who we are.

Trust is important.

To know that your partners have your back. That they’ll adapt with positivity to changing needs. That they’ll dig into the nitty gritty and give you real insights you can use.

Oh, and that they’ll make a call. No fence-sitters here.

That’s why we created PLAY MR; a team of experienced researchers in Sydney and Melbourne with a passion for innovation and shopper insights.

meet our team.

Chris_Thomas

CHRIS THOMAS

Founder

Our fearless founder Chris has close to two decades of market research experience. He's produced fantastic results for many of the world’s leading FMCG brands with his fresh thinking and commitment to excellence. Full of drive, good humour and energy, Chris is crazy about continuous improvement and always finds a way to evolve traditional research practices to deliver a better experience: for participants and clients.

Becky_Mead

BECKY MEAD

Managing Director

Becky joined the world of research 15 years ago in the UK, before moving to Sydney in 2009. Her experience with local and global agencies crosses a wide range of brands and markets, from FMCG to services and media. Becky's a hands-on leader, managing projects end-to-end to ensure the client's needs are at the heart of the entire project. She's excited by segmentation, usage and attitude, brand positioning, concept and offer testing, and market opportunity studies.

Andrew_Turner

ANDREW TURNER

associate director

Andrew has been in the market research world for 16 years with extensive experience across a wide range of methodologies - both quant and qual. Andrew specialises in FMCG research including sensory, brand, packaging, U&A and segmentation. He's applied this expertise across food, beverage, liquor and household goods as well as grocery, services, building & construction and OTC pharmaceuticals. Phew! Andrew's research philosophy is to "tell you what you need to know, not just what you want to hear," to inform decisions which benefit both the client and the consumer.

Emma_Ditterich

EMMA DITTERICH

senior account director

Emma brings extensive senior-level agency experience from working on projects across Asia Pacific, Europe, USA and the UK (one of her former homes!). Her research expertise spans FMCG and retail with a particular focus on NPD and innovation. Emma has a special interest in shopper research and category understanding. Diagnosing barriers to purchase and spend along the customer journey or path to purchase is her jam. She loves delivering simple insights and changes that actually yield growth.

Katherine_Savage

KATHERINE SAVAGE

Account Director

Katherine has been in the research game for 12 years. Her experience spans consumer, retail, tech, media, social, employer, financial and auto, working for brands such as Mars, HTC and Twitter. Katherine specialises in innovation research, in particular, U&As and market landscapes, segmentation, concept testing, pricing studies and conjoint, as well as path to purchase studies. She loves working collaboratively with clients and embedding results to drive change.

Nataly_Perez

NATALY PEREZ

Marketing Consultant

Nataly's background in qualitative research, advertising and marketing is exactly what drew her to PLAY. Her experience spans different sectors such as travel, non-profits, FMCG, social media and government; for brands such as Telstra, Krispy Kreme, 1 Giant Mind, Qantas and WorkSafe. When it comes to developing marketing strategies, she loves to dig deep and determine where the real opportunities lie, not just the obvious ones. With such diverse experience, she has a particular passion for creating effective work, juggling many hats at once and always finding the tea station first.

Rox_Cadiz

ROX CADIZ

research manager

Rox is a passionate researcher who, for the past 7 years, has collaborated with many large FMCG brands on quantitative projects. Her background is in concept and product testing, brand health tracking, and mystery shopping. Curious by nature, Rox enjoys being involved in every part of a project and working with clients towards fresh insights.

Carla_Alipit

CARLA ALIPIT

research manager

Carla started her career in consumer insights 10 years ago working with multinational research agencies. She built her expertise in customer satisfaction, mystery shopping and U&As in industries such as FMCG, automotive and retail. Carla loves talking to people and learning the ins and outs of the consumer journey. Sharing her discoveries with clients gives her a sense of purpose and joy.

Raymond_Villegas

RAYMOND VILLEGAS

survey programmer

Raymond is a self-confessed techie. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Engineering and is an experienced Software Engineer with three years of experience in Survey Programming, specifically in the services industry. He has a passion for eSports, music and of course, setting up awesome surveys!

Michael_OHagan

MICHAEL O'HAGAN

Fieldwork Coordinator

Michael is PLAY's fieldwork coordinator and our resident Head of First Impressions. With an eye for detail and a nose for sensory, he keeps our CLT running smoothly with his extensive experience in VIP event planning, hospitality and project management. Outside of PLAY, you can find him sharpening his putting skills on the golf course. Between us, we've heard he does a very good Happy Gilmore impression!

smarter facilities for smarter results.

With a 30-seat CLT in Sydney and state of the art focus group rooms, eye tracking capability, smart walls and physical shelving modules in both Sydney and Melbourne, we can PLAY and innovate in any way your research demands.

focus group rooms

Our flexible on-site focus group rooms and 7 metre interactive smart wall mean we can easily build the ideal environment for your innovation and research needs within the one facility.

CLT

With Australia's largest sensory central location testing facilities and a fully equipped commercial kitchen, we can test everything from fragrances to frozen food in a fun environment - we are called PLAY after all!

eye tracking

Paired with our interactive smart wall, our eye-tracking facilities mean we can recreate a realistic shopping environment to see how your product stacks up on shelf.

you’re in good company.

your're in good company

kelloggs
unilever
endeavor_group
wool worths
Krispy Kreme
Frucor_Suntory_logo
mars
dominos
Remedy
Simplot
firmenich
goodman fileder
GWF
Bega
Nexba
A2
nestle
gbu
Arnotts
purina
sunrice
Lion-Co-Logo

enquire today.

as featured in.

inside fmcg
australian foodnews
b&t
food & drinks
food & beverages
marketing
pkn
retail word

From my first conversation with the PLAY team, I was really impressed. I reached out to them with a qualitative brief that needed a very quick turnaround. The team were extremely knowledgeable and very responsive. Given the tight recruitment specs, an online panel was suggested. It proved to be fantastic as it gave us rich insights as well as the opportunity to probe areas of interest. I wouldn't hesitate to work with PLAY again or to recommend them to others.

LIZ TELFORD, HEAD OF MARKETING
TRAVELCARD