HispanicBusiness

REDWOOD SHORES, Calif., Dec. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Added Value, WPP's brand development business, has acquired Cheskin, the market-leading innovation-consulting firm. Cheskin, now named Cheskin Added Value, will benefit from access to Added Value's worldwide network and broad-based market insight capabilities. In turn, Added Value will be strengthened by Cheskin's renowned expertise in innovation, and by its strong presence in the technology sector, design strategy experience and in-depth understanding of US Hispanic markets.

Cheskin Added Value will continue to operate with a high degree of autonomy with Darrel Rhea maintaining his leadership role as CEO. The firm will retain its core vision and focus on consumer insights-based innovation consulting for product development, branding and marketing.

"Change opens up great possibilities for innovation and the new Cheskin Added Value will stimulate fresh ideas and perspectives that will benefit our clients and grow our services into new markets," says Maggie Taylor, CEO of Added Value, North America. "Darrel's leadership, energy and creativity have been a key element in Cheskin's growth and will continue to drive its success."

Cheskin Added Value will collaborate with other Added Value offices around the world to enrich the company's expanding client needs and bring solid experience in new industry sectors including technology. In addition, Cheskin Added Value offers critical market expertise especially in the US Hispanic market, essential to many global clients.

"In order to continue to lead the world in innovation consulting, we need to extend our presence and reach around the globe," says Cheskin CEO, Darrel Rhea. "Joining with Added Value will allow us to dramatically enhance the level of service we are providing to our global clients in an increasingly international market, and it adds real power to our offering in emerging market countries like China."

Rhea continues, "In today's competitive environment, innovation needs to be driven by deep, proprietary consumer insights. Both our companies share a profound commitment to creating value through the design of meaningful customer experiences, and our skill sets for producing this are incredibly complementary. This will help us take the industry's best practices in innovation to the next level."

About Cheskin

Cheskin (http://www.cheskin.com/) is a consulting firm that guides innovation through a deep understanding of people, cultures and change. From a perspective grounded in research, design and marketing, Cheskin helps companies identify new markets, develop new products and services, and enhance brand experience.

Cheskin's clients range from technology and finance to consumer goods and professional services, and include Microsoft, Del Monte, Visa, eBay and Wal-Mart. Cheskin was established in 1946 and is based in Redwood Shores, CA, with offices in New York and Seattle.

About Added Value Group

Added Value offers brand development and marketing insight services to blue-chip companies across all industry sectors. Everything they do starts with insight and ends with action, in pursuit of healthy brand growth for their clients.

Added Value's approach is individually tailored to the task in hand, with one important element a constant. That's their belief that people will always choose the brand which makes them feel the way they want to feel.

With a footprint that now extends across 25 locations in 15 countries, drawing on the expertise within its global network, Added Value Group fuses brand marketing, consumer insight, innovation, and communications optimization to help solve clients' marketing problems.

Added Value Group is headed by Global CEO Angus Porter. Added Value Group is part of Kantar Group, the information, insight and consultancy arm of WPP, one of the leading communications services companies.

More information is available at: http://www.added-value.com/ About Kantar

Kantar is one of the world's largest research, insight and consultancy networks and part of the WPP Group. We help clients make better business decisions through a deeper understanding of their markets, their brands and their customers. Kantar brings together a diverse group of outstanding marketing insight and consulting companies -- each an expert in their field who can work together seamlessly to help clients address business issues in an holistic and strategic way.

Companies include: Added Value Group, AMRB, BMRB, BPRI, Cannondale Associates, Center Partners, Glendinning Management Consultants, Henley Centre Headlight Vision, IMRB, Kantar Operations, KMR Group, Lightspeed Research, MVI, Mattson Jack Group, Millward Brown, Research International, RMS and Ziment Group. The Group has 22 companies operating in 70 countries worldwide.

For further information please visit us at: http://www.kantargroup.com/ About WPP

WPP is one of the world's leading communications services groups, providing national, multinational and global clients with advertising; media investment management,' information, insight & consultancy', public relations & public affairs; branding & identity, healthcare and specialist communications. WPP's worldwide companies include JWT, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, Y&R, Grey Worldwide, The Voluntarily United Group of Creative Agencies, MindShare, Mediaedge:ia, MediaCom, Millard Brown, Research International, KMR Group, OgilvyOne Worldwide, Wunderman, 141 Worldwide, Grey Direct, Hill & Knowlton, Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, Burson-Marsteller, Cohn & Wolfe, GCI, CommonHealth, Sudler & Hennessey, Ogilvy Heathworld, Grey Healthcare Group, Enterprise IG, Landor, G2 Worldwide and Fitch, among others.

Our companies provide communications services to clients worldwide, including more than 300 of the Fortune Global 500; over one-half of the NASDAQ 100 and over 30 of the Fortune e-50. Our companies work with over 330 client in three or more disciplines; more than 230 clients in four disciplines and nearly 200 clients in six or more countries.

Collectively, WPP employs 100,000 people in over 2,000 offices in 106 countries.

For further information please visit us at: http://www.wpp.com/ Media Contacts USA: Tracy Olmstead Williams Casey Sayre & Williams 310-396-2400 twilliams@cswpr.com Media Contacts International : Michael Saxton Grappa +44 207 602 9222 michael@grappa.co.uk

Available Topic Expert(s): For information on the listed expert(s), click appropriate link. Darrel Rhea http://profnet.prnewswire.com/Subscriber/ExpertProfile.aspx?ei=63009 Cheskin

Web site: http://www.cheskin.com/http://www.added-value.com/http://www.kantargroup.com/http://www.wpp.com/