Former COI Strategist Joins The Futures Company

WPP's global trend research firm The Futures Company has appointed former COI brand and innovation specialist Phil Soanes as a Director in the UK.

The Futures Company, which was created by the merger of the Henley Centre HeadlightVision and Yankelovich, specializes in futures and trends, segmentation, quant analysis and modelling. It has teams in the UK, US, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and India.

At the COI (Central Office of Information) Soanes served as a Strategic Consultant and was most recently on secondment to the Cabinet Office's Strategic Communications team, working alongside No.10 on the 'Big Society' and 'Transparency' initiatives. He began his career in the ad industry at Ogilvy and Mather and TBWA/London, before moving on to brand and innovation consultancies Circus, Corporate Edge and Clear Ideas.

MD Sarah King comments: 'With his excellent brand and innovation credentials, Phil will play a key role in our brand futures effort. We are delighted to welcome him on board.'

Soanes is the latest in a number of senior UK hires, including former Orange exec Patrick Harris and former Henley Centre employee David Teague.

Web site: www.thefuturescompany.com .