He will work alongside Steve Nuttall as the company expands its presence in the city.

Leathwood, who spent three years as the MD of FreshMinds’ research division before leaving this summer, starts the new job in October.

He told Research he wanted to “add to the energy and commercialism of the business, build the existing big clients, but also grab a couple of new ones”.

“It’s fun for me to work with an agency that has a great pedigree but, like everyone else, has had a difficult time,” he said. “A lot of the opportunity is unexploited and I hope that we can exploit that. The one thing I was struck by when I met them all is that they all really care about the business of research, the work they do and the clients they work for.”