Bill Pegram

Bill Pegram’s career began in advertising when he joined the London office of Lintas in the mid 1960’s. Realising that it was WHY people did things that really fascinated him rather than advertising itself, he moved into Research Bureau Limited, the agency which later became Research International. Here he developed his research skills, becoming an accomplished qualitative and quantitative researcher.

In 1982 he and two colleagues broke away from RI to set up Pegram Walters Associates. The agency quickly grew to become one of the UK’s leading independent consultancies. Bill worked extensively on international business, establishing strong working relationships with independents and larger research groups around the world.

In 2001 Pegram Walters was acquired by Aegis plc as their first European acquisition in what was to become Synovate, the company’s global research brand. Having sold his business, Bill the gamekeeper then turned poacher, assuming the role of Corporate Development Director for Synovate. Building a powerful network for Synovate in Western Europe became his main priority. In five years Synovate successfully completed 16 acquisitions in the Region. Bill’s particular angle on M&A relates to “cultural due diligence”. He believes that goodness of attitudinal fit between the two parties is critical in determining the likelihood of a merger’s ultimate success.

In 2006 Bill left Synovate to create Bill Pegram & Co, a consultancy which allows Bill to operate on a broader geographic canvas. He now works with a variety of businesses in different markets and at different stages in their development. Some are growing, some contracting and some are static. All want to change in some way – to buy another agency or to be bought, to attract new talent to their agency, to implement operational and behavioural modifications or to integrate newly merged businesses.

A Fellow of The Market Research Society, Bill has been a Council Member of Association of Market Survey Organisations (AMSO) and British Market Research Association (BMRA). He has been a regular contributor at ESOMAR and MRS Conferences and has lectured extensively on MRS Education Programs.