Peacock (pictured) joins from FreshMinds Research, where he spent four years consulting on customer satisfaction, brand perception tracking, event evaluation, strategy development and service improvement projects for clients across the education, sports, public and third sectors. He has also had spells at BMRB, Kantar and Nielsen Australia.

At Populus, he will work across a range of sectors including utilities, sports, broadcasting and telecoms, with a particular emphasis on customer satisfaction and brand perception. Populus managing director Michael Simmonds said: “Clients are increasingly turning to us to deliver authoritative insights in these areas in addition to our ongoing stakeholder and reputation work. I’ve no doubt Laurent’s knowledge and experience will provide the team with fresh impetus as they face up to the challenges of the year ahead and continue to establish Populus as a new and exciting option for insight and research teams everywhere.”

Last month, Populus Group reported an annual revenue lift of 38% for the year to March 2012 to just over £3m, compared to the consolidated operating figures for the previous 12 months.