Hickson, who had worked at Mustard previously – first starting in 1996 – has re-joined the company to work its business development team. For the past seven years he had run his own market research business.

Other appointments include Ben Ashton and Laura James as executives in the research team. Ashton had worked at The Leadership Factor and James at Directions, prior to joining Mustard.

The agency has also promoted Victoria Williams to senior research manager and Ryan Sherratt to data executive.

Mustard was recently announced as winner of the FSB and WorldPay UK ‘Employer of the Year’ award for the North West region.

Gareth Hodgson, director, said: “Our commitment to our team has been central to Mustard’s growth in the past few years. We have a culture of ‘doing more’ both in terms of the way we treat, develop and reward staff, but also in terms of the autonomy we give them to contribute to the success of the business. We are absolutely delighted to see this approach recognised at a regional and national level.”