12.06.2024

The newly instated Heads will report to Magali Geens, Managing Director EMEA, who reflected on the company’s growth journey to date:

“Three years ago, we created a new regional structure designed to service clients in the US, APAC and EMEA, whilst also managing global relationships with priority accounts across the regions. EMEA witnessed legacy brand teams from InSites Consulting, Columinate, eÿeka, Join the Dots and Happy Thinking People, working collaboratively across borders for the first time. This desire for local delivery of global consultancy services remains pivotal as we strive to stay close to clients in twelve markets. In fact, EMEA remains the largest Human8 region – representing about half of the company’s revenue – and it’s due to the size and scale of the EMEA business that we have appointed territory leaders. Our new Heads will allow us to be much closer to the needs of our clients, as well as our people in key markets across the region.”

The announcement comes almost five years to the day that Join the Dots was acquired by InSites Consulting, a moment that Paul Child, then Senior Research Director, remembers well:

“When we joined forces in 2019, it afforded new and exciting opportunities for our research teams and our clients in the UK. I’m delighted that many of our longstanding Join the Dots clients – Nationwide Building Society, The Co-op, Haleon (GSK) and more – have stayed with us these past five years.  Leading Human8 UK on the next stage of the journey is equally exciting. We’ll continue to connect people to the heart of our clients’ businesses by joining up a range of insight methods with the same passion for clarity, actionability and impact that we’ve always had. As part of a global organisation, with 22 offices worldwide, we’ve extended our reach, but we retain our great people, disruptor spirit and proximity to clients. We’ve grown, so has our offer…and I’m looking forward to leading our teams in London and Manchester to showcase this to the UK market.”

Having been with the company since 2011, Timo Vandemaele has witnessed well over a decade of change:

“InSites Consulting was founded on a culture of speed and adaptability. This ethos has been emphasised with each new acquisition, all nine of them, and is still apparent in our new(ish) brand, Human8. What has changed over the years is our desire to bring our company values closer to those of our clients and our people, cultivating a new culture of collective curiosity to fuel us forward. On that note, I’m extremely excited and honored to lead the Western Europe part of our business at Human8. With our locally rooted teams in Belgium, France and the Netherlands, and the support of our globally connected organisation, we can better understand the world and lead with knowledge and fresh perspective. We want to unite the brands we work for with people, culture and context and activate positive change for them. My focus in the coming years will be to enable the great people we have in our region to do great work for our great clients.”

And a similar path for Anita Janssen, having been with the company since 2011:

“By joining forces between InSites Consulting and Happy Thinking People at the end of 2023, we were not only able to unlock new and exciting opportunities, but it also allowed us to strengthen our relationships with mutually served clients like BMW, Beiersdorf and BSH. Combining long lasting experience in community research with in-depth human understanding and quantitative expertise, topped off with our own unique Human8 blend of courageous, caring and curious critical thinkers truly makes us unique in the market. I am proud and excited to be leading our teams in Berlin, Munich, Zürich and Düsseldorf to keep on doing what they do best; connecting people, consumers and cultures to the heart of our clients’ businesses to grow them in a future-proof way. I would like to thank Sven Arn for supporting me on this role and am looking forward to continuing working with him in his new role of Senior Client Director.”