New Full Service Agency Targets Western Canada

Former Ipsos Reid President Steve Mossop has launched a full service agency called Insights West, based in Vancouver and servicing private and public sector clients across Western Canada.

For the past eighteen years, Mossop (pictured) oversaw Angus Reid's, and then Ipsos-Reid's Western division, managing up to 60 client services staff in Vancouver, Calgary, Seattle, Winnipeg and Houston, Texas.

Commenting on the launch, Mossop says: 'There is plenty of talent in this market, but no single research company that pulls everything together for the benefit of the Western Canadian business community. Our aim is to build a company based on entrepreneurial spirit, passion for marketing research, integrity, community giving, and fun while providing best-in-class research to clients in BC and Alberta, and beyond.'

He has already hired former Ipsos Reid colleague Don Miller as CFO; and former Ipsos and Vision Critical execs Jane Ha-Trapp, who joins as Vice President, and Raquel Henry, who takes up the position of Strategic Consultant for the new firm's consumer panel, YourInsights.ca. Mossop says the panel, which will examine members' use of mobile and social media, will recruit 10,000 Western Canadian panelists by the end of September, and 30,000 by the end of the year.

A second office is planned to open in downtown Vancouver in the fall, a third will launch in Calgary in early 2013, and Mossop says he will be doubling the number of employees by the end of the year.

Web site: www.insightswest.com .