Empirica Research works with clients across the US and Australia.
Our work is diverse – communication and advertising development, advertising strategy and impact, new product development, B2B, social issues, community attitudes, consumer behavior and decision-making, brand allegiance and retention, PR product launches and crisis management, media usage and attitudes, corporate image and organizational change – all tailored to your specific needs.
Our commitment to you
At Empirica, every project is managed by a company director who oversees the design, execution and reporting of your project.
There will be no surprises on fees – you’ll know upfront how much a project will cost and we will deliver on time and on budget. But, we go the extra mile and our service does not end when we hand over the report. We’re there for you when you have questions or when you need something for a workshop or conference – our partnership approach to our clients means that we’re there when you need it.
Our Directors
David Neal, Ph.D.
David completed a Ph.D. in experimental social psychology at the University of Melbourne, before heading to the US as a Research Fellow and Director of Duke University’s Social Science Research Laboratories. He then moved to the University of Southern California, as an Assistant Professor of Research in Psychology.
David has published broadly in the areas of behavior change, attitudes and motivational processes, and consumer and social decision making. His academic research has been featured in the New York Times, Time Magazine, the BBC, NPR, The Independent, and The Australian. In the commercial world, his background has emphasized health behavior, new product development, political and social attitudes, and advertising effectiveness research. David has particular expertise in the formation and change of consumer and health habits. He has published extensively on this topic, and consults to Fortune 100 companies on consumer habit formation and change.
Under pressure, David will confess to never having quite grown out of backpacking, so when he’s not working, you are likely to find him exploring a Mayan ruin in Guatemala, caving in Costa Rica, or hanging out with gypsies in Romania.
Read some of David's recent academic papers here.
Cassie Govan, Ph.D.
cassie@empiricaresearch.com.au
After receiving her Ph.D. in experimental social psychology, Cassie spent two years in the USA as a Research Associate and Co-Director of the Behavioral Lab at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. On returning to Australia, Cassie worked for Sweeney Research for five years where she was an Associate Director focusing heavily on advertising, communications and behavior change research. She then launched Empirica Research with David in 2010.
Maintaining her links with academia, Cassie is also an Honorary Fellow in the University of Melbourne’s Department of Psychology.
Her academic research concentrated on the structure of attitudes and the use of non-conscious attitude measurement tools. Other areas of her academic research included negotiation, ostracism, juror decision-making and the framing of inequity.
Her commercial research has focused on advertising and communication development,social marketing, attitude and behaviour change, consumer decision making, and organisational change.
She has published in top academic journals and books and presented at psychology and marketing conferences across Australia and the US (you can read some of her articles here. She regularly conducts guest lectures in psychology departments and business schools and has appeared in television, radio and print media as an expert social psychologist.
She is addicted to advertising and used to get in trouble as a kid for channel surfing in order to watch the ads, and yes, The Gruen Transfer is one of her favorite TV shows.
Anna Coster
Director of Consumer Research – Anna brings a unique mix of experience from research, PR, communications and advertising. This creates a rare combination of academic insight paired with commercial acumen.
She holds a BA in Psychology and an MA in Advertising from Michigan State University. While at MSU, she also competed in the track team at a national level as a heptathlete.
Anna specialises in advertising and communications research, consumer beahvior and social marketing. She is also an expert in social media monitoring and integration.
For fun, Anna likes running...and running and running. She recently completed the Melbourne Marathon - which, as she points out, is a lot further than the 800m she used to run on the track in the Heptathlon.
