Virtual Incentives appointed Frank Kelly to lead its work with the insights industry, the company announced in October 2023.

Kelly joined after more than three decades in research-related leadership roles across North America and Europe. Most recently, he had spent five years at Ipsos leading its panel products and platforms team. His background also includes Kantar Profiles and Nielsen.

The role covers relationships with research clients and the development of participant incentive strategies. Virtual Incentives said it wanted to help providers make participation more engaging through faster access to gift cards and other rewards.

Kelly described plans to work with both the industry and research participants on approaches to incentive design. That remit connects the operation of reward programmes with the experience of the people completing research.

The appointment forms part of Virtual Incentives’ effort to expand its insights business. The company supplies a digital platform for distributing incentives internationally, replacing some of the manual steps involved in managing participant rewards.