Wavemaker Australia promotes Cat Wolkers to national head of research and insight role

Wavemaker Australia has promoted Cat Wolkers to the role of national head of research and insight.

Wolkers joined Wavemaker Australia three years ago as director of research and insight, making the move from the London office where she worked for eight years.

In the UK, Wolkers was one of the core developers of Wavemaker’s flagship research and planning approach, WM Momentum, which to date has researched more than 700,000 purchase journeys across 130 categories in 41 countries. She also led the development of GroupM’s online qualitative research approach, DigiFaces (a tool designed to more closely resemble consumers’ use of social media), while locally she was instrumental in rolling out WM Momentum across Australia and New Zealand.

In her new role, Wolkers will lead further development of WM Momentum as well as the integration of Wavemaker’s suite of tools with real-time data. Wolkers and team will also continue to support all offices across Australia and New Zealand with the research and insight needed to grow their clients’ business.

Says James Hier, chief growth and product officer, Wavemaker Australia: “Purchase journeys are the beating heart of Wavemaker and we are extremely lucky to have someone of Cat’s experience and expertise driving this in our business. Her insights have been integral to our new business wins this year, as well as keeping our current clients sticky. Cat’s entrepreneurial streak has seen her develop new research products to help our clients understand the effect of their campaigns and she is currently developing a new product to scale this.”

Says Wolkers: “Wavemaker, and previously MEC, has pioneered the role of the purchase journey in influencing purchasing behaviour and identifying blind spots for brands. I look forward to continuing to drive the sophistication of Momentum and giving our clients clarity on where to focus their marketing investment.”

Wavemaker is part of GroupM, which is part of WPP AUNZ, Australasia’s leading creative transformation company.