TORA rebrands and makes US hire

The Oxford Research Agency is changing its name to Future Thinking as it announces the opening of its first office in the US under the leadership of George Ciardi, who becomes global head of volumetric forecasting.

Ciardi has held senior positions with several research and consulting firms, including AC Nielsen, MMA, Delta Information Group FYI and TNS. He has contributed to the successful launch of more than 100 new products that have generated in excess of $500 million each in sales during their introductory year of launch.

Chris Sinclair, at Future Thinking, explains the change of name: “The Oxford Research Agency brand has served us well here in the UK, but we’re now an international market research firm serving 30 of the world’s leading food, drink, household goods, beauty products and pharmaceutical companies, and our brand needs to reflect that. Future Thinking is what we do. Our methodologies and experience help our clients to predict the future, develop successful new products, estimate sales, and improve customer experiences.

Commenting on the appointment of George Ciardi to the position of US President for Future Thinking, Sinclair adds: “George brings an astonishing level of volumetric forecasting experience and new product research skills in general to our global team. We are genuinely delighted that such a respected and leading player in the field has joined Future Thinking to grow our US presence, and lead our expanding volumetric practice worldwide.”

About Future Thinking (formerly The Oxford Research Agency)

Future Thinking became the new name for The Oxford Research Agency (TORA) in July 2010. Future Thinking is a specialist FMCG and customer experience market research company with offices in the UK, USA and France.

Future Thinking uses innovative quantitative and qualitative methodologies to help companies to launch successful new products into the marketplace. Future Thinking is one of the few market research firms able to support clients through the entire product development process, from concept screening, through to packaging design, and pricing to the accurate prediction of the product’s marketplace success, and to be able to do this across the world.

Future Thinking tests thousands of new ideas for its clients every year, helping them to launch award winning products that have success rates four times the industry average. Future Thinking’s customer experience division helps some of the UK’s largest companies understand the factors driving customer satisfaction and how these can be used to improve repeat business.

For further information on our US office and offering please contact George Ciardi at:

E. george.ciardi@futurethinking.com

T. +1 (203) 554-5797

A. Future Thinking USA Plaza Executive Suite 100 Mill Plain Road Danbury CT06811-5189 USA

For further information please contact John Whittaker at Future Thinking john.whittaker@futurethinking.com or on + 44 (0) 1865 336 463 www.futurethinking.com

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