News notes
The Direct Marketing Association (DMA), New York, sent a letter to Congress on February 3, restating its longstanding commitment to ensuring the security of consumer data across the data-driven marketing economy.
The letter states, in part: “The DMA aims to preserve the benefits of data-driven marketing by asking Congress to focus its legislative efforts on passing a national breach notification law that would preempt state laws.”
The letters goes on to ask that Congress not pass other types of prescriptive legislation that would stifle innovation.
Savitz Research Solutions, Dallas, has closed for business.
Acquisitions/transactions
Redwood Shores, Calif., software company Oracle has acquired Cupertino, Calif., big data platform BlueKai. BlueKai will be integrated with Responsys for B2C marketing automation and Eloqua for B2B marketing automation.
New York researcher The Nielsen Company has acquired Nexium Customer Solutions, a Madrid, Spain, research company. Nexium will be folded into Nielsen.
Blueocean Market Intelligence, Seattle, has acquired London research agency Cognicient. The acquisition will allow Blueocean to bring its LINK data solution to enterprise companies. Cognicient CEO Mike Page will join Blueocean Market Intelligence as vice president, client services and technology, at the company’s new London office.
GreatBlue Research, Cromwell, Conn., has acquired Suburban Focus Group – Boston in Dedham, Mass.
Alliances/strategic partnerships
Montreal research company Leger Metrics and RED C Research, Dublin, Ireland, have partnered extend Leger Metrics into Europe by combining RED C’s market research and analytics with Leger’s survey data capture and reporting technology for CEM solutions.
Reston, Va., research company comScore Inc. and Acxiom, a Little Rock, Ark., information company, have partnered to enhance their respective audience reporting and one-to-one multichannel marketing capabilities. ComScore’s validated Campaign Essentials (vCE) platform and Acxiom’s Audience Operating System will be the foundation for multiple integration initiatives.
Separately, Epsilon, an Irving, Texas, research company, has partnered with comScore to integrate Epsilon’s demographic data with comScore’s vCE platform.
Finally, Batanga Media, Miami, has agreed to provide its adopted proprietary ethnicity data to comScore’s vCE audience reporting for U.S. Hispanic consumers. Batanga Media is comScore’s first Hispanic content partner to provide data to the digital campaign measurement tool.
The Carlson Group, a Lombard, Ill., research company, has partnered with New York research company GfK and RGLA, a Schiller Park, Ill., retail design and branding firm, to improve its retail solutions.
Bazaarvoice Inc., an Austin, Texas, research company, has collaborated with Menlo Park, Calif., research company Medallia to integrate the Medallia Promote offering with Bazaarvoice Conversations, allowing clients to collect authentic customer reviews as part of the same process consumers use to provide survey responses for customer satisfaction tracking.
Salt Lake City research company The Modellers has merged with New York research company Hall & Partners.
Awards/rankings
New York research company Hall & Partners has been recognized as one of the U.K.’s leading B2B brands on the 2014 list of Business Superbrands. A Superbrand is defined as a business that has established the finest reputation in its field and offers customers significant advantages over its competitors in terms of quality, reliability and distinction.
New accounts/projects
Reston, Va., research company comScore Inc.’s validated Campaign Essentials (vCE) ad and audience delivery validation solution has been selected by Unilever Brazil, Sao Paolo, to identify sources of suboptimal in-target and in-view campaign delivery.
Unilever, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, has signed an agreement with WPP, London, to address shopper marketing in the U.S.
Yahoo! Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif., and Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), Pittsburgh, have signed a five-year, $10 million partnership to launch Product InMind to develop a mobile toolkit allowing CMU researchers to experiment with Yahoo’s real-time data services and test how machine learning and interface technologies can improve personalized user experiences.
CBS Television Stations has selected Portland, Ore., research company Rentrak Corp.’s Advanced Automotive Demographics local TV ratings data for seven channels in Dallas-Ft. Worth, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, and Pittsburgh.
Additionally, Wyse Advertising, Cleveland, has adopted Rentrak’s local TV ratings data in 50+ markets.
Finally, San Antonio advertising agency The PM Group has added Atlanta, Denver, Houston, Orlando, Fla., and Phoenix to its contract for Rentrak’s StationView Essentials local TV ratings data.
Intermountain West Communications, Las Vegas, has selected New York researcher The Nielsen Company’s television audience measurement and Nielsen Local Custom Toolbox in the Las Vegas market.
New York research company Ebony Marketing Systems has added the Fordham Road Mall to its range of services in New York. The location will primarily be used for intercept surveys.
New companies/new divisions/relocations/expansions
Audience insight groups Lumi Mobile, London, and IML Worldwide, Hampshire, U.K., have rebranded as Lumi, following last year’s combination of the two businesses.
Stockholm, Sweden, research company Nepa has opened an office in Helsinki, Finland.
New York research company OnePoint Global has opened in office in Madrid, Spain, serving the Iberia region.
Murray, Utah, research company Mindshare Technologies has established a Global Center of Excellence in Birmingham, U.K. Nan Russell has been appointed head of the operation.
New York research company Hall & Partners has relocated its Chicago office to a larger location on N. Michigan Avenue.
San Francisco research company Peanut Labs has expanded into Europe with a dedicated team based in London.
Ogilvy Public Relations, New York, has launched Insight & Strategy, a group intended to generate research-based insights and develop or identify the best strategies for capitalizing on emerging opportunities and threats. Michael Briggs will lead the group.
Kyle Henderson and Derek Carter have launched YouEye, a Mountain View, Calif., research company and cloud-based usability lab. The company is online at www.youeye.com.
U.K. research company Vision One has opened its third office, adding a location in Willenhall, U.K.
In the U.K., Spring Research and Tuned In Research have merged to form Tonic Insight, with offices in London and New York. The company is online at www.tonicinsight.com.
Research company earnings/financial news
Ipsos, Paris, reported full-year 2013 revenue of 1,712.4 million euros, down 4.3 percent from 2012.
RDA Group, Bloomfield Hills, Mich., announced revenue of $20.83 million for 2013, up 9 percent over 2012 and up nearly 50 percent over the past five years.
Quester, Windsor Heights, Iowa, reported a 40 percent year-over-year revenue growth for 2013.
Decipher Inc., Fresno, Calif., announced 27 percent year-over-year revenue growth for 2013.
The GfK Group, Nuremberg, Germany, achieved organic growth of almost 1 percent in financial-year 2013.
The Nielsen Company, New York, announced financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2013.
Revenues for the fourth quarter increased 11.8 percent to $1,611 million, compared to the fourth quarter of 2012. Revenues for 2013 increased 5.5 percent to $5,703 million, compared to 2012.
Gongos Research, Auburn Hills, Mich., achieved 12 percent revenue growth in 2013 and its full-time employee roster rose 15 percent.
ComScore Inc., Reston, Va., announced financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2013. Fourth-quarter 2013 revenue was $76.5 million, up 15 percent from fourth-quarter 2012. Annual revenue was $285.5 million, up 16 percent over 2012.
Rentrak Corp., Portland, Ore., announced 27 percent revenue growth to $31.6 million for the 2014 third fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2013.