The deal was supported by TORA’s private equity investor Next Wave Partners, who backed a management buyout of the research business back in April 2008.

As a result of the deal, Simply Zesty’s services will be offered to TORA’s clients alongside the latter’s FMCG new product development and customer experience research services.

TORA CEO Chris Sinclair said: “Both TORA and Simply Zesty believe in the power of listening to consumers, and its ability to improve in-market success rates further with better brands, products, packs and higher customer satisfaction.”

Simply Zesty’s research covers buzz monitoring and competitor analysis, while on the communications side it offers reputation management, corporate blogging and social network campaigns.

Co-founder Lauren Fisher said: “We see a natural fit between social media marketing and research, and think that both areas can take key learnings from each other that will progress the disciplines. We already have some exciting projects lined up that will enable us to use social media in a completely new way.”

Pictured left-to-right are Sinclair, Fisher and her Simply Zesty co-founder Niall Harbison.