Rainey (pictured) has spent eight years at Virgin Media O2, five of which were at O2 before the merger with Virgin Media, as well as nine years at Sky and six at Royal Mail Group. Rainey has also judged at the MRS Awards.

Leaving the company on 14^th August, Rainey will set up Claire Rainey Consulting, helping agencies and client-side teams navigate challenges such as growth, acquisition and how to maintain research’s influence on internal decision-making processes.

David Watts will replace Rainey at Virgin Media O2, having worked for the company for the past nine years.

Before becoming Virgin Media O2’s head of insight, Watts led commercial insight and foresight, focusing on helping the business understand customers, markets and emerging change. Prior roles include spells at BT and Carphone Warehouse.

Rainey said: “I’m really excited to have this opportunity to partner with agencies, through what is a period of change in client and agency dynamics.

“I want to use my client experience to focus agency strategies on opportunities for growth and acquisition. I’m also looking forward to working with a range of clients.

“The challenge client side now is maintaining influence on decision making and enforcing the value of research. Further to this I am offering coaching to client and agency leaders to progress their careers.”