Acquisitions/transactions
The merger agreement between research companies Research Now, Plano, Texas, and Survey Sampling International (SSI), Shelton, Conn., has received all necessary global regulatory approvals and has closed. The combined company will be known as Research Now SSI and will be led by Research Now CEO Gary Laben as CEO.
Belgium-based researcher InSites Consulting has acquired Sydney-based research agency Direction First to develop a position in the Australian market. The companies have been collaborating since 2011. Erica Van Lieven, founder of Direction First, will be managing director of the Australian office and will also become managing partner of the combined company.
Quirk’s Media, Eagan, Minn., has acquired the assets of research industry publication SURVEY Magazine, which will become a sponsored content companion to Quirk’s magazine. SURVEY Magazine will publish three issues in 2018.
Chicago-based social media management firm Sprout Social has acquired Seattle-based social analytics firm Simply Measured.
Sports measurement and insights firm Nielsen Sports has acquired Repucom Africa, operated by sports marketing and communications firm TransAfrica Media. Repucom Africa was a licensee of Nielsen Sports and has been trading as Nielsen Sports South Africa. Kelvin Watt has been appointed as regional managing director of Nielsen Sports in Africa and the Middle East.
Newtown Square, Pa., firm Research America Inc. has acquired Pleasant Hill, Calif., research firm Sentenium Inc., adding to Research America’s operations in California. The acquisition also marks Research America’s first offshore expansion, as Sentenium’s operations include an office in Zhongshan, China.
Fairfax, Va., consulting services company ICF will acquire London-based loyalty strategy and marketing company The Future Customer Limited, which will operate as part of ICF Olson’s 1-to-1 loyalty practice. Financial terms were not disclosed.
San Jose, Calif., e-commerce company eBay has signed an agreement to acquire Toronto-based e-commerce research company Terapeak. Financial terms were not disclosed. Upon the close of the transaction, eBay will begin integrating functionality from Terapeak into its Seller Hub. Terapeak’s employees will continue to be based in Toronto and Victoria, B.C.
PBIRG (Pharmaceutical Business Intelligence & Research Group) and PMRG (Pharmaceutical Marketing Research Group) merged in January to form Intellus Worldwide, an association for health care insights and analytics. Stephanie Reynders, PMRG’s executive director, will serve as chief operating officer and Carol Reilly, PBIRG’s executive director, will serve as chief financial officer.
Alliances/strategic partnerships
Stockholm-based software company Cint has formed a partnership with Sydney-based data exchange technology platform Data Republic. The partnership will give Data Republic participants access to Cint’s audience of consumers and allow them to incorporate multiple sources of data to better understand their customers and gather insights.
In Miami, media company Telemundo has formed a partnership with researcher Maru/Matchbox to create a combined insight community of U.S. Hispanics that includes variables like country of origin, language in the household and acculturation level. MiTelemundo, Telemundo’s online insight community of mostly Spanish-dominant Hispanics, will combine with Maru/Matchbox’s Springboard America panel of English-dominant Hispanics.
Plano, Texas, firm Research Now and Tokyo-based research data firm Rakuten AIP have formed a strategic alliance, providing mutual access to each other’s panel data and the development of digital research products and services. The partnership will expand the reach of each company’s database of consumers for country-market and multi-country surveys. Clients can access data and buy sample from Research Now’s consumer and business panelists and Rakuten AIP’s panel and data assets.
Plano, Texas, firm Research Now has formed a data partnership with customer intelligence platform FullContact. The partnership allows marketers and researchers to expand consumer views to gain new insights, such as understanding life cycles based on demographic, social lifestyle and brand engagement, to optimize marketing strategies.
Research software companies Tremayne Consulting Group, based in Melbourne, Australia, and Nebu, based in the Netherlands, have joined forces to provide data collection and analysis software, dialer solutions, consulting and local support in the Australia and Southeast Asia regions.
New York-based data and technology companies PlaceIQ and 1010data have formed a partnership. The 1010data Insights Platform will host PlaceIQ’s LandMark data set to deliver consumer location intelligence across the U.S.
Research companies Aimpoint Research, based in Columbus, Ohio, and Dialogica, based in Milan, have formed a strategic partnership. The companies have merged multiple proprietary approaches to create a video analytics offering and customer experience optimization platform that tracks, measures, analyzes and segments shopper buying behaviors across traditional retail outlets, OOH advertising, experiences and events.
Association/organization news
The Insights Association, Washington, D.C., has recruited 21 American business groups to send a letter to Congress, supporting the funding request from the Secretary of Commerce for an additional $187 million for the 2020 Census in fiscal year 2018.
The QRCA, St. Paul, Minn., has announced the winners of the Global Outreach Scholarships for 2018. The scholarship program aims to involve more qualitative researchers from outside the U.S., Canada and the U.K. in opportunities to learn and grow outside their home regions. The winners include Mpho Mpofu, director of Masutane Consulting, from Johannesburg, South Africa; and Monica Dale form São Paulo, Brazil.
The QRCA, St. Paul, Minn., has announced the winners of the 2018 Young Professionals Grant program: Philippe Boutros, Cascade Insights; Warren Ciabattoni, 7th Sense Research; Elizabeth Dengal, Fulcrum Research Group; Aimée Douglas, Bain & Company; Jessica Fennell, Northstar Research Partners; Reece Jones, Buzzback; Anne Lee Groves, Lee Groves Consulting; Marlena Mattei, KUDZU Research & Insights; Amye Parker, Northstar Research Partners; Jeanne Penn, Cello Health Insight; Meagan Peters, Solution Partners Consulting; Angel Requena, InsightsNow; Andrew Russell, Sylver Consulting; Rebecca Bukele Samour, Collage Group; Brittany L. Stalsburg, BLS Research & Consulting; and Leigh Wright, Bad Babysitter Productions.
The Marketing Research Education Foundation (MREF) has donated over $13,000 to the Joseph School in Haiti to support the class of 2029. The MREF hopes to make this donation annually.
Awards/rankings
Research America Inc. has been named a top Cincinnati market research firm by the Cincinnati Business Courier.
Galileo Research & Strategy Consultancy, New York, has received a Gold Stevie Award for Women Owned Company of the Year for 2017, as well as the Silver Stevie Award for Most Innovative Women Owned Company in the Stevie Awards for Women in Business.
In Baltimore, focus group facility Observation Baltimore and the Research Group have been named one of Baltimore’s fastest-growing companies by the Baltimore Business Journal.
New accounts/projects
Market strategy consultancy iGR has selected and implemented Confirmit Horizons from Oslo, Norway, research technology firm Confirmit to strengthen its end-to-end data collection and reporting capabilities.
New companies/new divisions/relocations/expansions
Wolvereye, a New York-based research company, has launched. The company uses a body of techniques used in psychology to gain insights, allowing researchers to react quickly to new information and alter the direction of a research study. The company also uses crowdsourced intelligence and artificial intelligence to understand the emotional DNA structure of brands, products, communications, etc. Ryan Baum will serve as the company’s CEO.
Market My Market, a digital marketing company based out of New York and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., has expanded to Orlando, Fla. The company plans to extend its services to all-sized businesses in Central Florida.
Communications for Research, St. Louis, has expanded its call center operations by adding 40 booths to its Waynesville, Mo., location.
Google, Mountain View, Calif., has launched the AI China Center, which will focus on basic artificial intelligence research. The company says the center will include a team of AI researchers in Beijing, supported by Google China’s engineering teams. Fei-Fei Li, chief scientist AI/ML, Google Cloud, will lead and coordinate the research along with Jia Li, head of research and development at Google Cloud AI.
Truesight Consulting, a marketing analytics and solutions company, has been launched by David Dixon and Sebastian Shapiro. The company includes a team of more than 25 marketing and analytics professionals and provides services and solutions like marketing mix modeling, multi-touch attribution, customer data analytics, quantitative survey analytics and marketing change management. The company is headquartered in New York City and has regional offices in Los Angeles, London and Delhi, India.
Research company earnings/financial news
U.K. video analytics firm Voxpopme has secured a seven-figure Series A investment over the next 12 months from Mercia Fund Managers. The company says it plans to use the investment to support its growth plans and enhance its video insight technology. The company also plans to recruit 15 additional staff members across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
Measurement company Verto Analytics, San Francisco, has reported a 48 percent increase in month-to-month revenue since the beginning of Q1 2017.
Study Hall Research, Tampa, Fla., made a 2017 year-end contribution to Operation BBQ Relief, which provides meals to displaced residents and emergency personnel during natural and other disasters in the United States and territories.