Whalar is pleased to announce its recent hire of Ian Forrester, who will join the Whalar team as SVP, Research and Analytics working from Shoreditch, London. Within this role, Forrester will be making Whalar the house of insight for influencer marketing.
“Influencer marketing is still very much in its infancy, in fact it feels very similar to how video felt when I joined Unruly 6 and a half years ago – money is pouring into the space and it’s working, consumers are buying products and changing their behaviour following exposure to influencer content – but no one knows precisely why. There is very little research or insight in the space and, frankly, a lot of questionable reporting of metrics.
I’ve taken the job because there is so much opportunity in this space. None of the big questions, such as ‘what makes great influencer content?’, ‘how do I select the best influencer for my campaign?’ or ‘what’s the reach of my influencer campaign have been properly answered and I find the challenge of having a big problem to solve and a blank piece of paper massively exciting. I plan to repeat what I did at Unruly by making Whalar the house of insight for influencer marketing by answering all of these questions and more!”
Moreover, having done my due diligence during my search for an influencer platform to join, Whalar were head and shoulders above the rest. We are already producing stunning work, we have a young, super-smart team, and inspirational CEO in Neil Waller.”
Forrester comes to Whalar with 15 years of experience in the research and insight field. Most recently, Forrester worked as Global SVP, Insight and Solutions for video ad tech company Unruly. There, he led the Insight and Solutions team to to provide deep analysis of online video, enabling them to create stronger content and deliver better targeting and higher campaign ROI at scale. This background has helped Forrester to make an easy transition into his current position with Whalar.
