News notes
The Council for Marketing and Opinion Research (CMOR), a division of the Marketing Research Association, Glastonbury, Conn., announced in November that it has called upon Congress to alleviate the negative impact of the Universal Service Fund (USF) on telephone survey and opinion research. The USF serves a variety of programs for rural and low-income telecommunications, paid for by fees assessed on telecom companies, which the companies then pass through to telephone users. “CMOR opposes the imposition of the USF fee as a pass-through charge to telephone users - the equivalent of a tax on telephone survey and opinion research,” said Howard Fienberg, director of government affairs for CMOR, in a press statement.
The USF changes quarterly depending on the needs of the programs. CMOR has advocated making the change an annual one, which would allow telephone users to better prepare for the costs on their phone bills.
Reston, Va., research company comScore Inc. intends to decrease its workforce by 8 percent, or about 50 employees. ComScore cites the weak advertising market; the need to shift resources to support the growth of its Media Metrix 360 service; and high attrition among its smaller customers as the reasons for the reduction.
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, research company Itracks has been issued a reexamination certificate from the United States Patent and Trademark Office upholding the validity of Itracks’ U.S. Patent No. 6,256,663, which relates to a system and method for conducting online focus groups using remotely-located participants.
Acquisitions/transactions
Reston, Va., research company comScore has agreed to acquire Certifica, a Santiago, Chile, Web measurement firm. Sites measured by Certifica will be available for inclusion (on an opt-in basis) in comScore’s Media Metrix 360 measurement solution.
IMS Research, Wellingborough, U.K., has acquired Young Market Research (YMR), Austin, Texas, in an effort to branch into display, TV, solid-state lighting and photovoltaic research. As part of the transaction, YMR executives will offer their services to IMS Research.
Vancouver, B.C., research companies Vision Critical and Angus Reid Strategies have agreed to merge. The resulting company will combine the research and global panel capabilities and consultative service of Angus Reid Strategies with the technology and innovation offerings of Vision Critical. The Angus Reid brand will continue to exist as Angus Reid Public Opinion, specializing in analyzing and understanding citizen markets and the public commons. All other research practices and divisions will adopt the Vision Critical name. The combined company will continue to be led by Angus Reid. Board membership and shared ownership will not change, as both companies have shared a joint-ownership structure since 2006.
Dallas research company e-Rewards Inc. has agreed to acquire Research Now, London, wherein Research Now will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of e-Rewards upon completion of the transaction. Hal Brierley, chairman and CEO of e-Rewards, will continue to serve as chairman of the board. Chris Havemann, chief executive of Research Now, will serve as CEO.
Alliances/strategic partnerships
Research Panel, Japan, has partnered with Korean research company Trend Monitor to include Japan in a multi-Asian country consumer research and data reporting service, which was originally conducted in China, Korea and Taiwan.
Biz360 Inc., a Redwood City, Calif., research company, has entered into a strategic partnership with San Francisco consultancy Chess Media Group to measure and explore the impact of social media. Biz360 has named Chess Media Group’s co-founder Jacob Morgan advisor to the company.
Dulles, Va., research company Vovici and Attensity Group, a Palo Alto, Calif., research company, have partnered to deliver a software-as-a-service-based loyalty solution that incorporates formal and informal customer feedback.
Wikimedia Foundation, a San Francisco nonprofit information company, has partnered with Reston, Va., research company comScore to provide Wikimedia access to comScore’s Web measurement tool, Media Metrix, which Wikimedia will use to augment its global site-usage statistics; interpret project participation and editing trends; and develop a strategy to expand awareness and usage in new markets, such as Asia.
Harris Interactive, a Rochester, N.Y., research company, and Ideas To Go Inc. (ITG), a Minneapolis innovation consultancy, have entered into an agreement granting Harris Interactive access to ITG’s Creative Consumers associates panel to explore, create concepts for and test new products.
Kansas City, Mo., advertising agency Bernstein‐Rein has partnered with Bill Engel, an analytics and marketing research expert, to optimize its marketing efforts.
Association/organization news
Larry Brownell, CEO of the Marketing Research Association, Glastonbury, Conn., will step down from his post on January 31, 2010, after over six years of service. Colleen Moore-Mezler and Steve Schlesinger will head the search committee for Brownell’s replacement.
Awards/rankings
Cologne, Germany, research company Globalpark has been selected for the third time to the 2009 Deloitte Technology Fast 50, which ranks the fastest-growing technology companies in Germany. Companies are chosen based on the percentage of revenue growth over five years. Globalpark was ranked No. 25 for achieving 422 percent growth from 2004 to 2008.
Dallas research company e-Rewards Inc. has been ranked No. 11 in the Dallas 100 Awards, presented by the SMU Cox Caruth Institute for Entrepreneurship, Dallas. The awards honor the 100 fastest-growing privately-held companies in the Dallas area. 2009 was e-Rewards’ fifth year on the list.
The Marketing Research Association (MRA), Glastonbury, Conn., honored its 2009 volunteer award winners at MRA’s First Outlook Conference, November 4-6, 2009, in San Diego. Meg Ryan, Online Survey Solution, received the Rising Star award; Ken Roberts, Cooper Roberts Research Inc., Shining Star award; and Lynn Stalone, I/H/R Research Group, Shining Star award. The Northwest Chapter of the MRA was the recipient of the Best Chapter Education Event award. Nichols Research received the Celebrated Company award.
Timothy Keiningham, global chief strategy officer and executive vice president of Parsippany, N.J., research company Ipsos Loyalty, was part of the team that received the Best Practitioner Presentation Award at the 2009 Frontiers in Service Conference.
New accounts/projects
EU Health, a Lancashire, U.K., online health care database, has partnered with Stockholm, Sweden, research company Cint to include data from EU Health in the Cint Panel Exchange.
GH Korea, a Seoul, South Korea, research company, has joined Rochester, N.Y., research company Harris Interactive’s Global Partner Network of independent market research companies.
Additionally, Harris Interactive has adopted Westport, Conn., research company RelevantView’s digital fingerprinting technology RelevantID to ensure Harris’ online research is free of duplicate or fraudulent respondents.
Gillian Kenny Associates Limited, a Gloucester, U.K., research company, has selected Montreal research software company Voxco’s Command Center SaaS platform for conducting phone and online surveys and online reporting.
The National Statistics Institute, Madrid, Spain, has selected Fort Washington, Pa., research company Marketing Systems Group’s PRO-T-S researchPredictive dialing software for Spain’s Agricultural Census 2009.
EasyInsites, a Surrey, U.K., research company, has been appointed by Review Centre, a Surrey, U.K., consumer review site, to build and manage its consumer research panel. The proposed panel will include Review Centre’s 30,000 most-active members, covering all age ranges and socioeconomic demographics.
Choice Hotels International Inc., Silver Spring, Md., has selected Reston, Va., research software company Clarabridge’s text mining solution to increase guest satisfaction rates and efficiency for its franchisees.
New companies/new divisions/relocations/expansions
20/20 Research Inc., Nashville, Tenn., has expanded its project management and technology support to European clients during European business hours. The European desk opens at 2:00 a.m. CST and will offer support via phone and via online text chat for the QualBoard platform.
EC Navi, a Tokyo Internet service company, has launched Research Panel Asia Inc. (RPA), a subsidiary for building online survey panel business in Asia. RPA launched its first overseas panel (91wenwen.com) in China. RPA will be headquartered in Tokyo and led by Shogo Nakazato. The company is online at www.researchpanelasia.com.
MDC Partners Inc., a Toronto research company, has formed a Consumer Insights Group. Chris McDonald will lead the group.
InsightExpress, a Stamford, Conn., research company, has moved its headquarters to 333 Ludlow St., Stamford, Conn.
Merkle, a Columbia, Md., marketing agency, has created a market research practice as part of its Quantitative Solutions Group. Christine Baskin will head the practice in the role of vice president.
Sample U, a San Diego research company, has opened its first ongoing product testing center on the campus of Alliant International University, San Diego. The center is designed to allow companies to receive consumer feedback on product introductions in a controlled environment prior to market release. Sample U is free and open to the public.
Research company earnings/financial news
United Sample, Encino, Calif., announced a triple-digit increase in sales from April 2009 to October 2009 over the prior-year period.
The board of directors of Arbitron Inc., Columbia, Md., has approved the payment of a quarterly cash dividend of $0.10 per common share ($0.40 per share on an annualized basis) to be paid on or about January 4, 2010, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on December 15, 2009.
The GfK Group, Nuremberg, Germany, reported earnings for third-quarter 2009. Adjusted operating income amounted to 38.2 million euros. The company achieved sales of 282.7 million, and the sales decline in organic terms was more than halved to 5.1 percent from 11.7 percent in the second quarter of 2009. In the first nine months of 2009, GfK generated sales of 840.2 million, down from 883.8 million during the prior-year period. Overall, sales declined 4.9 percent.
Adjusted operating income rose to 38.2 million in the third quarter, compared with 36.8 million in the second quarter of 2009. In the first nine months of 2009, GfK generated income of 89.8 million, down from 104.3 million in the prior year.
Ipsos, Paris, reported revenue of 669.6 million euros for the first three quarters of 2009, down 3.9 percent from the prior-year period. Ipsos generated revenues of 221.8 million in third-quarter 2009, down 5.3 percent compared with the year-earlier period. Emerging markets delivered organic growth of 2 percent over.
Harris Interactive, Rochester, N.Y., announced financial results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2010. The company generated $0.8 million in operating income and achieved $2.1 million in adjusted EBITDA, including the add-back of $0.1 million in restructuring and other charges.
National Research Corporation, Lincoln, Neb., announced results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2009. Revenue for the quarter was $13.5 million. Net income was $2 million. Operating income increased 4 percent to $3.3 million, compared to $3.2 million for the same period in 2008.
Revenue for the first nine months of 2009 increased 13 percent to $43.9 million, compared to $38.8 million for the same period in 2008. Net income for the first nine months of 2009 increased 13 percent to $6.3 million over the same period in 2008.
Datascension Inc., Las Vegas, announced financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2009. The company recorded a net loss of ($49,978), compared to a net loss of ($5,044,809) in third-quarter 2008.
Total net revenue decreased to $3,550,457, a decline of 10.7 percent from the prior-year period. The company generated a gross profit of $675,536, an increase of 36.2 percent over the same period in 2008.
Net income for the nine months ended September 30, 2009, was $160,367, compared with a loss of ($5,785,590) in the year-earlier period. Revenue totaled $11,138,267, a decrease of 20.5 percent. Gross profit was $2,114,096, compared with $1,655,115 in 2008.
InfoGroup, Omaha, Neb., reported revenue of $125 million for the third quarter of 2009, down 14 percent over the same period in 2008. Operating income was $9.4 million, compared to an operating loss of $12.4 million in the third quarter of 2008. Net income was $4.8 million, compared to a net loss of $8.6 million in 2008.