News notes
Paris-based e-commerce software company PrestaShop marked its 10th anniversary on June 15.
The Marketing Research Education Foundation has given a $5,000 grant to Children of Promise, a nonprofit in New York that aims to help children of incarcerated parents to break the cycle of inter-generational involvement in the criminal justice system. The grant will be used for Children of Promise’s after school program, which provides academic support, hands-on learning, therapeutic services, arts education and physical fitness.
Acquisitions/transactions
Minneapolis-based advertising agency Periscope has acquired Chicago-based data and analytics firm Anthem Marketing Solutions. The Anthem office will become a full-service arm of Periscope. Anthem Founder John Keenan will join Periscope as EVP/marketing analytics and Chris Carroll will be managing director of the Chicago office.
Brentwood, Tenn., digital and marketing agency 5by5 has acquired Sightline Research + Strategies. Sightline Founder Mark McPeak will join 5by5 as vice president of research and organizational strategy.
Private equity fund Stagwell Media LLC has acquired the Mobile Insights Survey and the Total Communication Survey from New York-based Nielsen, which will relaunch as HarrisX, a new market research and consumer experience specialist focused on telecommunications and smartphone customers. HarrisX will join Harris Insights and Analytics, which Stagwell acquired from Nielsen in Jan. 2017. Dritan Nesho has been appointed as CEO of HarrisX.
Professional services firm KPMG Australia has launched a new specialist customer, brand and marketing advisory venture, led by partner in charge Paul Howes, which has acquired research firm Acuity Research and Insights. Amanda Hicks, Acuity’s founder, has joined KPMG as a partner, together with her team. The new business will work with U.K.-based customer experience think tank KPMG Nunwood Customer Experience Excellence Centre.
New York-based mobile marketing firm Verve has acquired German push marketing company matchinguu GmbH. Matchinguu’s proximity-based push and in-app notification product will be integrated into the Verve Velocity platform, allowing Verve’s clients to reach European audiences with mobile advertising experiences that align with the needs and expectations of consumers in the EU.
Iselin, N.J., data collection firm Schlesinger Associates has acquired BDI Research (formerly Block de Ideas), a research services company based in Barcelona, Spain, with a sister research facility in Madrid. Operations will continue under the same brand name and leadership by previous owner, Rosa Dalet. The acquisition adds to Schlesinger’s portfolio of acquired offices in the U.K., Germany and France.
Alliances/strategic partnerships
In Toronto, market insights firm Maru/Matchbox has partnered with the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses (CFIB) to establish the Angus Reid Business Forum, a market research community where CFIB members will be invited to participate in online surveys to provide business-to-business insights.
New York-based data management platform Lotame has formed a strategic partnership with Stockholm-based software company Cint, allowing publishers and advertisers to create custom research panels for audience insights and additional revenue streams. Lotame clients can use Cint’s technology to create panels of site visitors to conduct tailored research.
Digital incentives company Rybbon, McLean, Va., has partnered with survey platform Qualtrics, making Rybbon’s survey incentives automation available to Qualtrics customers. Researchers can tell Rybbon what reward to send when a person completes a Qualtrics survey and the reward will be automatically presented when the survey is complete. Rewards arrive from the researcher’s e-mail address with customized branding.
Chicago-based researcher IRI has formed a partnership with Pinterest to measure advertising campaigns on the platform. IRI Lift for Pinterest, an advertising measurement solution, will help marketers determine the impact of their Pinterest campaign on driving sales and help identify optimization opportunities for sales lift. The solution is expected to launch in Q3 2017.
Singapore-based retail solutions firm Trax and Nielsen, New York, have formed an alliance to provide the FMCG industry with shelf insights. The alliance, which will first service the U.S. market, will also provide a new joint solution, Shelf Intelligence Suite, which digitizes the shelf and allows brands to have a more frequent and accurate measurement of how their products are represented in-store and how it influences their sales.
Lehi, Utah, customer experience software and services firm MaritzCX and consulting firm Protiviti have aligned to provide companies with a coordinated solution of research, technology and consulting services for the customer experience space.
India-based researcher MRSS India has formed an alliance with Palo Alto, Calif., data analytics firm ScoreData to streamline analytics in customer engagement.
Association/organization news
The QRCA is accepting applications for its Global Outreach Scholarship for 2018, which aims to involve more international qualitative researchers in opportunities to learn and grow outside their home regions. The deadline for applications is Sept. 8.
The Insights Association, Washington, D.C., has announced its committee leadership. The committees and their respective chairs include: Jude Olinger for the membership committee; Peter Milla for the standards committee; Rob Stone for the government affairs committee; Reg Baker for the research quality advisory board committee; Ginny Kevorkian and Alice Butler for the chapter committee; Tim Hoskins and Scott Baker for the education committee; and Dave Rothstein for the benchmarking committee. Separately, the Insights Association has launched a new online system allowing participants in the Professional Researcher Certification (PRC) program to manage their activity. The PRC credential is an objective measure of knowledge and proficiency for research and analytics professionals. The new system automatically tracks all aspects of an individual PRC’s account, including continuing education credits and an account status that can be reported and managed in real-time.
Awards/rankings
Jim Spaeth, co-founder of New York brand and media metrics consultancy Sequent Partners, has received the Erwin Ephron Demystification Award from the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF). The ARF presented Spaeth with the award at its Audience Measurement Conference.
Dirk Mörsdorf, global director of Go-to-Market Solutions at Nuremberg, Germany, research company GfK, won the 2017 Innovation Prize for his work entitled, “GfK MarketBuilder Voice – Quantitative Concept Tests on the Basis of Verbal Feedback.” The award, given by the Association of German Market and Social Researchers, recognized GfK’s approach that allows new product and service concepts to be tested using an analysis on verbal feedback.
Toronto marketing and research consultancy Sklar Wilton & Associates was named the No. 1 employee recommended workplace among small private employers by the Globe and Mail and Morneau Shepell.
The American Marketing Association, Chicago, and the American Marketing Association Foundation have named Lisa Bowman, executive vice president and CMO at United Way Worldwide, as the recipient of the 2017 Nonprofit Marketer of the Year Award.
New accounts/projects
In New York, radio network Westwood One has selected Nielsen’s Marketing Cloud and its data management platform, allowing advertisers to make better buying decisions across Westwood One’s over-the-air radio and streaming audio channels.
Research & Marketing Strategies Inc., Baldwinsville, N.Y., has received final approval from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to conduct the Merit-based Incentive Payment System Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Survey for the 2017 performance period survey administration.
New companies/new divisions/relocations/expansions
MKM Partners, a Stamford, Conn., equity research, sales and trading firm, is expanding its survey capabilities and is rebranding as Quantitative Survey Group | QSG. Continuing to be directed by its Founder Wendy Farina, the team has expanded to include professionals with experience in data analytics, market research and sales.
Research firm Abt Associates has opened a new office in Baton Rouge, La., managed by Principal Associate Karim Belhadjali.
London-based translation and language services firm GlobaLexicon has expanded its European Operations Centre in Seville, Spain. Since the beginning of the year, the firm says its team in Spain has more than doubled in size. To support growth, the team recently moved to a larger office in Seville.
Research provider Consumer Opinion Services has opened a 6,000-square-foot facility located in suburban Seattle, which includes classroom- and theater-style seating, breakout focus rooms and professional AV with videostreaming.
The Bernett Group, a Boston-based research firm, has opened a new 40-seat call center in Salt Lake City that will deliver phone data collection solutions. Additionally, the company has opened a new office in Austin, Texas, which will focus on growing its integrated survey solutions, including mobile phones, online surveys and custom panels.
CNN International Commercial (CNNIC), responsible for TV news channel CNN’s intercontinental commercial operations, has created a new audiences and data group, which aims to develop audience measurement metrics to replace its research function which has relied on industry surveys for audience insight. CNNIC says the new group, headed by data scientist Mark Sear, will also focus on predictive analytics for audience segmentation and engagement, as well as using artificial intelligence for digital advertising and partnerships and systems integration between CNNIC and brands, tech companies and universities.
Seattle-based videoconferencing platform Discuss.io has opened its first U.K. office in London, led by Tariq Mirza, managing director, Europe.
Stockholm-based research firm Nepa has launched its first U.S. office in New York, led by Ken Peterson, who was named managing director, U.S. The firm will initially target retail chains and outlets, with plans to expand to hotels, restaurants, gaming outposts, casinos and sports and entertainment hotspots. Nepa has also been selected by Facebook as a partner firm in Facebook’s Marketing Mix Modeling Program, the only such partner firm headquartered outside the U.S.
New York-based digital agency Wunderman has launched a new division, Wunderman Commerce, with U.K.-based e-commerce consultancy Salmon. The launch allows Wunderman to offer enterprise-level retail and mobile commerce capabilities.
Research company earnings/financial news
Consumer insight app OnePulse closed a $2.07 million seed funding round ahead of its summer 2017 launch in the U.S. The investment round was led by U.K.-listed agency network Next 15 and Silicon Valley-based Foundation Capital. The funding comes on top of a previous round of $1.07 million led by Beacon Capital and BBH ZAG.