The Dog Blog

Back to Blog

Melbourne officially a go!

May 26, 2022


Painted Dog opens Melbourne office with four new East Coast hires

While Painted Dog Research has been delivering work nationally for the past 10 years, 2022 marked the official opening of its new office in Melbourne, signalling an exciting milestone in its growth throughout Australia. Painted Dog’s founding partners Justin Scerri, Dr Claudia Amonini and Chris Batini launched the agency back in 2007 out of a need for a fresh and vibrant alternative in the research industry in WA. Painted Dog has since grown to become the largest research consultancy in WA and one of the largest privately owned agencies in Australia, and continues to solve commercial and social challenges using research, analytics, data science and neuro-science approaches.

Left to right: Principals Justin Scerri, Claudia Amonini and Chris Batini


Principal Justin Scerri says the team’s constant drive to explore new approaches to deliver great work for clients and its committed focus to its brand culture have contributed to Painted Dog’s success and made expansion over east inevitable. “We’re a team of passionate researchers with a hunger to do great work and make a positive difference for our clients. Our ‘one pack’ approach has seen us grow to be the leading agency in Perth. Over the past decade we’ve seen organic growth outside WA with many clients in Victoria, ACT and South Australia, so it was just a matter of time that we built physical presence on the East Coast.”

Alongside Painted Dog’s Principals and its Executive Leadership Team, Matthew Scott (General Manager, Melbourne) and Alex Kelsey (Group Account Director) have joined the Melbourne Management Team to lead the East Coast expansion.

Principal Claudia Amonini says it was critical Painted Dog found the right team to helm the new Melbourne office. “Staying true to our brand has always been at the heart of our success and we’ve never compromised on this no matter how busy or big we get, so we have held off building a team in the East Coast until we found the right people. Matt and Alex represent and live our brand so well and we know they’re the right team to help us continue to share our fresh and vibrant approach with the East Coast.”

Matthew has over 12 years insights experience, in both client-side (5+ years) and agency (7+ years) research roles. Matthew previously worked at Painted Dog in Perth from 2014-2017 before he gained experience at various agencies including House of Brand, T garage, Honeycomb Strategy and most recently Fiftyfive5. Matthew is a dualist researcher with interests in complex quant programs, segmentation, and human centred research.

“I couldn’t pass up the chance to work at Painted Dog Research again, particularly alongside the Leadership Team to grow the Painted Dog footprint in the Eastern States. Painted Dog’s culture and offering is truly unique and it’s what pulled me back – a team that is always striving to be the best and deliver meaningful work for clients, all whilst having fun and looking out for each other. I’m excited to share Painted Dog with the East Coast!”

Left to right: General Manager Melbourne Matthew Scott and Group Account Director Alex Kelsey


Alex, originally from the UK, has spent the best part of 10 years in Melbourne working across Commercial, Government and NFP sectors at RDSI, Galkal, The Kinetic Group and Fiftyfive5. Alex brings strong research design and strategic consulting to the Painted Dog team and is also a dualist researcher, with specialised experience in qualitative methodologies.

Painted Dog Research recently recruited two additional consultants in Melbourne, psychology graduates Emma Moon and Stefan Tsagaris – with the team of four based in Melbourne supported by the wider consulting, data tech and data science teams based in Perth, Canada and Germany. Painted Dog continues to grow and is always on the lookout for on-brand consultants at all levels.

Read the Painted Dog Research wrap up for 2021 to get to know the team a little better and read about just how big and exciting the last year was!