News notes
Marketing Intelligence, a Tucson, Ariz., market research firm, closed its doors for business on May 31, 2010, citing the economic downturn as its reason for shutting down.
The Marketing Research Association (MRA), Glastonbury, Conn., filed official comments on May 21, 2010, objecting to a proposed regulation from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) which would add restrictions to calls made to cell phones, making it more difficult for researchers to call cell phone users. The MRA’s comments addressed a portion of the rule, ostensibly dealing only with telemarketing automated calls known as robocalls, requiring that anyone seeking consent to dial a cell phone with an automatic telephone dialing system adhere to rules to obtain respondent consent to receive research calls - the same process the FCC proposes for telemarketing robocalls. This would require a clear and specific written agreement, signed by the cell phone user, to receive calls from researchers using an autodialer. (See related article on page 16 of this issue.)
GfK Custom Research North America, New York, has been renamed GfK Roper Public Affairs and Corporate Communications.
Itracks, a Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, research company, has filed a motion to lift the stay and proceed with litigation in its 2008 patent infringement lawsuit against Artafact LLC, a Fremont, Calif., research company. In its complaint, Itracks asserts that Artafact’s synchronous and asynchronous online focus group products infringe upon one or more claims of Itracks’ U.S. Patent No. 6,256,663.
Orem, Utah, research company Western Wats has announced plans to create 170 new jobs in its Casa Grande, Ariz.; Pittsburg, Kan.; and Brookings, S.D., call centers.
Acquisitions/transactions
Palo Alto, Calif., research software company Attensity Group has agreed to acquire Redwood, Calif., research company Biz360 Inc. Attensity’s platform will absorb Biz360 product portfolio of social media monitoring tools and will be known as Attensity360.
London research company Datamonitor Group has acquired research company Pack-Track. Following the acquisition, Pack-Track will operate independently under the direction of Andrew Streeter.
The Corporate Executive Board, an Arlington, Va., business information company, has agreed to acquire Minneapolis research company Iconoculture. The Corporate Executive Board will incorporate Iconoculture’s annual subscription-based advisory products into its research programs.
Hamburg, Germany, research company Synovate Healthcare has purchased Netherlands health care consultancy Firm United Healthcare (FUH). The FUH team will operate from Synovate Healthcare’s Amsterdam office.
GfK Kynetec, a Newbury, U.K., research company, has acquired the non-crop business of London research consultancy Agricultural Information Services. AIS will continue to operate in the pesticide market and conduct other market research activities that are non-competitive with GfK Kynetec.
Alliances/strategic partnerships
Nottingham, U.K., research company Experian has agreed to divest part of its U.K. database marketing activities to a business venture with British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB), Middlesex, U.K. BSkyB will hold a majority stake in the new company. The company will operate under a new brand name, not yet announced.
Cint, a Stockholm, Sweden, research company, has entered into a strategic alliance with Chennai, India, research agency krea, in which krea will adopt the Cint Panel Exchange to service Indian clients.
TiVo, Alviso, Calif., and Naperville, Ill., research company Millward Brown have partnered to combine the consumer segmentation information from Millward Brown with passively-observed TV viewing information collected by TiVo. Millward Brown will offer its clients the ability to ask proprietary sets of questions to 35,000 TiVo subscribers who have expressly agreed to participate in TiVo’s Power||Watch ratings service viewing panel.
Kinesis Survey Technologies LLC, an Austin, Texas, research company, has partnered with CMS Research, Toledo, Ohio. CMS Research’s interactive voice response platform will be offered as an alternative response mechanism for Kinesis Survey mobile survey participants.
Dayton, Ohio, intelligence company Teradata Corporation has partnered with Reston, Va., research company Clarabridge to address airline passenger issues. The partnership will examine the aircraft maintenance logs kept by pilots to detect problems. Log content will be read and parsed for meaning using Clarabridge’s text analytics software and then loaded into a Teradata Data Warehouse Appliance for further analysis for early indications of possible problems with certain airline equipment. The paid test is being conducted for B/E Aerospace and began in January 2010. It is expected to conclude by fall 2010.
Association/organization news
ESOMAR, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, has issued a new guideline on research via mobile phone with the aim of promoting professional standards, best practices and respectful relationships with the individuals being called. The guideline addresses a range of issues including unsolicited calls to mobile phones, hours of calling, respondent safety and confidentiality as well as compensation for costs that might be incurred by the person being called.
The American Association for Public Opinion Research, Deerfield, Ill., has updated its Code of Professional Ethics and Practices. The enhancements include an expanded focus on transparency and disclosure; improved consistency with other codes of professional conduct; new guidelines incorporating the practice of online panel research and other newer modes of data collection; and greater emphasis on researchers’ professional responsibility toward survey respondents.
Awards/rankings
The Advertising Research Foundation, New York, has announced the winners of its David Ogilvy Awards, which recognize the role of consumer research in creating successful advertising. The United States Postal Service, Washington, D.C., received the Grand Ogilvy Award; General Motors, Detroit, received the Research Achievement Award; and Bank of America, Charlotte, N.C., received the Research Innovation Award. A full list of winners can be found at www.thearf.org/assets/ogilvy-10-winners.
The Australian Market and Social Research Society has announced the winners of its Research Effectiveness Awards: Open Mind Research Group, Award for Social Impact; Quantum Market Research, Award for Communications Strategy Effectiveness; and Forethought Research, Award for Commercial Effectiveness.
The American Marketing Association, New York, has named Kristin Luck, president of Fresno, Calif., research company Decipher Inc., a recipient of the 2010 Marketing Research Emerging Leader Award.
Colleen Moore-Mezler of Moore Research Services, Erie, Pa., was awarded the Woman-Owned Business of 2010 Award from the Pittsburgh division of the Small Business Association, Washington, D.C.
Orem, Utah, research company Western Wats’ U.S. panel, Opinion Outpost, was awarded the Silver Certification for consistency and recognized as the most consistent panel tested in the U.S. by East Islip, N.Y., research company Mktg Inc. Mktg Inc.’s Sample Source Auditors performed an independent evaluation over a nine-month period.
New accounts/projects
The Marketing Workshop Inc., a Norcross, Ga., research company, has selected Atlanta analytics company Sentiment360’s social media listening service to provide marketing intelligence and insight to its clients.
The Hispanic Information and Telecommunications Network Inc., Brooklyn, N.Y., has selected Portland, Ore., research company Rentrak Corporation’s TV Essentials set-top box service to better gauge the viewing preferences of its audience.
San Francisco research company Peanut Labs has been chosen by Nexon America, a Los Angeles online gaming company, to conduct surveys of online teens. During a three-month period, respondents will be recruited into Peanut Labs’ social media sample group through Nexon’s library of online games. Participants will receive credits that can be redeemed within the in-game NX shops in Nexon’s game titles.
Images to Data, a Doylestown, Pa., data collection company, has been selected by Laying the Foundation Inc. (LTF), a Dallas education-focused non-profit organization, to provide project management, printing, fulfillment, scanning and verification services relating to LTF’s year-end assessment project.
New York researcher The Nielsen Company has signed a multi-year agreement with Gannett Company Inc., a McLean, Va., media company, to use Nielsen’s local television ratings services in all of Gannet’s local markets.
Fox Broadcasting Company, Los Angeles, has extended its two-year partnership with Innerscope Research Inc., Boston, through which Fox will provide advertising clients with biometric engagement measures for on-air and cross-platform promotions.
Rolling Meadows, Ill., professional services firm Valtera Corporation has selected Reston, Va., research company Clarabridge’s text mining and sentiment analysis platform for its employee surveys.
BrainJuicer Group PLC, a London research company, has been named the preferred supplier for product concept testing at Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc., Lakeville-Middleboro, Mass.
Philadelphia management consulting firm Hay Group has chosen Cologne, Germany, research company Globalpark’s platform for feedback management to track employee sentiment and behavior.
New companies/new divisions/relocations/expansions
Gongos Research, Auburn Hills, Mich., has formed its financial and diversified team. The team of eight will be led by Katherine Ephlin.
Stockholm, Sweden, research company Cint has opened its first Dutch office and hired Arjen van Duijvenbode as managing director to lead the Cint Netherlands branch.
New York researcher The Nielsen Company has launched an international global research and development center in China. The operation will focus on digital media measurements and has signed with the Beijing Institute of Technology to begin research on online video tracking called Video Watermarking.
Former directors of Horsham, Pa., research company TNS Grant Beuzeval and Nicole Hessing have launched Radar Global, a Hong Kong research agency. The firm is online at www.radar-global.com.
Millward Brown, a Naperville, Ill., research company, has opened a West African hub office in Accra, Ghana. The business will be a joint venture with Scangroup Limited, a Nairobi, Kenya, marketing services firm.
IMS Research, Wellington, U.K., has expanded its direct operations to Seoul, South Korea. The company hired Seoknam (Nam) Kim and Paul Erickson to lead the practice.
Chicago research company Synovate has created a Digital Center of Excellence in London.
London research company BrainJuicer Group PLC has opened an office in São Paulo, Brazil. The Brazil office will be headed by Gabriel Aleixo.
Tokyo research company AIP Corporation has opened a London office. The AIP London office is located at 1 Lyric Square, London, W6 0NB, U.K., and can be reached at +44-20-3178-5589.
Vision Critical, a Vancouver, B.C., research company, has relocated its Paris headquarters to 61 rue de Monceau, 75008. Additionally, the company’s France headquarters has debuted a French version of the company Web site at www.visioncritical.fr.
Research company earnings/financial news
The Nielsen Company, New York, has begun interviewing bankers to underwrite an initial public offering to be traded as a public company, according to an April 26, 2010, report in the Financial Times.
Additionally, The Nielsen Company announced financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2010. Reported revenues were $1,196 million, an increase of 9 percent over reported revenues for the same quarter in 2009. Reported operating income was $132 million, compared to operating income of $112 million for prior-year quarter.
Synovate, Chicago, reported financial results for 2009. The company’s gross revenue increased by 0.6 percent to £521.3 million. Net revenue was down 2.2 percent to £321.8 million. Total operating costs were 0.7 percent better than 2008 at £284.9 million. Operating profit was £36.9 million, down 12.6 percent from £42.2m in 2008.
The GfK Group, Nuremberg, Germany, has invested in SirValUse Consulting, Munich, Germany, to expand its digital strategy. GfK will own a 40 percent share in the company.
Separately, GfK reported 2010 first-quarter financial results. GfK generated sales of 280.9 million euros. Overall, sales were up 6.1 percent. Acquisitions increased sales by 0.5 percent and currency fluctuations impacted positively with 0.4 percent. Adjusted operating income rose to 25.3 million euros and was up 71.2 percent for the prior-year quarter. Operating income more than tripled from 5.4 million euros in the prior-year period to 18.4 million euros.
Harris Interactive, Rochester, N.Y., announced financial results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2010. Total revenue was $41.2 million, compared with $39.9 million for the prior-year period. Operating loss was ($0.9) million, compared with an operating loss of ($7.3) million for the same period in 2009. Net loss was ($1.6) million, compared with a net loss of ($6.7) million in third-quarter 2009.
ComScore Inc., Reston, Va., announced financial results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2010. Revenue was $36.1 million, an increase of 18 percent over the first-quarter 2009.
Ipsos, Paris, reported results for first-quarter 2010. Revenues rose 14.3 percent over first-quarter 2009 to 236.9 million euros.
BrainJuicer Group PLC, London, has begun establishing a long-term incentive plan (LTIP) to provide an equity-based incentive scheme to its employees and management. The LTIP will need to hold, through an employee benefit trust, a certain number of ordinary shares to satisfy the future potential awards under the plan. Accordingly, the company is looking to buy back 650,000 ordinary shares, or approximately 5 percent of the company’s current issued share capital.