The company, which already has market research panels in 25 countries globally, is looking to sell internet and data-based surveys to new clients based in Australia and New Zealand.
Ciao!, a Greenfield Online company, has developed an Australian panel of more than 160,000 respondents along with new proprietary Asian panels in China, Japan and South Korea, which comprise more than 150,000 respondents.
Additionally, Chris Herbert joins Ciao! as its new research director from GfK Australia where he was business group director.
Prior to joining GfK, Herbert was with Inform, a Sydney-based research company specialising in the IT and entertainment sectors.
Herbert said: "We look forward to being able to serve the global online data collection needs of Ciao!'s Australian and New Zealand clients locally from Sydney. We feel we are very well situated to meet the needs clients in this new market."
David Fernandez also joins Ciao! as the new director of client development for the Australia office.
Fernandez will be responsible for driving new business development and client acquisition with market research agencies, management consultants, and public relations and advertising agencies in Australia and New Zealand. He was previously at Lowe Lintas, Massive Media and APL Digital.
Gunnar Piening, managing director of Ciao!, added: "We believe there is a strong opportunity in Australia and New Zealand.
"The establishment of this new base of operations for us in Sydney will now enable us to provide our standard high-quality service locally to our clients based in the region."
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