My father, Paul Baker, who has died aged 77, was a co-founder in 1975 of the Ohal consultancy, which pioneered the use of econometric analysis to help clients understand what drove their sales and profits, forecast the impact of different investment scenarios and optimise future marketing.
The consultancy prospered despite the efforts of several advertising agencies to put them out of business, as prospective clients now needed to consider this new, more rigorous approach to evaluating their marketing strategies.
