Osborne was previously at MMR International and will now take the position of research director.

The addition of social listening to the agency’s services follows other new research tools it launched earlier in the year for its online community platform – Scout and Project.

Head of culture & trends, Kelly McKnight, said: “Social asking is the next trend in market research and social listening is a key addition to our toolkit. On the right research briefs, we can now combine digital listening with our traditional skills of asking questions to give us a better understanding of people, culture and trends.”