Research specialist Millward Brown has launched an Australian operation of its marketing consultancy Millward Brown Vermeer as part of the global expansion of the brand.
The new Australian operation brings the number of Millward Brown Vermeer offices around the world to 10.
The new agency, which specialises in consulting on maximising financial returns on brand and marketing investments, will be headed by Caspar Wright, a former strategic leader with Lion Nathan and most recently CEO of Catalysis Consulting.
“Millward Brown Vermeer in Australia, under the leadership of Caspar Wright, will further strengthen our offer and expand the breadth of our strategic capabilities,” Ben Dixon, Managing Director of Millward Brown, Australia and New Zealand, told AdNews.
“This has been a while in the making for us. Having a Vermeer is a pretty natural extension of what we are and what we do. It's more I guess for us an evolution from pure consultative approach to to actual consulting in the strategy area.”
Wright said the opening of Vermeer, which was created through the acquisition of Effective Brands Holding B.V and combining it with Millward Brown's existing Optimor division, would help support its existing research divisions..
“As we start to get people on board I think there's no limit to what we can achieve,” he said.
“You need some people who have got hard consulting experience but you also need people with brand-building and a client side experience."
Wright said he expected to see growth in the packaged consumer goods space and other areas that would be on the radar of Vermeer included financial services, auto and telecommunications.
He said the biggest issues facing chief marketing officers coming into a new role or taking over a business was how to organise and build marketing excellence in a changing marketing world.
“Another area that is hot globally is positioning and purpose – what do we really stand for, what are we for at a societal level,” he said.
“A lot of the case studies you see around Cannes are really about uncovering a brand's purpose.”
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