He joins the firm from Arete Analytics, an agency he founded to develop web analytics programmes for clients and drive market process improvement. He has also held senior marketing and strategy positions with ad group Publicis, greetings card firm Photoworks, uBid.com and aQuantive.

Clay McDaniel, co-founder and principal of Spring Creek Group, said: “Xavier is well recognised in the industry as a leader in applying innovative analytics techniques to online marketing programs to drive real results for brand marketers, and he clearly understands the critical importance of measurement for the evolution of the entire marketing industry.”