Big Sofa, the AIM-listed provider of video analytics to the consumer insight industry, has appointed Kirsty Fuller as chief executive.
Fuller was appointed to the board of Big Sofa on 1 October 2018 as chief commercial officer.
She has a wealth of experience in the global consumer insight and strategy industry having co-founded the Flamingo Group, which was acquired by Omnicom in 2006.
Under her leadership as co-CEO and latterly CEO, Flamingo grew to become one of the largest specialist qualitative research agencies in the world, with a network of eight offices on four continents, employing 340 staff.
Big Sofa chairman Nicholas Mustoe said Fuller has been “instrumental” in integrating innovative methods as the insight industry has evolved.
“Kirsty is also a proven business leader, having co-founded, grown, sold and thereafter continued to run one of the world’s most successful qualitative research agencies,” he added.
Fuller said: “Integrating new methods which demand new client and agency behaviours is never an easy task, whatever the size of company; it is an exciting challenge. There is, however, growing client appreciation of the importance of video in understanding consumer behaviour.
Claimed behaviour is no longer enough. Clients are seeking pioneering approaches in video capture, analysis and showcasing as critical inputs to business and product innovation and decision-making processes.
“Our technology platform enables a new form of insight delivery, a new mode of ongoing client engagement and a new resource for responding quickly to clients’ business questions.”
Simon Lidington, Big Sofa’s co-founder and current CEO, has stepped down but will remain as a non-executive director of the company.