London-based E-Tabs is working with the OpenSurvey organization to develop a universal standard, based on XML data structure, for distributing survey results and tabulations across the Web and corporate Intranets. "XML is an ideal medium for facilitating the interrogation and extraction of data across Web and Intranet platforms," says Ed Ross, co-founder of OpenSurvey, a non-profit organization dedicated to the development of open source software and open standards for survey research. E-Tabs is currently working with OpenSurvey to propose a DTD (document type definition) that encapsulates the many facets of typical market research tabulation formats, and through which third-party tabulation packages will be able to standardize their output.
DigiScents, Inc., Oakland, Calif., has formed a strategic research alliance with Procter & Gamble under which DigiScents will have access to a range of proprietary P&G research techniques and methodologies. This will enable DigiScents to better understand consumer perception and response, and further evaluate market potential for its digital scent technology applications.
Plaza Research has signed its 11 locations to the ActiveGroup Intemet broadcasting service of ActiveGroup, an Atlanta-based provider of focus groups over the Internet. ActiveGroup has also signed Assistance in Marketing, Morristown, N.J., as a facility offering its broadcasting service.
Separately, ActiveGroup has partnered with DiscoverWhy.com, a Bedford, Mass., Internet market research firm to provide ActiveGroup with a research tool to quantify the opinions of focus group participants via the Internet.
The Answer Group, a Cincinnati research firm, has become a member of Wirthlin Worldwide, a McLean, Va. research firm.
Digital Marketing Services (DMS), a Dallas-based division of America Online providing on-line research, has inked new partnering agreements with several research firms, including Directions Research, MORPACE International, Perfomance Research, and Recipio. In addition, Custom Research Inc., M/A/R/C Research, Roper Starch Worldwide Inc., FCB Worldwide, The Guideline Research Group, and Elrick & Lavidge have renewed contracts with DMS.
Focus First America has moved to a new facility at 2777 Summer St., Stamford, Conn.
Reyes Research, Ventura, Calif., has opened a new facility at the East Hills Mall in Bakersfield, Calif., and moved its main office to a new address at 1013 Colina Vista, Ventura, Calif.
Atlanta-based Membership Marketing has contracted with several health plans to offer discounted health and fitness products to health plan members in exchange for answering survey questions.
Howard Lemer and Eileen Matin have opened Decisive Research Services, a full-service research firm.
Big Bang, a San Francisco on-line ad network, has entered into an agreement with Van Nuys, Calif.-based Interviewing Service of America for help in analyzing the data that Big Bang collects for on-line advertisers.
New York-based firms The Arbitron Company and Nielsen Media Research have formed an agreement that gives Nielsen Media Research the option to join The Arbitron Company in the deployment of the Arbitron Portable People Meter (PPM) in the U.S. The Arbitron Portable People Meter is a new radio, television and cable audience ratings technology that The Arbitron Company will be testing in Philadelphia beginning the fourth quarter Of 2000. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Millennium Research Inc. has moved to 7493 West 147th St., Suite 201, Apple Valley, Minn.
Pink Dot Inc., a Camarillo, Calif., on-line retailer of prepared foods and brand name products, has named Schaumburg, Ill.-based ACNielsen its preferred supplier of information insights. Pink Dot will work with ACNielsen to identify consumer trends, develop product mix and determine key price points. In addition, Nielsen will help Pink Dot pinpoint demographic brand opportunities as they relate to the company’s multiple channels.
Indicator Pesquisa de Mercado, a Sao Paulo, Brazil, research firm, and Rochester, N.Y.-based Harris Interactive have signed an exclusive agreement making Indicator a member of Harris Interactive’s global network of research firms. The new representative office will be referred to Indicator/Harris Interactive.
Separately, Blauw Research, a Netherlands-based research firm, has also joined the Harris Interactive network.
Capita Research Group, Inc., Blue Bell, Pa., has completed its second series of multiple-respondent marketing tests for Turner Broadcasting, in a project for Turner Classic Movies. The tests, which utilized Capita’s patent-pending Engagement Testing System, will be used for market positioning purposes.
San Diego-based Claritas, Inc., and Nielsen/NetRatings, an Internet audience measurement service from Nielsen Media Research and NetRatings, Inc., announced a partnership that will combine Nielsen//NetRatings’ Intemet audience measurement information with Claritas’ marketing segmentation systems, Prizm and MicroVision.
New York-based eCountries.com, a business-to-business publishing and ecommerce service, has signed a partnership agreement with London market and analysis company Datamonitor to display, offer and sell market reports to users on the eCountries.com Web site and to facilitate requests for customized research proposals.
The Gantry Group, LLC, a Concord, Mass., e-commerce firm, has launched its e-Business Market Validation Practice, dedicated to conductmg primary research to help companies develop and market their on-line products and services that match the value, preferred channel, and pricing needs of their targeted markets.
J.D. Power and Associates, an Agoura Hills, Calif., research firm, has taken a minority equity stake in CustomerSat.com, Inc., a Menlo Park, Calif., provider of on-line services for customer satisfaction measurement and reporting.
San Francisco brand consultancy Landor Associates has acquired the strategic brand consultancy St. James Associates. Under the terms of the acquisition, St. James has becomd a fullyowned part of Landor and will operate under the Landor/St. James brand name from its Chicago offices.
Catapult Systems, an Austin, Texas, provider of e-business products and services, announced that Maritz Marketing Research Inc., St. Louis, has selected Catapult’s Inquisite as one of its electronic marketing research survey tools.
Bethesda, Md.-based MarketResearch.com, an on-line source of marketing research information, has raised $6 million in its first round of private financing from Axalon Internet Group, Inc. The capital will be used to fund several areas of development including technological advances on the Web site and to expand the firm’s database of market research publishers. Edward Ryeom, president and CEO of Axalon Intemet Group, was appointed to the company’s board of directors.
Separately, MarketResearch.com has also debuted the beta version of its updated Web site.
The NPD Group Worldwide, Port Washington, N.Y., and GfK AG have formed Sports Tracking Europe, a new venture tracking athletic footwear sales in eight European countries. The new service will combine information from both consumer panels and retailers for a total market overview. Subscribers will receive measures across all countries tracked, supporting global sales and marketing initiatives. NPD holds the majority interest in the venture, while GfKAG has a minority interest.
Prognostics, a Palo Alto, Calif., research firm will conduct an IT professional services customer loyalty study in conjunction with the Information Technology Services Management Association (ITSMA). The study will enable participating companies to compare their performance with specific competitors as well as industry leaders.
To better concentrate its efforts on its opportunities in the customer relationship management and related business intelligence markets, Chicago-based SPSS Inc. has announced the sale of its product line for manufacturing statistical process control to Wonderware Corp. The transaction was effective on May 31. Wonderware agreed to purchase the SPSS QI Analyst software products for $2 million in cash. Wonderware plans to offer employment to the SPSS team supporting these products and will continue their development.
Separately, SPSS has made an equity investment in privately-held e.Intelligence, Inc. The $1 million investment represents the second infusion of equity capital into e.Intelligence since an initial investment made by JMI Equity. In May, SPSS and e.Intelligence announced plans to incorporate SPSS forecasting technology into e.Intelligence’s business-to-business demand planning solution.
The Business Research Group, Ltd. (BRG), London, and TownsendTamell, Inc., Houston, have combined their specialty polymers and chemicals market information and consulting practices to create a new organization, BRG Townsend, Inc. The goal of this new company is to provide customers in the specialty arenas of polymers and chemicals with a larger, broader-based and reactive global supplier of data.
Princeton, N.J.-based Opinion Research Corporation has begun construction of a new building in Manmee, Ohio, to accommodate the growth and expansion of the company’s presence in the Toledo area.
Princeton, N.J.-based ORC International, the global marketing research unit of Opinion Research Corp., has launched a second wave of its national telephone omnibus survey, CARAVAN. The national telephone survey is now available twice a week.
Philadelphia-based AgWeb.eom Inc., an electronic information service for the agricultural marketplace, and Greenfield Online, Wilton, Conn., have formed a strategic business relationship to develop, market and sell syndicated and proprietary information derived from online market research techniques directed to farmers, ranchers and consumers.
San Francisco-based Ziff Davis Smart Business for the New Economy a business technology magazine, has announced a strategic parmership with eyeTracking.com, a provider of eyetracking technology for the Web. Under the agreement, eyeTracking.com will partner with Smart Business on conducting usability tests of Intemet sites. In the June issue, Smart Business editors employed eyeTracking.com’s technology and service to evaluate the usability of top business travel Web sites in an article entitled "What Makes Customers Click."
New York-based GroupSystems.com, a knowledge automation firm, has partnered with Wirthlin Worldwide, a McLean, Va., research firm, to provide on-line focus group services. The partnership combines Wirthlin’s Advanced Strategy Lab, a best practice for electronic research sessions, and GroupSystems.com’s new Internet-based lcnowledge automation service, GroupSystems OnLine.
Cheskin Research, Redwood Shores, Calif., has recently expanded its Web site (www.cheskin.com/think/thinking.html) to include all of its past and current publicly released research studies and articles.
The AGB Group has been awarded the television audience measurement Contracts 3 and 4 by London-based BARB (Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board Limited). The AGB Group will serve BARB’s subscribers and the U.K. television industry from January 1, 2002. Toni Petra, chief operating officer of the AGB Group, will oversee the project.
Interelate, a Minneapolis business analytics application service provider, has acquired MarketKnowledge, a market segmentation firm. With this agreement, Interelate adds two proprietary services: LifePhase, a household-level segmentation system that measures market penetration; and Brand Potential Measure, a model used to analyze market potential for products and services. Gary Blake, MarketKnowledge founder and principal, will join Interelate as vice president of product development for travel and leisure.
Menlo Park, Calif., research firm InterSurvey has acquired Stratford Associates of Needham, Mass. Stratford Associates, a research and consulting firm, specializes in strategic analysis and decision modeling.
Lafferty Group, a London-based financial and professional services research and publishing company, has secured exclusive rights to market in U.K./Europe/Asia-Pacific the research products of Synergistics Research Corp, an Atlanta research firm specializfing in the financial services industry.
DeepCanyon, an on-line provider of marketing research reports, has announced alliances with three strategic market-research organizations - eBrain Market Research, INPUT and Information Technology Services Marketing Association (ITSMA) - that will expand the market research data it offers at www.deepcanyon.com.
Clearwater Research, Boise, Idaho, has expanded its interviewing facilities to 125 stations.