Hachette appoints consumer insight director

Hachette UK has appointed current vice-president of global consumer insight at EMI Music, Louisa Livingston, to the newly created position of consumer insight director.   

Livingston will take up the post on 20th May, and will work across the Hachette UK group as the focal point for all insight-related activity. This will include developing consumer understanding to feed into areas including business development, online marketing and social networking.

Livingston will work with each Hachette publishing company, and offer expertise, training and advice to support consumer engagement and insight capability in every department. She will also work closely with Hachette sister companies globally, with the aim of "re-enforcing international collaboration and further facilitating the publishing of global bestsellers".

Group commercial director Richard Kitson said: "The role of consumer insight director is a pivotal one and Louisa's appointment is hugely important to the group. It is our intention to have the best insight and intelligence to support every aspect of our publishing, helping us and our authors to reach new readers and Louisa is the right person to deliver this for us."

Livingston added: "I'm looking forward to joining such a forward-thinking company and supporting them on their journey to be more consumer-led. The challenges and opportunities facing publishing are similar to the music industry, where I have worked for the last five years. It is clear that insight driven strategies are going to be key to delivering to consumers in a way that connects them in this ever-changing digital age."