A pioneer of the market research industry in New Zealand, Dick has built Colmar Brunton into the leading New Zealand market research company. As a result he has formed a clear view of what works and what doesn’t when it comes to successful business.

He firmly believes that brands that genuinely put customers first make more money than those who put shareholders first.

He is chief flag bearer for Colmar Brunton’s ‘Better Business, Better World’ vision, which aligns perfectly with his personal crusade that businesses need to embody a big ideal in order to be successful, along with a relentless commitment to great customer experience. This in turn makes the world a better place to be in.

Having been admitted to the Marketing Hall of Fame in 2005, and becoming a life member of the MRNZ in 2010, there is no sign of Dick slowing down as his illustrious 37 year career in the market research industry continues to flourish. He has written numerous articles, delivered many speeches and continues to be in great demand for workshops on leadership, marketing and branding.

Dick co-founded Colmar Brunton in 1981, after cutting his teeth at ACNielsen and becoming MD of Survey Research (now RI). He is a keen boatie and fisherman, and having whiled away many hours in pursuit of the ‘big one’ has some good fishing stories to tell.

Jacqueline is a great advocate for diversity of disciplines and expertise within a market research company. Her commitment to this means that Colmar Brunton has the versatility and agility of thinking that goes into providing the breakthrough business solutions our clients are seeking. Her crusade is to help organisations build great brands that deliver world class experiences for their customers.

Coming from a marketing background, Jacqueline has worked at Colmar Brunton for the past 15 years.  Having engaged across the spectrum of New Zealand SME and corporate life she has a wealth of experience in utilising research to drive effective, practical business and marketing strategy.   She has a broad understanding of consumers across many markets and sectors, how they behave, and what motivates them. Jacqueline consults to clients in the airlines, telecommunications, banking, utilities, manufacturing and service sectors.

Jacqueline manages Colmar Brunton’s Auckland office, where her challenge is to engage, motivate and bring out the best in people alongside her drive for excellence and great thinking. When she’s not doing that she is likely to be found wearing gumboots and engaged in any number of energetic outdoor activities with her three young children.

Driven by a passionate belief in using research to help achieve social goals, Jocelyn heads Colmar Brunton’s Social Research Agency.

With over 18 years’ experience in social research and evaluation, Jocelyn’s areas of interest and expertise span a number of subjects including social marketing, taxation, employment, health, family wellbeing, child welfare, community development, electoral processes, finance and emergency services.

Jocelyn has presented papers at several international research and evaluation forums including Australasian Evaluation Society Conferences and the Broadcasting Standard Authority’s Symposium on Media and the Protection of Children.  Further, her research into children and broadcasting in New Zealand was recognised with a Highly Commended award at the Market Research Effectiveness awards.

Regardless of the topic, Jocelyn relishes the challenge of working with her clients to deliver desired social outcomes, rather than focusing solely on research outputs.  Her commitment is to work with clients as ‘thought partners’ in strategic and operational planning processes, providing the ‘customer perspective’ that will ensure organisations make a difference to New Zealand communities.

From conducting New Zealand's first Internet survey in 1994 to his work today for some of New Zealand's most well loved brands, Mike has established an industry wide reputation as an innovator. He has won awards for innovation both inside and outside the market research industry.

Mike joined Colmar Brunton nine years ago, after eight years at ACNielsen and AGB McNair. He is still as enthusiastic about research as he was when he first entered market research. Mike has a particular passion for new product development and service sector research and he also loves a challenge, the sort of thing other people say can't be done.

Mike jointly heads up the Wellington office with Jocelyn Rout and is Colmar Brunton's expert in the application of neuroscience techniques to market research.

A quantitative maestro, there’s not much Chris doesn’t know about consumer segmentation, brand positioning and tracking. Furthermore, he’s an expert at developing new research tools and online panels. With his vast knowledge and fine eye for detail he ensures his studies deliver future focused outputs. This is key to identifying opportunities and issues early, so that business strategy development is strongly guided by consumer and market insight.

Chris joined Colmar Brunton just one month after its inception in 1981, and has been instrumental in developing business across New Zealand, Asia and the Pacific. He has vast experience in many FMCG categories, being particularly highly regarded for his work in the alcohol and beer categories.

Besides being an expert in the research and statistics field Chis is a connoisseur of fine wine and food, with some golf thrown in to provide a bit of balance.

Christine knows all about how to optimise appeal to ALL the senses when it comes to consumer products.  She firmly believes that great brands deliver great product experiences, and that’s what drives successful sales.  Christine relishes working with clients to identify successful new products and then help to turn those winning ideas into commercial success. 

Christine’s distinguished career in Sensory started with running trained panels for Fonterra, later becoming manager of Fonterra’s Auckland Sensory Centre. She has worked in both New Zealand and Australia conducting many trans-Tasman studies in the process. Christine has presided over studies in many categories from premium skin care to pet food, with frequent forays into bread, beverages (of all types and forms) and dressings along the way. Just prior to joining Colmar Brunton in 2007 she was Managing Director of a specialist sensory company and has a wonderful flair for finding innovative ways to identify future stars in the product stable. 

A dedicated foodie, even when she’s not working she loves being in the kitchen, creating new dishes and cooking up a storm for family and friends.

Spencer heads up the Qualitative team for Colmar Brunton, managing the Auckland and Wellington teams while also working closely with the Colmar Brunton Field Team managers up and down the country. Spencer has been in New Zealand for 11 years, 9 of which have been spent in research and marketing, running his own boutique Youth research agency for over 5 of those years and then moving into roles with Synovate and now Colmar Brunton.

Each of the Qualitative team at Colmar Brunton has a specialist subject but Spencer has two, Youth and Events. He’s been part of many a product development process from his early years developing online research panels and methodology, through to the creation of processes and techniques to effectively measure experiential marketing.

Spencer has worked across a wide range of clients, utilising a vast array of techniques and brings fresh thinking to research objectives. He does this while also managing a team of extremely highly skilled Qualitative researchers.

What he can’t do, the team can and what they do best is work together to make sense of the challenge and deliver the insights that make a difference.

“Limitations live only in our minds. But if we use our imaginations, our possibilities become limitless."

After many years focusing on motivational qualitative market research both locally and globally, Vanessa now leads innovation and development at Colmar Brunton. Subscribing to the adage ‘if you’re standing still you’re going backwards’ she lives life on the edge as she explores and experiments with new approaches and related techniques that can provide the advantage our clients seek to build better and stronger businesses.

There is no better example of the fruits of Vanessa’s labours than Colmar Brunton’s innovative e-Qual online discussion platform. While online discussions are not innovative in themselves,  e-Qual is an excellent example of how new technology can take traditional approaches and techniques to a new level while making it easier, faster and cheaper  to reach more key people in a way that is highly engaging and revelatory.

As our market place becomes increasingly globalised and our communications more fragmented, fluid, social and mobile, looking at how global trends translate for New Zealand businesses is also an important focus for Vanessa. She regularly speaks at conferences, tailoring her trend presentations to the theme of the conference. 

Duncan is a multi-skilled researcher. He not only heads Colmar Brunton’s Marketing Science team but is also a Group Account Director who works with the country’s largest company, Fonterra, and manages consumer insights for other FMCG clients.

His team of highly skilled marketing scientists provides the in-depth statistics and modelling behind the research for Colmar Brunton’s clients. Duncan is particularly enjoying the changes that have come about as a result of the global link to Millward Brown. He is excited by the benefit that this brings, with access to international colleagues’ expertise through being a member of the Millward Brown Marketing Science Council.

Since joining Colmar Brunton in 1996 Duncan has worked with numerous clients in both Australia and New Zealand, encompassing all aspects of the research spectrum with a diverse range of clients. His particular areas of specialisation and interest include Market Segmentation, Continuous Tracking and cutting edge Choice Modelling and Price Sensitivity Analysis.

Duncan is a former president of the Market Research Society of New Zealand and served on the committee for six years. Outside of work he is a sports mad family man, who does his best to combine the two as often as possible.

Sarah believes that Colmar Brunton’s greatest asset is its people. She is dedicated to ensuring that everyone who works for the company is nurtured and encouraged to develop to their strengths. This is vital for us to provide an authentic and integrated expression of our culture of excellence.

So that opportunities for progression and skill development are always available to our people, Sarah places great emphasis on training. She has practised HR in many different industry sectors such as telecommunications, hospitality and IT.  That broad base of experience enables Sarah to drive successful companywide development,  facilitation and improvement of employment processes and great training programmes.

With more than fifteen years of experience in the HR industry, Sarah Thorpe leads our team of HR specialists, having joined the company in 2005 as HR Director.

Having worn many hats over the years, from interviewer to HR Manager, Donald has a unique perspective on company operations. His role as Operations Director brings together his pet passions of people and organisational building to provide unqualified excellence in field work and data management.

Donald is the master of multi-tasking and as an HR professional, consultant, coach and mentor with a wide life and employment perspective; he is comfortable with diversity and creative with challenges. His belief, that if attention is given to doing the little things constantly well then the end product will be one we can call excellent, makes him a major contributor to the multiple aspects of Colmar Brunton that deliver to our brand promise.

Donald has an eclectic taste in music, loves travelling through our lovely country (especially Otago/Southland) and is a Father/mentor to his six adult children.

 Brian's pioneering spirit has led him to cross the world in pursuit of new personal and professional frontiers. An international researcher both literally and figuratively, his role focuses on developing international relations and research protocols that can make research borders disappear. His role as International Development Director at Colmar Brunton is a culmination of a career established in international and boutique agencies based in London, before making the move to New Zealand eleven years ago.

Understanding and delivering to the client's business goals are at the core of what Brian does best. With a firm belief that well found advice and good strategic guidance is grounded in great and thorough consumer understanding, Brian draws on a wealth of quantitative and qualitative experience, across a vast range of clients and categories, to ensure this is indeed what we deliver.

In addition to this Brian is also Colmar Brunton's resident political polling expert, leading the Colmar Brunton One News Poll.

When he's not disappearing borders Brian has his feet firmly on the ground, enthusiastically exploring and enjoying New Zealand with his family. Less enthusiastically he also puts some time in at the gym!

New Zealand born, Colmar Brunton has operated for 30 years to become New Zealand’s most trusted and respected Market Research Company. No other research company can claim the level of brand awareness, consumer trust, and respondent willingness that Colmar Brunton enjoys with the New Zealand public.  The Colmar Brunton brand has significant consumer equity that we believe enhances and positively contributes to our clients’ research programmes.

1. How do I get to understand my most important target consumers or customers?
2. How do I find out if the people I am targeting are the right people?
3. How do I find exactly who likes my products and why they are buying them?
4. How do I identify what my brand should stand for?
5. How do I measure my advertising?
6. How can I get the best ROI on my advertising spend?
7. How can I ensure my advertising is going to work?
8. How can I find out what advertising channels I should be using to reach my target audience most effectively?
9. How can I measure the strength of my brand against my competitors?
10. Can I buy the results of research that you have done for other companies?
11. What's the difference between qualitative and quantitative research?
12. How long does it take to complete a research project?
13. How do you recruit participants/respondents/contributors?
14. How come research companies charge different prices for the same piece of research?

Answers 

1. How do I get to understand my most important target consumers or customers?
By talking to them in depth to really get to know them and how to meet their needs better than your competitors. Also to identify your brand's strengths and weaknesses in relation to current and potential users. Find out more about understanding your market Click here

2. How do I find out if the people I am targeting are the right people?
By getting a full understanding of the consumer motivations in your market or category you will be able to clearly identify your target consumers. Find out more about segmenting your market Click here

3. How do I find exactly who likes my products and why they are buying them?
By getting a full understanding of the consumer motivations in your market or category you will be able to clearly identify your target consumers. Find out more about segmenting your market Click here

4. How do I identify what my brand should stand for?
By getting a thorough understanding of the people that use your brand, what they value in a brand and what makes a brand stand out in the category. People 'bond' to brands that meet a core emotive need, so the key is to have a clear picture of those people you want to connect with at an emotional level as well as the purely functional. For more information on how to achieve this Click here

5. How do I measure my advertising?
By tracking the performance of your communications amongst those in the population you are wanting to reach. Find out more about our SpeyeTrack

6. How can I get the best ROI on my advertising spend?
Research is the springboard to great ads. Central to our approach is identifying how advertising can be optimised to ensure it will hit the mark. Our LinkTM system was developed after many years of observations from tracking advertising campaigns in real life. Link copy testing draws its strength from 30 years of experience. Find out more

7. How can I ensure my advertising is going to work?
Research is the springboard to great ads. Central to our approach is identifying how your ads can be optimised to ensure they have the desired impact. Our LinkTM system was developed after many years of observations from tracking advertising campaigns in real life. Link copy testing draws its strength from 30 years of experience, find out more

8. How can I find out what advertising channels I should be using to reach my target audience most effectively?
Colmar Brunton have a best practice modelling technique that disentangles the effects of exposure to a wide range of media activities. Find out more

9. How can I measure the strength of my brand against my competitors?
It is essential to have an accurate and detailed understanding of your brand's key strengths and weaknesses and explore your options for growing market share. Colmar Brunton's approach presents you with a complete picture of your brand's current competitive position. Find out more 

10. Can I buy the results of research that you have done for other companies?
No sorry. Our clients contract us to carry out research on their behalf and they own the results. We can design a research project to suit your needs or if you have some questions you would like answered but don't feel you need a whole research project to answer them, you can buy single questions in Colmar Brunton's Omni surveys. Click here to find out more

11. What's the difference between qualitative and quantitative research?
Qualitative research is about exploring consumer motivations and behaviours in depth and identifying potential or latent opportunities to improve products or services. It's not about talking to lots of people, but rather about talking to enough of the right people in depth to understand what's happening in the category, industry or market. For a more detailed explanation click through to Qualitative Research 

By contrast, quantitative research is about breadth of information and representativeness. Quantitative research provides a numerical understanding of the world through measurements and proportions. It enables us to make sense of a topic through a through classification of its categories. For a more detailed explanation, click through to Quantitative Research.

12. How long does it take to complete a research project?
It depends on the complexity of the project (e.g. number of participants, locations, length of questionnaire/discussion, methodology used). The key research phases that influence the overall duration of a project are: recruitment, fieldwork and analysis. You'll need to discuss your needs with one of our senior researchers who will be able to work out a tailored research plan. Click here to read more about our Expert Solutions

13. How do you recruit participants/respondents/contributors?
There are different ways we can recruit people, mainly making contact through an online survey or over the phone. Panels consist of people who have consented to be contacted for research. We have our own panel, CBClique, as well as specialist panels. In addition to this we are the only research company with access to the FlyBuys panel. This means that we have access to a large number of diverse households in New Zealand. At times we also use a list of potential participants provided by the client commissioning the research. Click here

14. How come research companies charge different prices for the same piece of research?
Price is usually a reflection of many factors that impact on research: existing knowledge of clients commissioning the research and their market, expertise of the researchers and the knowledge and experience they bring to the design of the research, sophistication of research tools and analysis, and strategic guidance to drive breakthrough business strategies. Find out more about Colmar Brunton's expert team, click through to About Us; Implementing Strategy; Expert Solutions

If you can't find the answer to your question or a solution that sounds like what you need, please click on Contact Us and email us your question and contact details and we'll be in touch.

Alternatively if you wish to provide us with a brief please fill out the briefing template and email it to us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

In 2005 we became a member of the global Millward Brown research network...

With 77 offices in 51 countries, Millward Brown works with 90% of the top 100 global brands and as a result truly understands the importance of both a global and local focus.  This means that we at Colmar Brunton also have access to the global R&D that has positioned Millward Brown as a world leader in brand and communications research. Visit www.millwardbrown.com for details.

It also gives us access via many methods of connection, to global best practice/learning from a research sense, and via the wider ‘family’ connection, the rest of the WPP/Kantar network. 

Millward Brown and Kantar are part of WPP, a world leader in marketing communications.

WPP companies exist to help their clients compete successfully in terms of marketing strategy, advertising and communications, and monitoring progress. Being part of WPP gives Colmar Brunton access to leading edge thinking in related fields e.g. media or advertising. Visit www.wpp.com for details.

Like many of our clients we operate in a fast moving and globally connected market. Accordingly we have strong relationships with experts in many other countries/ offices, which enable us to draw on a wealth of knowledge and experience across categories and countries. From a knowledge leadership perspective this is of great value because different countries are often innovating in different areas and we benefit from all of these. This is vital not only for our clients whose businesses are global, but also ensures that we deliver the best there is to our local clients as well.  

The Colmar Brunton Employee Experience... 

Camille Anderson | Senior Client Executive

I started my career at Colmar Brunton back in 2006, as a part time telephone interviewer and I loved speaking to people to find out about their behaviour and opinions. With a thirst for research, and seeking to progress my career within Colmar Brunton, I enquired about opportunities within the company. I now work in the Quantitative Research team where I am liaising with our clients to design research that meets their business needs and answers their burning questions. Colmar Brunton has provided me with many opportunities along the way; I certainly enjoy the challenges and the variety of my role. Overall, it is the people here that definitely inspire me and make this a great place to work. 

Dale McCarter | Client Executive

I chose Colmar Brunton as it is one of the biggest market research agencies in New Zealand, offering an extensive graduate training scheme, which is bringing me up to speed with the latest research techniques and kick-starting my career. Colmar Brunton's links with global agency Millward Brown gives me the opportunity to travel and work overseas in the future, should I wish to. I joined Colmar Brunton in August 2011, having completed a Bachelor in Business Studies majoring in Marketing from Massey University, Albany. The company culture here is great and I have no regrets in starting my marketing career with Colmar Brunton, I would strongly recommend them as an employer and a research agency. 

Desmond Kiernan | Client Executive

After studying Anthropology, Human Geography and Marketing I joined the Qualitative team at Colmar Brunton. The constantly dynamic and energetic environment within this company feeds my enthusiasm and interest on a daily basis. The expertise and support of those I work with inspires me to grow not only professionally but personally as well. The company is a fascinating place to work and its commitment to innovation and true market insight mean we'll continue to be at the absolute cutting edge of market research. 

Macushla Howell | Account Manager

Whenever I talk to other people about where I work, they always say that it sounds like such a great place and it truly is. I have worked at Colmar Brunton for almost 5 years and I love it- I love the clients, I love the insights we produce and I love the fact that people at Colmar Brunton love what they do. I never thought I would be in Market Research as long as I have (almost a decade now), but here I am. It is such a vibrant, interesting, evolving industry, that I keep coming back for more and the best part is that Colmar Brunton is at the forefront of that evolution. 

Margaret Reid |  Operations Team

I do Accounts Payable and Credit Control and my job has evolved over the years with interesting changes. I joined Colmar Brunton nearly 11 years ago, coming from a Medical Company in the city, and I love the short drive to work and the beach outlook from the office. The people here make the day fun and they are caring, encouraging and inspiring. Colmar Brunton is a great company to work for.  

Russell Gribble |  Data Analyst

I joined Colmar Brunton in 2010 as a graduate and haven't regretted that for a second! I really feel this is a place where innovation can shine, red tape is kept to a bare minimum, and the people matter as much as the work.