News notes
In July, Wilton, Conn.-based Greenfield Online, Inc. announced the pricing of its initial public offering of 5,000,000 shares of its common stock at $13 per share on the NASDAQ National Market under the ticker “SRVY.” In the transaction, Greenfield Online sold 4,000,000 common shares, with net proceeds of approximately $46 million after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses; and selling stockholders sold 1,000,000 common shares, with net proceeds of approximately $12 million after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions. The selling stockholders granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase an additional 750,000 shares of common stock to cover over-allotments, if any.
Las Vegas-based MRCGroup Research Institute has announced an acquisition-based expansion initiative. “We’re interested in acquiring branded, successful researchers or firms, who, with the proper MRC financial and management support, can maximize their growth potential,” says Jim Medick, CEO and founder.
Individual branding and corporate identities would remain intact under the firm’s acquisition plan. “There are some brilliant minds out there working in the market research industry. Smart men and women with good ideas, energy and innovation but they don’t have the capital to continue their growth. We want to give them a home with room to flourish in every way, without having to lose their identity,” Medick says. For more information contact Medick at 702-360-7711 or at medick@mrcgroup.com.
BBM Canada, the Canadian industry consortium for audience ratings, has adopted the Arbitron Portable People Meter (PPM) as the official ratings system for buying and selling commercial airtime on French-language television in Quebec and Montreal.
The PPM-based television ratings service, which has been operating in parallel with the current ratings system in Canada’s second largest province since September 2003, replaced push-button people meters beginning in September 2004. BBM will completely phase out push-button people meters in the Quebec market by the end of the year. Arbitron’s Portable People Meter system uses a small, pager-sized audience measurement device to track broadcast, cable and satellite television viewing as well as radio listening.
Research International Group (RI) has made a three-year commitment to a World Vision project in Kenya which will enable nine young people to continue their education to the university level. Now in the second year of support, RI has so far donated over $30,000. The firm makes a company donation of approximately $10,000 at the start of each year and matches that donation in money raised by Research International people throughout the world by the middle of each year.
DSS Research, Ft. Worth, Texas, has received certification from the Privacy Certification Program for Business Associates (PCBA) after an on-site review in June found that DSS had demonstrated compliance with national standards to safeguard personal health-related information. DSS was required to meet standards addressing privacy protections for oral, written and electronic health information, and processes and practices respecting the use, disclosure and secure storage of personal health information.
PCBA standards also require employee training in protecting personal health information, consumer access to their own health information, and contracting between covered entities and their business associates. PCBA was established in 2003 by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and the National Committee for Quality Assurance. It is designed to assess whether organizations referred to as business associates under the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 are meeting essential requirements for safeguarding identifiable health information.
New York-based Arbitron and Nielsen Media Research have devised and tested new approaches that yield sample performance indicators (SPI) that are in line with what Nielsen would expect when recruiting and maintaining a set-top meter panel. These measures are substantially higher than those achieved by Arbitron in the first U.S. Market Trial of the PPM in Philadelphia in 2002. “Our joint effort with Nielsen Media Research has created two similar sets of methods that produced acceptable sample performance indicators in two parallel PPM tests,“ says David Lapovsky, executive vice president, Arbitron Inc.
The new methods were different from the 2002 methodology in that they: utilized membership representatives for at least some of the recruitment and ongoing maintenance of the panel; increased the financial incentives given to panelists; and included other methodological improvements. “The new methods increased the 8-to-10 percent response rate seen in the 2002 market trial, to the 33-to-34 percent sample performance indicators seen in recent test results in Philadelphia,” says Lapovsky. “In our Houston demonstration market, Arbitron is using one of the methods just developed and tested but using the Arbitron name, Arbitron field representatives and reductions in some of the incentives.”
The two companies’ collaborative Philadelphia tests involved testing two similar methodologies, each in a panel of 100 households. The first panel tested the use of membership representatives to recruit all panelists. The second panel tested a hybrid methodology that uses both representative and phone-based recruiting. Interim results from the first 12 months of the test indicated sample performance indicators of 33.3 and 33.8 for the first and second panels respectively.
Nielsen will closely monitor results from Arbitron’s use of the modified version of this new hybrid methodology in Houston. “Those results will be an important part of our overall analysis of the PPM,” says Jack Oken, general manager of Nielsen’s local business unit, “along with the results of other tests, overall financials, engineering due diligence, and market acceptance of the potential change in the currency.”
The two companies are exploring the feasibility of using the PPM as a data collection tool for a common panel used for both television and radio audience measurement. Arbitron and Nielsen first announced an agreement in June 2000 to explore the possibility of a joint venture to deploy PPM for local market measurement of television and radio in the United States.
The American Floral Endowment announced that New York-based Ipsos-Insight will manage the long-running Ipsos AFE Consumer Tracking Study. “Ipsos developed the Ipsos AFE Consumer Tracking Study for us in 1992,” says Steve Martinez, executive vice president of the American Floral Endowment. “For over 10 years, it is has been the only ongoing source for floral consumer purchase data, assisting business owners in making informed business decisions.”
“We are thrilled to have the Endowment’s support as we continue to broaden our work within the floriculture industry,” says Barrie Rappaport, chief analyst and manager of the project for Ipsos-Insight. “Our initial goal is to increase awareness of the study and to make it accessible to everyone from breeders and growers to wholesalers and retailers.”
Menlo Park, Calif.-based Knowledge Networks has raised $9 million in new financing from its long-term backers. The financing included Oak Investment Partners, Alloy Ventures, Maveron and Oak Hill Venture Partners.
Acquisitions
Millward Brown has acquired Boston-based strategic marketing research and consulting firm Marketing and Planning Systems, better known as MaPS. John White will remain CEO of MaPS, which will now be known as MaPS - A Millward Brown Company.
IMS Health, Fairfield, Conn., has signed an agreement to acquire United Research China Shanghai, a company that covers China’s over-the-counter market and offers consumer health consulting services. The acquisition is subject to government approval. The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
After acquiring a 51 percent shareholding in 2001, Germany-based GfK Group has increased its shareholding in the U.K.-based GfK Martin Hamblin Group, retroactive from January 1, 2004, making it a wholly-owned subsidiary. As group managing director, Kjell de Orr takes over responsibility.
In a separate move, retroactive to July 1, 2004, GfK has also acquired a 95 percent stake in the Brazilian company Indicator GfK and established a new company in Chile.
Greenfield Online, Inc., Wilton, Conn., has signed a definitive agreement to acquire all of OpinionSurveys.com’s online panel members from The Dohring Company, a Glendale, Calif., research firm. When completed, the acquisition is expected to add approximately 1.1 million households to the Greenfield Online panel. The all-cash transaction, which at press time was expected to close this month, is subject to certain closing conditions. Under the terms of the definitive agreement, Greenfield Online will acquire specific assets from The Dohring Company, including the complete OpinionSurveys.com panel, certain profile information contained in its database; title to the domain names OpinionSurveys.com and OpinionSurvey.com; as well as certain intellectual property and goodwill associated with the OpinionSurveys.com panel. Under the terms of the agreement, Greenfield Online will not assume any liabilities from The Dohring Company.
Paris-based Ipsos has acquired Hispania Research Corporation, a company based in Puerto Rico and Panama. Hispania Research Corporation, which generated $3.5 million in revenue during the last fiscal year, accounts for 12 percent of the market research industry in Puerto Rico. The company employs 25 full-time staff and also has a subsidiary in Panama.
Synovate has acquired Proactive Insight, a South African research firm.
ComScore Networks, Reston, Va., has acquired research firm Q2 Brand Intelligence. As part of this acquisition, the Q2 organization will be integrated into comScore’s established survey research division, and the combined business unit will operate as a division of comScore Networks under the name comScoreQ2. Larry Denaro, founder and CEO of Q2 Brand Intelligence, has assumed the position of president, comScoreQ2. All Q2 executives and research professionals will join the comScore team, and comScore will continue to operate Q2’s offices in Seattle and Boston.
Alliances/strategic partnerships
The AGB Group and Nielsen Media Research International have announced a joint venture that will offer television ratings in 30 countries. AGB Group is part of Kantar Media Research, a division of the Millward Brown Group. Its TV audience measurement services will merge with those wholly owned by Nielsen Media Research International. The deal does not include Nielsen’s U.S. TV ratings service. The new enterprise will be a 50/50 joint venture between Nielsen Media Research parent VNU and Kantar. The new company will be known as AGB Nielsen Media Research and will cover major markets including Australia, China, Hong Kong, Italy, South Africa and the U.K.
The new entity will headquarter its day-to-day operations in Milan, Italy, (the current headquarters of AGB); its board will be based in the Netherlands. AGB Nielsen Media Research will employ approximately 1,800 professionals and will have revenues of approximately $110 million based on 2003 financials. The board of directors of the new company will contain equal representation from VNU and Kantar. The joint venture will be led by AGB’s current management, Alberto Colussi and Rolando Stalli.
Seattle research firm NetReflector, Inc. and Cincinnati-based Language Logic have announced a strategic alliance under which NetReflector will integrate Language Logic’s Ascribe verbatim-coding technology into its online survey application InstantSurvey to enhance the recognition and analysis of open-text responses.
LatiNetwork Dichter & Neira of Panama is now a member of the Harris Interactive Global Network of independent research companies. The firm specializes in employee satisfaction research, ad-hoc studies and multi-country studies. With operations throughout Central America, LatiNetwork Dichter & Neira has sustained an annual growth of 20 percent over the last five years. The staff consists of 23 market research practitioners and 140 interviewers.
Also joining the network is MarketShare, a full-service market research company in Singapore.
Indianapolis-based Walker Information has added two firms to its global network: SKA Division of Mediafax, based in Puerto Rico, and Celsius Research - Japan.
Association/organization news
The Southwest Chapter of the Marketing Research Association has awarded four scholarships for 2004. The Scholarship Program was developed to encourage and assist educational pursuits among those employed in the marketing research industry. Members of the chapter and/or their employees are eligible to apply for monetary awards each year that the program is approved by the chapter board. The four 2004 recipients are: Richard Cram, Information Alliance, $750; Steve Larson, Information Alliance, $750; Carmen Muniz, Galloway Research, $525; Chism Nash, Information Alliance, $720.
The U.K.-based Association for Qualitative Research has announced Bryan Urbick, director of research, CKC/KidsLink Research Limited, as this year’s winner of the Prosper Riley-Smith Effectiveness Award. Urbick shared the award with Sarah McDonald and Carolina Polo of Kellogg’s, Battle Creek, Mich.
Urbick received the award on behalf of the three for the innovative approach to researching Kellogg’s Froot Loops cereal brand. In response to a brief to determine why sales of the Froot Loops brand were declining, Urbick devised a methodology to assess children’s emotional response to the brand. The market research team at Kellogg’s was integral in approving the new methodology, and the brand management team applied the learnings.
The research project combined the use of story completion with in-depth “creative” interviews to encourage children aged between six and 10 years old to identify their feelings about the brand. The results led to the development of a new style of communication with children that has halted the brand’s declining market share and seen a considerable turnaround in sales.
Jessica Mazzola, Director of Research for the Key West Chamber of Commerce, was selected as the winner of the first-ever Betsy Jane Peterson-Marketing Research Association Award.
The award was established by the Marketing Research Association with the University of Georgia Foundation in November 2003 to honor Betsy Peterson for her leadership and contribution to the marketing research industry upon her retirement after 13 years as executive director of the MRA.
This fund provides an award to one or more candidates who are pursuing an education in marketing research through Marketing Research Institute International’s (MRII) and the University of Georgia Center for Continuing Education’s Principles of Marketing Research Program, or a Master’s of Marketing Research in the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia.
The selection committee was presented with 14 applications to review and select their top three candidates. Mazzola’s application stood out as representing someone who has proven to be an outstanding and dedicated researcher in the profession. A devotee of continuous learning, Mazzola plans to improve the research methodologies of her organization to better assist the Key West business community. She wants to positively impact the community by giving accurate and timely market analysis to help Chamber members profitably run their businesses.
Awards/rankings
New York-based Ipsos reports that it has been cited as the fastest-growing market research firm in the U.S., according to the 12th annual industry rankings report by the newsletter Inside Research. The company’s U.S. revenues grew by 477 percent between 1998 and 2003, compared with the industry average of 50.6 percent, the newsletter reported.
Toronto-based Delvinia Interactive Inc. announced it was awarded one of five excellence in research awards at this year’s annual Professional Marketing Research Society conference. Delvinia was recognized for AskingMedia, its online ad-testing application, which was used on two research projects Millward Brown conducted for Nissan Canada and Expedia.ca. The Excellence Behind the Scenes award is given annually to companies whose efforts in areas such as data collection, panel recruiting, data processing and analysis enable the completion of market research projects.
Australian market research firm Market Equity received two awards at the 2004 Telstra Small Business of the Year awards. Market Equity won the AMP Business Award for businesses with between 50 and 100 employees and the Telstra WA Small Business of the Year Award. The Telstra and Australian Governments’ Small Business Awards are designed to showcase the success of Australia’s best small businesses and to promote their achievements to the wider community. It is the first time a research company has won this award.
Flake-Wilkerson Market Insights, Little Rock, Ark., announced that it has been recognized as the 35th largest research firm in the U.S. according to The Honomichl Top 50. The firm reported 2003 U.S.-only revenues of $17.8 million, up 27.1 percent over 2002. The firm advanced from the 41st spot in 2002 to 35th in 2003.
Braintree, Mass.-based research firm Perseus Development Corporation has been named to Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50 Program for New England, a ranking of the 50 fastest-growing technology companies in the area by Deloitte & Touche LLP.
New accounts/projects
Nashville-based 20/20 Research, Inc. has added Kraft Foods and Campbell Hausfeld to its list of online software subscribers. Kraft obtained a 20/20 Research Online software subscription for a second division of the company based on satisfaction with a first subscription. Kraft currently uses the 20/20 Research software in its consumer research divisions, and will soon utilize the Qualboard online bulletin board functionality to conduct internal discussions with its offices around the world. Power-equipment maker Campbell Hausfeld added the online software to its research tool box to further its consumer research efforts.
Separately, 20/20 Research announced it has added market research firms B/R/S Group and Leiberman Research Worldwide to its list of online software subscribers. B/R/S Group added the Qualboard software as another tool for conducting research for its clients. Lieberman Research Worldwide will also use the software for conducting client-sponsored qualitative research projects.
Arbitron Inc., New York, has reached an agreement with Infinity Broadcasting Corporation for a multi-year contract including radio ratings and other related services for its 185 stations. The agreement gives Infinity Broadcasting access to Arbitron quarterly radio ratings in 42 markets including the Spring 2004 survey.
Separately, Arbitron Inc. has signed an agreement with eMediaTRADE for access to eMedia’s Media eXchange Desk technology and services. Arbitron plans to use the eMediaTRADE technology to assist in making future versions of Arbitron’s media planning and buying software and Arbitron radio sales software compatible with the American Association of Advertising Agencies standards for the exchange of transaction data between advertising agencies and media outlets.
Hoffman Estates, Ill., research firm FreshLook Marketing Group has been tapped by Marine Harvest, a Pompano Beach, Fla., aquaculture company, to provide distribution, sales and pricing data on fresh seafood.
Chicago-based research firm Synovate has selected SPSS Inc., also of Chicago, as a worldwide preferred supplier of market research technologies. The global agreement names Dimensions from SPSS, an integrated market research platform for survey design, data collection, data management, analysis and publishing of market research results, as Synovate’s technology of choice throughout its worldwide operations. Synovate will promote the use of Dimensions for data collection, data cleaning and manipulation, data analysis and reporting to its locations around the world. The Synovate/SPSS global agreement expands a 2002 agreement between the companies that standardizes the use of Dimensions for Web-based data collection in U.S. Synovate locations.
New companies/new divisions/ relocations/expansions
Al Barraza has formed Barraza & Associates, a consulting and research firm. Barraza was a senior marketing research manager with Allstate Insurance. Several of his colleagues, with skills in quantitative and qualitative research, have joined the firm as senior consultants. For more information call 650-458-8925 or visit www.barraza-associates.com.
Research software firm E-Tabs has opened an office in New York and tapped Aaron Benedict to head it.
Millward Brown’s Russian licensee A/R/M/I-Marketing Millward Brown has opened an office in Kiev, Ukraine. The office, which will be managed by Svetlana Pototskaya, is located at Office #31, 1-3 Frunze Street, Kiev 04070, Ukraine. Phone 380-44-531-4326.
Jay Wilson, ex-chairman and CEO of Roper Starch Worldwide, and Simon Chadwick, until recently worldwide CEO of NOP World, have formed a new management consulting company, Cambiar LLC. Cambiar will be based in Fairfield, Conn., and Phoenix. Phone 203-254 7221 (Wilson) or 602-387-5109 (Chadwick).
U.K.-based data-handling firm ATP has changed its name to Cobalt Sky and opened an office in New York. The New York office will initially offer data processing services. As part of the renaming the firm has changed its e-mail address and Web site to use the domain cobalt-sky.com, though mail addressed to atp.co.uk will still be routed to the correct people.
Braintree, Mass., research company Perseus Development Corporation has opened a new office in the U.K. Located near London, Valloria Software (Perseus UK) provides sales, strategic product support, training and implementation support to Perseus’ customers and prospects. Peter Barnett has been appointed as the managing director of the company.
In a joint venture with U.K.-based ag marketing firm Precision Prospecting, German ag research firm Kleffmann has created a new company called KactiveResearch, with will be headquartered in the U.K. and led by Chris Horne and Mike Heisig.
Suwanee, Ga.-based research firm CyberAnalysis LLC has changed its name to Eidex Group LLC.
Company earnings reports
For the first six months of 2004, Netherlands-based VNU reported 8 percent organic revenue growth in its Marketing Information unit (which includes ACNielsen) and 7 percent in its Media Measurement & Information unit (which includes Nielsen Media Research).
Germany-based GfK Group closed the first six months of 2004 with improved figures compared to the previous year. Sales were up by almost 14 percent to EUR 320.6 million, with EBIT after income from participations of EUR 35.5 million rising at a rate of 19.1 percent. The margin, EBIT after income from participations in relation to sales, increased to 11.1 percent (previous year: 10.6 percent) in the first half-year. Consolidated total income rose by almost 37 percent to EUR 21.2 million.
Based on this performance, GfK increased its forecast for the year to a new sales target of EUR 660 million, an increase of EUR 10 million on the previous target figure. EBIT after income from participations is set to increase to over EUR 82 million (previously EUR 78 million), which equates to a margin of approx. 12.5 percent.
For the second quarter ended June 30, 2004, Arbitron Inc., New York, reported revenue of $65.1 million, an increase of 5.9 percent over revenue of $61.4 million during the second quarter of 2003. Costs and expenses for the second quarter increased by 8.8 percent, from $48.8 million in 2003 to $53.1 million in 2004. EBIT for the quarter were $15.9 million, compared with EBIT of $16.1 million during the comparable period last year.
Interest expense for the second quarter declined 39.3 percent, from $3.2 million in 2003 to $1.9 million in 2004, due to reductions in debt between the two periods.
Net income for the quarter was $8.6 million, compared with $8.0 million for the second quarter of 2003. Net income per share for the second quarter 2004 increased to $0.27 (diluted), compared with $0.26 (diluted) during the comparable period last year. In the second quarter 2004, Arbitron reduced its long-term debt by $10.0 million to $75.0 million.
For the six months ended June 30, 2004, revenue was $141.7 million, an increase of 6.7 percent over the same period last year. EBIT was $47.8 million, compared to $46.0 million in 2003. Net income for the six months was $26.7 million or $0.85 per share (diluted), compared with $24.1 million or $0.80 per share (diluted) during the comparable period last year.
Paris-based Ipsos reported consolidated revenues of 286.0 million euros for the first half of 2004, an 8.2 percent increase over the same period in 2003. Organic growth came in at 8.6 percent. Newly integrated companies accounted for 3.9 percent of revenue growth. Currency effects remained substantial, albeit less so than in the year-earlier period. They dragged down revenues by 4.2 percent in the first half, and resulted mainly from adverse movements in the U.S. dollar, the Canadian dollar and the Mexican peso against the euro.
IMS Health, Fairfield, Conn., announced second-quarter 2004 revenues of $379.6 million, up 12 percent (9 percent on a constant-dollar basis) compared with revenues of $337.8 million for the second quarter of 2003. SEC-reported diluted earnings per share in the 2004 second quarter was $0.27, an increase of 17 percent compared with $0.23 in the prior-year period. Adjusted diluted earnings per share for the second quarter of 2004 were $0.29, up 16 percent compared with $0.25 in the 2003 second quarter. Net income for the second quarter of 2004 was $65.1 million on an SEC-reported basis and $69.5 million on an adjusted basis, compared with net income of $55.4 million on an SEC-reported basis and $60.4 million on an adjusted basis in the year-earlier quarter, up 15 percent on an adjusted basis. The company’s operating income was $102.5 million in the 2004 second quarter, up 5 percent (3 percent constant dollar) from $97.3 million for the year-ago period.