NEWS14 June 2012

Brooks leaves Leapfrog as it forms ‘alliance’ with RS Consulting

M&A UK

UK— Leapfrog Research managing director Tim Brooks has left the company after just one year as the firm forms an “alliance” with sister company RS Consulting, moving into the latter’s Battersea offices in London.

Kate Anderson, one of the longstanding board directors at RS will replace Brooks who opted not to move from Leapfrog’s Windsor HQ, which has now been closed, according to Jane Shirley, CEO of the research division of parent company Cello.

Anderson will be working closely with the senior Leapfrog team in its new home in Battersea, including Amanda Souter, research director and head of foundation qualitative and Chrissie Wells, director and head of quantitative.

Leapfrog co-founder Judy Taylor will remain as a managing partner of Cello. The company has said that she will launch a separate strategic unit, working with Cello’s communications business, Tangible. However, she will continue to have close links with Leapfrog.

Shirley told Research: “This move is designed to help us deliver better research for our clients. Increasingly they are looking for research agencies that can show a deep understanding of their business and can work in a global context… by bringing together the complementary skills [of Leapfrog and RS] in one location we will be able to deliver these benefits more effectively in the future.

“Both agencies will complement each other and really help to bring global scale to the work we are being commissioned to do for global brands, combining RS’s analysis and insight credentials with Leapfrog’s brand strategy and consumer understanding, creating a wider range of clients, projects and research methodologies.”

It is unclear how many other Leapfrog staff have turned down the move to Battersea.

Leapfrog was founded in 1994 and opened a US arm in 1996. It was acquired by Cello in 2005 as part of a deal worth an initial £3m, plus a further payment of up to £3m based on Leapfrog’s financial performance until the end of 2009.

@RESEARCH LIVE

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