Deighton, who has more than 22 years' experience in the market research industry, will offer marketing advice to new and existing clients and make marketers and researchers aware of Ipsos UK's services.
He began his career in 1982 at what was then AGB. Nine years later, he moved to GfK, where he was involved in advertising pre-testing and tracking. In 1993, he helped launch the Icon Brand Navigation Group in Germany, where he was the UK managing director for nearly 10 years and group board member.
More recently, Deighton has been running qualitative brand planning agency Insight Engineers.
Richard Silman, chief executive of Ipsos UK, said: "With this appointment, we will be managing our own brand in the same way that companies manage their own products, brands and services."
Deighton will take up his new role from January 1 2005.
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