Indiantelevision.com Team

(10 January 2008 4:30 pm)

MUMBAI: Yankelovich Holdings, Inc. has signed a merger agreement with WPP. This will merge Yankelovich Holdings with Henley Centre HeadlightVision, WPP's consumer trends and future research and consultancy business and a unit of Kantar, WPP's information, insight and consultancy division. The merger will become effective upon the satisfaction of certain conditions.

The aim of the merger is to offer clients a more comprehensive and global insight into consumer change and an ability to act on those insights. Yankelovich, a US consumer trends and lifestyle research firm, will benefit from access to Henley Centre HeadlightVision's global trends intelligence network and qualitative research expertise. In turn, Henley Centre HeadlightVision will be strengthened by Yankelovich's US brand profile and client reach and leading expertise in trends research and segmentation analytics, says an official release.

Yankelovich and Henley Centre HeadlightVision will be integrated operationally under Henley Centre HeadlightVision CEO Sian Davies. J Walker Smith will remain president of Yankelovich.

According to Davies, "Merging Henley Centre HeadlightVision with Yankelovich creates an unprecedented opportunity to offer consumer trends research and consultancy services on a truly global basis. The combined capabilities of Yankelovich and Henley Centre HeadlightVision will enable our clients to embrace the future and drive actionable insight and inspiration."

Yankelovich and Henley Centre HeadlightVision will have a combined staff of 145 researchers and consultants based in Chapel Hill, NC, New York, London, Delhi and Mumbai. Plans to expand into China are already underway.