The new role will see him building the independent agency’s client solution capability, with a specific focus on data-led planning. He will report to Edentify founding partner Dan Banyard

In a statement, Gaines said: “It’s become much more of a challenge… to separate data-based insights from those based purely on emotion. By providing genuinely useful context alongside data, it will allow agencies and marketers to do what they do best: providing real strategic direction and execution to their customers.”

Banyard added: “Combining David’s unrivalled industry experience and our advanced data collection capacity will allow us to develop our systems and service far beyond the existing model.”