track participants' daily activities.

Owen explains: 'CrowdLab blends our rich research experience and technology background with a disciplined user-centred design philosophy. This means we not only know how to harness mobile technology to maximise research insight, we do it with the user firmly in mind; be it the way people interact with the application or the way our clients interact with the results on the back end.'

Web site: www.crowdlab.com .