Zantingh joins from advertising production company Tag Worldwide, where he was managing director for Asia Pacific. Before that he was international marketing controller for the Royal Salute whisky brand of Pernod Ricard.

Previously in his career Zantingh has held brand manager roles at Kimberly-Clark and United Biscuits.

BrainJuicer has been looking to get its online research business off the ground in China for a number of years now. The original target was for an office to launch at the end of 2008, but the firm faced difficulties familiar to many research companies in securing a government licence to operate in the country.

The firm opened in Brazil last month, and also has offices in the UK, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, the US and Canada, and an affiliate in Australia.

Chief executive John Kearon said: “Han is an enormously respected leader with an expertise in a wide variety of marketing and advertising roles, making him the ideal candidate to establish BrainJuicer’s first marketing consultancy operations in Asia.”