In the newly created role, Highett-Smith (pictured) will lead on brand and communications tracking, multi-market monitoring, customer experience and customer satisfaction, as well as other longitudinal programmatic work.

Before joining Fiftyfive5, Highett-Smith was general manager in consumer research, innovation and partnerships at GfK.

Darren Kemp, founding partner at Fiftyfive5, said: “More than ever clients are looking to understand growth from their investment choices, optimising spend with agility to gain competitive advantage.

“Rob joins a senior team of practitioners with a mandate to extend our double-digit growth in performance measurement.”