ANALYSIS: Advertising - Adding up the sum of Aegis' parts. Adrian Chedore faces up to the task of unifying Aegis' far-flung research empire. Alfred Hille reports

<p>Adrian Chedore, the newly-appointed worldwide chief executive </p><p>officer of Aegis Research, has moved swiftly to reshape what is now an </p><p>informal collection of separate research houses into a global </p><p>organisation sharing a common strategic direction. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Aegis Research - part of Aegis Group, which also operates independent </p><p>media agency Carat - has existed for less than three years. It has grown </p><p>through mergers and acquisitions and now boasts leading research </p><p>companies, including Market Facts in the United States, Pegram Walters </p><p>in Britain, MEMRB in Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and </p><p>Africa, Demoscopie in France and Asia Market Intelligence (AMI) in </p><p>Asia-Pacific. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The task Chedore now faces since taking up the role in September is to </p><p>unify the group's far-flung empire. In part, that means establishing new </p><p>operations in Japan, Australia and Western Europe. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The more important strategy, however, is "to pull everything together so </p><p>that globally we have a single identity, culture, vision, objectives and </p><p>product and service offering", says Chedore, who is also the chief </p><p>executive and co-founder of AMI, which Aegis acquired in March last </p><p>year. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"We have 2,500 employees in 74 offices in 38 countries. A multitude of </p><p>different cultures and heritages, therefore, exist. But we have to bring </p><p>them together as a cohesive whole, so that they share a common vision as </p><p>well as common systems and processes," he says. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>This means selling a common package of the best products and services </p><p>the group has at its disposal. It also means training staff and hiring </p><p>people from a variety of different industries to more effectively meet </p><p>the needs of clients. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The latter point is uppermost in Chedore's mind. "We want to be able to </p><p>speak the client's language; not simply sell the products we happen to </p><p>have. We can't sell what we are offering like a packet of </p><p>cornflakes. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>We must tailor it to meet clients' needs," says Chedore, who launched </p><p>AMI in 1991 with eight people. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Clients demanding actionable advice as well as data and trends have been </p><p>the key driver behind the redefinition of Aegis Research. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>But in response to growing demand by media agencies for a single source </p><p>media consumption survey in Asia offering more in-depth questioning of </p><p>respondents for psychographic analyses, Chedore counters: "The arguments </p><p>are too simplistic. You could find that a yuppie group drinks </p><p>Carlsberg. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Then you find that an older group also drinks Carlberg. The question </p><p>they are asking is akin to asking how long a piece of string is. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"What research needs to do is not prejudge ways of segmenting people but </p><p>to build surveys that are useful and which do not exhaust the </p><p>respondents in the survey process." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The reshaping of the group includes renaming and rebranding the company </p><p>because the 'Aegis Research' name has already been taken in the US. The </p><p>image makeover is expected to take place next year, which should go some </p><p>way in strengthening Chedore's chances of turning his vision into </p><p>reality. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>However, he says there are no deadlines. He likens the progress towards </p><p>these goals as part of the company's natural evolution. "The work will </p><p>never be done because we will always continue to add new geography, </p><p>services and tools. It's dangerous to set anything in concrete these </p><p>days." </p><p><BR><BR> </p>