Company History
Canadean was founded in 1973 and Kelsey van Musschenbroek, who was one of the founder directors, remained CEO and Chairman until September 2010 when Canadean joined Progessive Digital Media Group. Kelsey has now joined the Board of Progressive as a Non-Executive Director.
Kelsey was a journalist working for the Financial Times in London and was approached by a major soft drinks manufacturer to compile a report on the soft drinks market in Europe. The project gave him the idea of setting up a company specialising in independent market research and strategic reports for similar companies in this field. The multi-client 'Soft Drinks Service' soon followed, initially reporting on West European countries. As the company grew, new products such as the Quarterly Review were added and new country researchers recruited, the majority with previous experience of the drinks industry. In the 1980s the Beer, Wines and Spirits Services were launched from separate locations in the UK, followed by the Beverage Packaging Service.
During the 1990s the three separate UK offices were brought together into one head office in Basingstoke, and the research was expanded into East Europe, followed by a programme of global expansion and the launch of Canadean’s series of global reports.
In recent years significant investment in IT has transformed all Canadean’s beverage databases into interactive market analysis tools, geared to clients’ annual and strategic business planning cycles.
Canadean’s clients have not only come from the major beverage producing companies, but also the allied industries, packaging manufacturers, ingredients companies and raw material suppliers for example. Many of the original clients are still with Canadean in one form or another and have developed a strong symbiotic relationship with us over the years.
Today, Canadean employs over 130 staff and consultants around the world. This number continues to grow as we look to extend our global research base via new products and services.
In September 2010 Canadean became a member of the rapidly growing, AIM listed, Progressive Digital Media Group. Canadean's new owner and Progressive's Chairman, Mike Danson, previously built Datamonitor into a £120 million-a-year business before it was sold to Informa in 2007. He then launched Progressive Digital Media in mid-2009.
Canadean's new CEO is Emily Neill, who has been with the company for 15 years and been responsible for many of the company's product innovations in recent years. As part of Progressive, Canadean will benefit from the additional resources available to enhance even further and more rapidly the quality, depth and scope of our global services.
