Exciting consulting start-up needs NEW identity

Wates Consulting

Hi my name is Guy and I have recently started a business called Wates Consulting, specialising in online and mobile market research methods. This company is not your stereotypical lab coat research agency. We believe that research projects need to engage participants to get considered answers from them. We believe that this is achievable using great design in online survey creation and innovation through technology.
Our specific specialism’s including building and managing research communities and panels, troubleshooting difficult longitudinal tracking studies and using technology to come up with innovative internet/mobile based research methods.
The company’s ethos is one that is focussed on putting the client at the centre of the business. We always go the extra mile and are passionate about delivering projects to the highest standard.
This is a great opportunity for a designer to come up with a really engaging identity for Wates Consulting; one that emulates our beliefs in engagement and innovation in research. You will have a blank canvass as no designer has worked on this before.
I hope you have fun helping me create this logo for my company - hopefully this will be the first of many design projects with stationery and website to follow soon.

Wates Consulting targets client side researchers and marketers in the UK. We are looking to reach people in large blue chip organisations who are entrepreneurial and willing to try new research techniques, with special focus on building research communities for them. These people are generally responsible for creating and publicizing insight about their markets, consumers and products.

We are looking for a BRAND NEW logo/ identity that says we understand engagement and innovation in research. We want to be known among our target audience as the researchers who do it differently. Not your typical researcher in a white lab coat with a clipboard. We are consultants that understand what it is to engage research participants using great design and innovative technologies. And we love having fun while we do this. So be creative with this, but we also want to say that we still pay lots of attention to the details and are passionate about delivering insights that are of the highest quality.
Specifically I'd like something that's simple, clear and bold. Please avoid anything too serious - we don't want to come across as stiff or cramped. We want to be open and inviting. "Wates" is my surname and I want people to think we are different, not that we couldn't think of something original so we used our name to brand our business. The name should lend the credibility I need to the design - the rest is up to you! But please no cartoons or anything silly. We still need people to know we are in business and are good at what we do.
Here is an example of a research consulting firm's identity I quite like:
http://www.clear-ideas.com/
What I like about this is its simple but at the same time the logo “says what’s on the tin”. It’s also clean looking and not too busy.