News notes

New York research company Arbitron Inc. has reached an agreement with the Office of the Attorney General of Maryland regarding the company’s Portable People Meter (PPM) radio ratings services in Washington, D.C., and Baltimore. Arbitron has agreed to: recruit panelists using a combination of telephone-based and addressed-based sampling methods; use the address-based sampling technique for at least 10 percent of its sampling efforts by or before October 1, 2009 and at least 15 percent of its recruitment efforts by the end of December 2010; increase cell-phone-only sampling to at least 10 percent of all recruitment efforts by or before October 1, 2009, and at least 15 percent of all recruitment efforts by the end of December 2010; take all reasonable measures to insure a minimum sample performance indicator (SPI) of 15 percent and to obtain and maintain a minimum SPI of 17 percent by June 2010 with a target SPI for the market of 20 percent or higher; take all reasonable measures to ensure average in-tab rates of at least 75 percent for the overall persons age six and older, and to ensure that categories and subcategories comprising 10 percent or more of the radio population for the market fall within 85 percent of the overall 75 percent target; provide to Washington, D.C., market subscribers monthly reports detailing the PPM installed and in-tab sample sizes by individual zip code; take all reasonable measures to obtain accreditation for the PPM radio ratings service from the Media Rating Council; and include a disclaimer on written promotional material and Web sites indicating that PPM ratings are based on audience estimates and should not be relied on for precise accuracy or precise representativeness of the radio market.
Separately, Arbitron Inc. has reached two separate settlement agreements with Ipsos S.A., Ipsos America Inc. and Ipsos U.K. Ltd., and with International Demographics Inc. (aka The Media Audit). Both settlement agreements relate to the patent infringement lawsuit that Arbitron filed against Ipsos and The Media Audit on October 10, 2006, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The lawsuit alleged that the two companies infringed three U.S. patents relating to the PPM electronic audience measurement technology developed by Arbitron.
On October 23, 2008, Arbitron and The Media Audit entered into a settlement agreement in which The Media Audit acknowledged that the three Arbitron U.S. patents were valid, enforceable and not otherwise subject to any equitable defenses. The Media Audit further agreed that, until the expiration of all three Arbitron U.S. patents, they would not make, use, sell, offer for sale, test, demonstrate, distribute or otherwise engage in activities that potentially infringe the three valid and enforceable Arbitron U.S. patents. The settlement agreement by The Media Audit applies to any systems, methods, devices or the like, including but not limited to the Smart Cell Phone developed by Ipsos and previously marketed by The Media Audit in the U.S.
On January 13, 2009, Arbitron and Ipsos reached a settlement agreement dismissing Arbitron’s patent infringement lawsuit without prejudice against Ipsos. As a result, Ipsos agreed to immediately suspend any and all efforts in the U.S. related to commercialization, testing and/or marketing a portable electronics measurement system with regard to any and all forms of media until at least January 13, 2012.
Finally, Arbitron is expanding its in-person PPM training program designed to reach out to young African-American and Hispanic respondents in Arbitron PPM panels. Dubbed Feet on the Street, the program is scheduled to have bilingual Arbitron representatives knocking on the doors of newly-recruited Hispanics and African-Americans age 18-34 in the top 10 PPM markets by the end of April 2009. The program’s goal: to reach out to African-American and Hispanic respondents, age 18-34, who have not developed good carry habits within the first eight days of their time on a PPM panel. If the in-tab rate during those first eight days is below a pre-set threshold, a Feet on the Street representative will attempt to schedule the in-person visit for a time that is within the first 28 days of the respondent’s tenure in the panel. The targeted panelist will be offered a gift card for agreeing to and keeping the appointment and a bonus for improved performance over the next four weeks after the visit. The Arbitron representative can also provide a travel charger, accessories or even decorative skins for the PPM itself. The trainer can also highlight the My Meter and Me Web site that allows respondents to track their compliance hours and their bonus points every day.

Facebook, Palo Alto, Calif., has pulled its polling tool after less than two years. The tool allowed anyone to create a poll, paying according to the number of responses sought and the time in which they were needed. Polls could be targeted at the site’s users based on age, sex, location or profile and were limited to single questions with up to five multiple-choice answers. Facebook did not give specific reasons for removing the tool but is advising users to turn to one of the other polling applications available on the site.

Chicago research company Synovate has closed a call center in Miami, with 88 employees losing their jobs (86 interviewers, a full-time supervisor and a full-time human resources coordinator). Synovate will keep a small team of seven employees at another location in Miami.

TNS Custom Research Inc., Horsham, Pa., has closed its Indiana, Pa., call center, laying off 128 people.

Atlanta research company CMI has rebranded itself with the tagline “Research that drives results.” To support the rebranding, CMI launched an updated Web site (www.cmiresearch.com) and created new marketing materials.

Polaris Marketing Research Inc., Atlanta, has redesigned its Web site (www.polarismr.com) to introduce SurveyTrac, a new service designed to provide survey assistance and interactive reporting.

Acquisitions/transactions

GMO-Research, a division of GMO Internet Group, Tokyo, has acquired Japan Market Intelligence (JMI), Tokyo. JMI’s team will continue to operate as a separate business unit.

WPP, a London research group, has acquired Red Dot Square Solutions, a Milton Keynes, U.K., research company. Red Dot Square will operate within Kantar, WPP’s global insight, information and consultancy division.

Alliances/strategic partnerships

Leo J. Shapiro & Associates, a Chicago research company, has partnered with Schafer Condon Carter, a Chicago marketing agency, to capture consumer behavior via a national monthly survey of consumers focusing on top-of-mind market trends and influencing factors.

Peanut Labs, a San Francisco research company, and DMS Research, Lewisville, Texas, have combined their recruiting strengths to create an online sample. The two companies will combine their existing data-quality products in hopes to improve validation.

J.D. Power and Associates, a Westlake Village, Calif., research company, has formed an agreement with Compete, a Boston division of New York research company TNS, to jointly develop products based on information gathered regarding the online automotive shopping and buying process.

Association/organization news

The Marketing Research Association (MRA), Glastonbury, Conn., has called on the White House to swiftly appoint a new director of the U.S. Bureau of the Census. In order to ensure a complete and accurate decennial census, MRA feels that the Census Bureau needs an experienced director to assume immediate responsibility.

MDLinx, a Washington, D.C., panel company, has been accepted as a member to CASRO, the Council of American Survey Research Organizations, Port Jefferson, N.Y.

New accounts/projects

PPL Electric Utilities, Allentown, Pa., has selected Vancouver, B.C., research company Vision Critical to create a custom online panel to study what’s important to electric customers in a changing energy market.

C-nario, a Tel Aviv, Israel digital signage company, has selected Tampa, Fla., research company TruMedia Technologies’ iCapture audience measurement system and iCapture PROM for C-nario customers. ICapture is designed to analyze face images of people watching out-of-home displays, using sensors, providing viewing data for digital displays and screens. Viewers’ face images are analyzed to generate information such as audience counts, individual exposure times as well as gender and age group demographics.

New York research company Arbitron Inc. has announced it will increase the sample target for cell-phone-only households in all Portable People Meter (PPM) markets to 15 percent by year-end 2010. In an interim step, the current target of 7.5 percent will be raised to 12.5 percent in PPM markets by year-end 2009. For the New York PPM radio ratings service, Arbitron has committed to increasing the cell-phone-only sample target to 15 percent by July 2010.
Separately, Pamal Broadcasting, Latham, N.Y., has signed a multi-year agreement with Arbitron for Arbitron’s custom survey area reports for Hudson Valley, N.Y. Hudson Valley will be surveyed twice a year with the enhanced version of Arbitron’s seven-day diary.

Green Mountain Power, a Colchester, Vt., utilities company, has signed a small utility enterprise license agreement (ELA) with Redlands, Calif., geographic mapping software company ESRI. By the agreement, Green Mountain Power is assured unlimited deployments to desktop, server and mobile devices of ESRI’s ArcGIS platform; maintenance and support for products; staff training; and passes to the ESRI International User Conference.
Additionally, Chesapeake Energy Corporation (CE), Oklahoma City, has also signed an ELA with ESRI for ESRI’s geographic information system software. As part of its agreement, CE has opted to include the ESRI Enterprise Advantage Program.

Research Now, London, has signed a partnership agreement with San Francisco research company Peanut Labs to implement Peanut Labs’ Optimus digital fingerprinting solution, which serves to block respondents from entering the same survey on multiple occasions. The program will be integrated and applied across all Research Now projects.
Separately, Sample Answers, a Middlesex, U.K., research company, has signed an exclusive agreement with Peanut Labs to be the U.K. resellers of Sample 3.0, an online sampling methodology.

New companies/new divisions/relocations/expansions

ESRI, a Redlands, Calif., geographic mapping software company, has moved its Johnstown, Pa., satellite office to 1407 Eisenhower Boulevard, Suite 200, Johnstown, Pa. The office relocated to better accommodate its team of 14 ESRI project managers and software developers.

Research Now, London, has opened a new office in Auckland, New Zealand. Martin Tomlinson will serve in the new office as client development manager.

Cincinnati research company Burke, Inc. has acquired a seven-acre property in downtown Cincinnati, which will become the future site of its new corporate headquarters. To prepare the site for occupancy, the firm plans to spend $10 million on improving and renovating the property, which was formerly owned by Automatic Data Processing. Earliest projections for moving to the new location are June 2010.

Focuscope Inc., a Chicago research company, has opened a branch office in Oak Brook, Ill.

Pitney Bowes, a Stamford, Conn., document management company has formed Pitney Bowes Insight, a new business unit composed of Pitney Bowes MapInfo and Group 1 Software. The new division is designed to help market its data analysis services and combine local and communication intelligence with predictive analytics for firms needing a more complete view of their customers.

Double Helix, a London research consultancy, has opened a division to conduct strategic pricing, reimbursement and market access studies. The team will be led by Andrew (Drew) Baker.

Jerry Arbittier, former president of All Global Ltd., a New York research company, has launched a new health care data collection company, SurveyHealthCare, also based in New York. The company will provide access to over 700,000 health care professionals.

Research company earnings/financial news

Ipsos, Paris, posted fiscal year 2008 revenues of 979.3 million euros, an increase of 5.6 percent compared with 2007, and organic growth of 7.8 percent. Currency effects had a negative impact of 5.9 percent. In spite of a less-favorable final quarter (6.6 percent organic growth), Ipsos grew at a more rapid pace than its market (which expanded by an estimated 5 percent in 2008).
A breakdown by geographic area shows further growth in developing countries, steady growth in Western Europe and moderate growth in North America and Japan.
Separately, Ipsos announced a corporate gift totaling $10,000 to be donated to the North American branches of three global charitable organizations. Its donation is to be shared among Doctors Without Borders, World Vision and the World Wildlife Fund. The gift is in conjunction with the company’s client holiday greeting program.

InfoGroup Inc., Omaha, Neb., announced unaudited financial results for the fourth quarter and full fiscal year ended December 31, 2008. During the fourth quarter of 2008, infoGroup delivered revenue of $178.1 million, compared to $185.8 million for the same period in 2007, representing a decline of 4 percent. InfoGroup’s operating income for the fourth quarter of 2008 was $9.2 million, compared to income of $24.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2007. InfoGroup’s earnings per share for the fourth quarter of 2008 was $0.03 versus earnings per share of $0.20 in the fourth quarter of 2007.
Revenue for the full year was $738.3 million, an increase of 7 percent over fiscal year 2007. Revenue for the fiscal year 2007 included $9.9 million for the Naviant settlement and $13.3 million for revenue associated with the First Data Resources license agreement, which was not renewed in 2008. Excluding these items, growth for the year was 1 percent. InfoGroup’s operating income was $25.3 million, compared to $86.5 million in 2007. The company recorded $34.3 million in non-recurring charges; these charges included $10.7 million in severance payments primarily to the former CEO of the company. InfoGroup’s earnings per share was $0.08 as compared to $0.73 in 2007.

Clarabridge, Reston, Va., tripled revenue in 2008 and is experiencing growth across the board, particularly in the retail, consumer goods and hospitality sectors. Wal-Mart, Walgreens, Choice Hotels and other major corporations signed agreements with the company in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Harris Interactive, Rochester, N.Y., announced its financial results for the second quarter of fiscal 2009. Second-quarter results include revenue of $50.7 million, compared with $62.7 million for the same prior-year period, and operating loss of $(45.9) million, compared with operating income of $3.4 million for the same prior-year period. Operating loss for the quarter included $46.1 million in charges, specifically $3.9 million for severance related to U.S. headcount reductions and separation payments to former executives, $0.9 million related to leased-space reductions, $1.1 million for performance improvement consultant fees, and $40.3 million for goodwill impairment. Second-quarter net loss was $(65.6) million, or $(1.23) per share, compared with net income of $2 million, or $0.04 per share, for the same prior-year period.

IMS Health, Norwalk, Conn., announced fourth-quarter 2008 net income of $98.5 million and diluted earnings per share of $0.54, compared with net income of $18 million and earnings per share of $0.09 in the fourth quarter of 2007. After adjusting for a 2007 restructuring charge and certain other items, net income on a non-GAAP basis for the fourth quarter of 2008 rose 9 percent and earnings per share on a non-GAAP basis was up 16 percent year over year. Total revenue for the fourth quarter of 2008 was $580.9 million, a 4 percent decrease from the fourth quarter of 2007.
For full-year 2008, net income was $311.3 million and earnings per share was $1.70, up 33 percent and 44 percent, respectively. After adjusting for certain items, net income on a non-GAAP basis grew 2 percent and earnings per share on a non-GAAP basis rose 11 percent for the year. Revenue for the 2008 full year was $2,329.5 million, up 6 percent from 2007. Operating income for 2008 was $498.3 million, compared with $393.3 million in the year-earlier period, up 27 percent

Research Now, London, released audited preliminary results for the year ended October 31, 2008. Highlights include: group revenues of £41.2 million, up 60 percent (2007: £25.8 million); underlying revenue growth of 40 percent; operating profit of £6.3 million (2007: £2.3 million), with margins increased to 15.3 percent; profit before tax of £5.7 million, up from £0.3 million in 2007; basic earnings per share of 21.8p (2007: 3.2p loss per share); adjusted basic earnings per share of 23.9p, an increase of 100.8 percent (2007: 11.9p); and free cash flow of £6.5 million after 2007’s £0.4 million outflow.

National Research Corporation, Lincoln, Neb., has announced results for the fourth quarter and year-end 2008. Revenue for the quarter ended December 31, 2008, was $12.2 million, compared to $10.8 million for the same quarter in 2007. Net income for the quarter ended December 31, 2008, was $1.9 million compared to $1.1 million for the fourth quarter 2007.
Revenue for the year ended December 31, 2008, was $51 million, compared to $48.9 million for the same period in 2007. Net income for 2008 was $7.4 million, compared to $6.8 million for 2007. Year-end 2008 performance resulted in $1.11 per basic and $1.09 per diluted earnings per share, compared to 2007 performance of $1.00 per basic and $.98 per diluted earnings per share.

Nunwood, Leeds, U.K., has taken on $5 million worth of new business in 2008, representing a 62 percent growth over 2007. The increase includes commissions from Wyeth Nutrition, Mullen and DeLaval. The agency is recruiting in response to its continued growth, doubling the revenues of its London office and be tripling the size of its U.S. operation in New York in 2009.
 
BuzzBack Market Research, New York, has announced results for 2008. Sales were up 35 percent over one year ago, with increases in profits as the company saw a global expansion of its business.

Kadence, London, has had a positive start to its 2008-09 financial year, reporting revenue of $7.8 million in the six months to December 2008, a 40 percent increase on the same period last year. Strongest growth came from developing markets in Asia-Pacific, where the group’s Malaysian and Indonesian offices increased revenues by 183 percent and 205 percent, respectively.

BrainJuicer Group PLC, London, released a pre-close trading statement for the financial year ended December 31, 2008. Highlights include: reported revenues of over £9 million (an increase of over 40 percent); operating profit up by 45 percent to over £1.2 million; and client increase from 115 to 140. 2008 also saw the company increase its geographic expansion, opening an office in Switzerland and signing a strategic licensing agreement in Australia.

Acxiom Corporation, Little Rock, Ark., announced financial results for the third quarter of its 2009 fiscal year ended December 31, 2008. Acxiom reported revenue of $321.1 million, compared to $350.8 million in the third quarter 2007 and loss from operations of $8.6 million, compared to income from operations of $97.4 million in the third quarter last year. Loss from operations for the current quarter included unusual loss items of $43.2 million. The prior-year quarter included $63.5 million of unusual gain items. Loss per diluted share was $0.15, compared to earnings per diluted share of $0.69 in the third quarter of fiscal 2008. Excluding the impact of unusual items, earnings per diluted share would be $0.21 in the current period and $0.20 in the prior-year period. Operating cash flow was $78.9 million, compared to $122.3 million in the third quarter 2007. Operating cash flow for the prior-year quarter includes the proceeds of a $65 million payment received as a result of the termination of the agreement to acquire Acxiom.
During the quarter, the company completed the acquisition of Quinetix LLC, a Rochester, N.Y., research company, for a purchase price of $2.7 million.

SPSS Inc., Chicago, announced financial results for its fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2008. Operating margin for the 2008 fourth quarter was 15 percent, and revenues were $74.1 million, down 7 percent from $79.6 million in the same quarter of 2007. Net income was $7.9 million, a 21 percent decline from $10 million in the same period in 2007. Diluted earnings per share reported for the quarter was $0.41, down 18 percent from earnings per share of $0.50 for the fourth quarter 2007. For the 2008 fourth quarter, operating income was $11.5 million, or 15 percent of total revenues, compared with $14.7 million, or 18 percent of total revenues, in the same quarter of 2007. Charges for share-based compensation were $0.06 and $0.07 per share in the fourth quarter of 2008 and 2007, respectively.
For 2008, total revenues were $302.9 million, up 4 percent from $291 million in 2007. Net income was $36 million, up 7 percent from $33.7 million in 2007, with earnings per share of $1.88, a 14 percent increase from $1.65 in the prior year. Operating income for 2008 decreased 1 percent to $49 million, or 16 percent of total revenues, from $49.5 million, or 17 percent of total revenues, in 2007. Charges for share-based compensation were $0.26 and $0.23 per share in 2008 and 2007, respectively.