Page (pictured), chief executive of Ipsos Mori, joined the company in 1987 and was one of the leaders of its first management buyout in 2000. Page has been made a patron in recognition of his support to the Archive, donating a room in Ipsos Mori’s offices for its volunteers and committee members to use.

He said: “In a fast moving world, it is all too easy to lose sight of important data from the relatively recent past that can help illuminate present trends, as well as the history of the research industry. The AMSR helps the industry, academics and journalists with both.”

Bullmore, a member of WPP’s advisory board, began his career as a copywriter with J. Walter Thompson London, later becoming creative director and chairman of the ad agency. Previously a president of the Market Research Society, he has held non-executive director positions at the Guardian Media Group and WPP.

Bullmore said: “It’s a matter of surprise, if not of shame, that no such archive already existed. For the intelligent historian, educator, journalist or politician, needing to know, in sensitive detail, how we’ve lived our lives for the last 70 years or so, AMSR contains an utterly priceless bounty of evidence.”