Watermelon Launches Separate Operations Firm 'Calico'

London MR and CX firm Watermelon Research has spun out a technology-focused operations agency called Calico, billed as a 'one-stop shop' for the operational needs of other insight firms.

Brought to market by Watermelon CEO Mark Squires, Calico will be led by David Adley, who started his career at Facts International's operations centre in 2010 and has been Watermelon's Director of Operations since 2020. The new agency will manage 'all' MR operations including translations, quality procedures and data processing, focusing on three 'core business propositions': complex survey scripting, global fieldwork and data services. The name reflects this, being inspired by the three-coloured coats of calico cats.

Calico boasts an in-house team of programmers which it says will script surveys in multiple platforms and optimise their design to deliver 'engaging and user-friendly interfaces'. For fieldwork, it will partner with dozens of consumer, B2B and specialist panels, choosing between them independently and on a project-by-project basis. Its quality-focused data solutions will use automated in-survey checks alongside a large in-house team of QC specialists, backed by 'state of the art data security and protection', with ISO 27001 and Cyber Essentials accreditation.

Squires comments: 'At Watermelon, we've always taken a client-focussed approach to our business, immersing ourselves in our clients' cultures and ways of working, integrating with them and acting as one team. Our goal with Calico is to provide this same service to the rest of the industry and deliver best-in-class operations to other agencies that want to focus on insight and analysis, rather than supplier management and operational headaches'. According to Adley, the in-house team of programmers and client managers 'not only understand the principles of market research, but also the pressures of our industry', with the goal of providing clients with 'a transparent and trustworthy service'.

The new company is online at www.calicoservices.com .