Synovate NZ gains a senior scalp

August 10th 2011

Synovate NZ gains a senior scalp

Synovate, New Zealand’s most awarded market research company has announced the appointment of Duncan Stuart to a senior role within the team. Previously he worked as an independent researcher with his own firm Kudos.

Duncan was the first market researcher in this country to be elected by his profession as a Fellow of the Market Research Society of New Zealand, and last year was elected as a Life Member in recognition of his contributions to the wider profession including professional development sessions. In 2003 and 2004 he served as a judge in the NZ marketing Awards, and since the mid 1990s has won numerous awards at conferences.

Says Duncan: “I’ve enjoyed 15 years as an independent researcher and have used those years to focus on personal professional development – exploring new ways to conduct and analyse research and better ways to push the value frontier for clients. Markets and media have changed radically in the past two decades, but I believe most researchers have not kept up.”

He says he was initially committed to remaining independent. “What lured me to Synovate were two things. First; they have clients who demonstrate bold thinking and second, they’re committed to being the best around: they want to be the rock stars of research. I think their awards demonstrate that.”

Ian Mills, GM of Synovate says Duncan’s role description is suitably loose, and is part the company’s flexible style in which expertise can freely flow. “Classic research firms have a silo structure and that’s no way to get the best thinking for the client. Duncan joins a highly interactive team of top talent.”

He describes Duncan’s style as creative and technically innovative. “His mission is to extract as much insight as possible from any given project – to work the data in fresh ways. We can learn things from him to help us lift our game, but at the same time we’ve got the environment where he can lift his. That’s the idea: we want to push each other to new heights.”

Outside of research, Duncan is committed to the running and support of a school he helped build in Cambodia in 2005.

ENDS

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