News notes
The Online Consumer Panel of The NPD Group, Port Washington, N.Y., has reached 900,000 members worldwide, including 750,000 U.S. consumers.
KidzEyes, an online kids research panel from Chicago-based C&R Research Services, now has over 6,300 "permissioned" panelists in compliance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
The Canadian subsidiary of Milwaukee-based Market Probe has been restructured into two research divisions: a custom research and consulting division, and a customer satisfaction and loyalty division. Executive Vice President Carol French will head the custom research and consulting division. John Morton has been named vice president and head of the customer satisfaction and loyalty division.
Total Research Corporation, Princeton, N.J., has announced a new stock repurchase plan for one year ending June 30, 2002. The company's board of directors has authorized the company to repurchase from time to time over a one-year period in open market transactions up to one million shares of the company's common stock, or approximately 7.4 percent of outstanding shares. The company currently has 13,523,157 shares of common stock outstanding, 14,262,812 shares on a diluted basis.
SPSS Inc., Chicago, has formed of a new division, CustomerCentric Solutions, designed to extend the company's experience in analytical technology and enterprise-wide solutions to help derive greater value from customer relationship management (CRM) initiatives.
Millward Brown IntelliQuest, an Austin, Texas research firm, has announced the expansion into Europe of the IntelliQuest Technology Panel, a group of pre-profiled users and buyers of technology products and services. The new coverage includes panel members from France, Germany and the U.K.
Acquisitions
Germany-based GfK Group has acquired a 51 percent stake in the Martin Hamblin Group, a U.K.-based research firm, and will take 100 percent ownership of within six years. The Martin Hamblin name and brand will continue as will the management. GfK GB, part of the GfK Group, will become part of the consumer and business divi¬sion of Martin Hamblin.
Istanbul-based ProCon GfK Business Information Services Group has acquired IBS Marketing Research Services from IBS Research & Consultancy, Istanbul. Under the new structure, a new IBS Unit will be created within ProCon GfK.
London-based United Business Media has announced a definitive agreement to acquire Allison-Fisher International Inc., a supplier of pre-purchase syndicated market research to the U.S. auto industry.
Alliances/strategic partnerships
Stamford, Conn., research firm InsightExpress is working with Microsoft to deliver direct access to its services through Microsoft's new Office XP suite. Using templates and a library of prewritten questions, users can develop, deploy and complete a survey in 24 to 48 hours. They can also choose to receive their results either on the Web or in Microsoft Excel spread-sheets.
Looking Glass, Inc., a Denver consumer marketing information company, has formed an alliance to combine its Cohorts household-based market segmentation system with the consumer behavior and psychographic market research of Simmons Market Research Bureau.
Scottsdale, Ariz., research firm Cahners In-Stat Group, has partnered with DCICommunity, an online IT information resource. Consisting of three specialty IT Web sites, DCICommunity offers free membership to business and IT executives, providing immediate access to technology information. Cahners In-Stat will provide each DCICommunity with technology-related research highlights as well as a listing of relevant In-Stat reports available for purchase.
Encino, Calif.-based E-Poll, an audience research firm, has announced an agreement with Twentieth Television and Carsey-Werner Distribution to develop The EDGE, a suite of polling applications. In addition, The EDGE will provide syndicated research targeted to entertainment executives, researchers, marketers, agents, programmers and advertising agencies, giving them Web-based access to industry information, audience analysis, trends, and attitudinal data. Under the deal, the companies will work together to refine The EDGE user interface, design, data validation, panel integrity, survey content and needs assessment. The development partners will receive a number of custom research studies in addition to syndicated data at discounted rates.
WebSurveyResearch, an Internet survey company for the health care industry, has entered an agreement in which Cyber Dialogue, a New York marketing technology and services company, will exclusively use the company's WebSurveyMD panel for its online physician research.
Alchemedia, a San Francisco provider of security software, has joined the Alliance Program of Akamai Technologies, Inc., a content delivery service provider. As a member of the Akamai Alliance Program, Alchemedia will collaborate with Akamai to enable Alchemedia's Clever Content customers to utilize Akamai's globally distributed network and services for content delivery.
Association/organization news
The Council for Marketing and Opinion Research (CMOR), Port Jefferson, N.Y., announced that Diane K. Bowers, its founding president, is leaving to accept election as the full-time president of the Council of American Survey Research Organizations (CASRO). Christine O. Adams has been selected as the interim president of CMOR. She is currently secretary of the board of CMOR. Adams recently retired after over 30 years with ACNielsen BASES. CMOR was founded nine years ago by four research industry associations: the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF), the American Marketing Association (AMA), the Council of American Survey Research Organizations (CASRO), and the Marketing Research Association (MRA). The membership has grown to over 150 associations and companies.
Awards
Susan Taylor, founder of San Diego-based Taylor Research, has been named the Woman-Owned Small Business of the Year for 2001 by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). The award was presented during the Small Business Week Awards banquet on May 24, co-sponsored by the SBA and the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce. The annual SBA awards program recognizes outstanding small businesses and their contributions.
The American Marketing Association gave its top Crystal award to research studies conducted for BindView by the Quest Business Agency, Houston. The annual competition honors marketing excellence among AMA members. Entries are judged on documented proof of success in research, marketing and advertising. Houston-based BindView Corporation offers software security products to IT professionals. The firm commissioned Quest to conduct blind, projectable quantitative research for two products among IT professionals nationwide.
Essman/Research, Des Moines. Iowa, has been selected as one of the top-rated focus facilities worldwide by moderators and researchers who participated in a survey conducted by the Impulse Research Corporation for the 2001 edition of the Impulse Survey of Focus Facilities.
New accounts/projects
The NPD Group, Inc., Port Washington, N.Y., signed 10 new retailers to its point-of-sale tracking panel in April and May. The new retail panel members include Autozone; Boscov; CSK Automotive; DaisyTek; Just for Feet; Meldisco, the licensed footwear division of Kmart; Pamida; Payless Shoe Source; Quill Corporation; and Sephora. Each new retailer will provide NPD with detailed information on product movement throughout their stores. This information will in turn be used by NPD to enhance point-of-sale tracking reports for a range of industries. In return for their participation in the NPD panel, retailers will receive complimentary reports based on aggregated data from all retail participants.
Princeton, N.J. -based Opinion Research Corporation has signed database management contracts with governmental agencies in both the U.S. and the U.K. The value of the combined contracts is in excess of $14 million over an initial period of three to four years. With options that could lengthen the duration of the United Kingdom work by an additional two years, the value of the contracts could substantially increase.
ACNielsen U.S., Schaumburg, Ill., and Adams Business Research, Norwalk, Conn., have expanded their multi-channel liquor sales information service, LiquorScan. Houston-based Spec's Liquor Warehouse has joined the portfolio of liquor retailers whose account-specific information is available through LiquorScan.
New companies/new locations
Market Insight has moved to 112 W. Foster Ave., Suite 202-C, State College. Pa., 16801. Phone 800-297-ax 814-234-7215.
Foy Conway, formerly CEO of Conway/Milliken & Associates, a Chicago research firm, has established a new creative marketing services firm, Conway Creative Group LLC, at 645 N. Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Additional information can be found at www.conwaycreative.com.
International Communications Research (ICR), Media, Pa., has signed a 10-year lease with Somerset Properties, Lower Gwynedd, Pa. The new build-to-suit office building will be located at 53 West Baltimore Pike in Media. The initial building will have 35,000 square feet in total and will serve as ICR's headquarters.
MORPACE Pharma Group, Ltd., Concord, Mass., has established a new sales and research office near Princeton, N.J., with expanded capacity to serve the company's pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients. The office consolidates two smaller offices in Princeton and Doylestown, Pa.
Old Bridge, N.J.-based Q Research Solutions, Inc. has doubled its capacity by moving into a new 15,000-square-foot facility. The new facility includes 75 CATI stations, 10 central location testing rooms, a ventilation system for fragrance and flavor testing, and a focus group suite.
A new research firm, Periscope Marketing, has opened at 3450 Sacramento Street, #222, San Francisco, Calif., 94118. Phone 415-441-2744. Fax 415-409-1641. Web www.periscopemarketing.com. For more information contact Sara Edelman.
Company earnings reports
In 2000, Germany-based research firm the GfK Group achieved the best results in company history. Total revenue rose by 23.8 percent to Euro 480.9 million and is more than 10 percentage points above average growth rates in the last 10 years at 13.7 percent. EBIT amounts to Euro 39.4 million and consequently exceeds the figure of Euro 38 million forecast at the end of February. With the increase in the dividend from Euro 0.13 to 0.15, the total amount distributed rises from Euro 3.4 to 3.9 million. The increase in total revenue of Euro 92.3 million is 62 percent, attributable to the consolidation of subsidiaries for the first time. Adjusted, organic growth amounts to 9.1 percent.
Total Research Corporation, Princeton, N.J., announced third-quarter and nine-month results for the period ended March 31. For its third fiscal quarter, the global marketing research firm reported record revenues of $12,396,329, compared with $10,273,085 for the same quarter of fiscal 2000, a 21 percent increase. Net income for the third fiscal quarter was $421,372, or diluted earnings per share of $0.03, compared with $412,515, or diluted earnings per share of $0.03, for the same quarter of fiscal 2000. For the nine-month period ended March 31, the company reported record revenues of $39,507,566 compared with $36,176,327 for the same nine-month period of fiscal 2000, a 9 percent increase. Net income for the nine-month period was $ 1,542,142, or diluted earnings per share of $0.11, compared with $1,668,282, or diluted earnings per share of $0.12, for the same nine-month period of fiscal 2000.
In announcing financial results for fiscal year 2000, Cary, N.C., software firm SAS reported total revenue growth of 10.1 percent (16 percent before currency loss adjustment) to $1.12 billion, marking the company's 24th consecutive year of double-digit percentage growth.