Acquisitions/transactions
Shugoll Research, Bethesda, Md., has acquired Metro Research Services, Fairfax, Va.
New York researcher The Nielsen Company has acquired Chicago research consultancy The Perishables Group.
New Orleans research company Pollbob has acquired polling site Mister Poll to increase its online user base.
Burlington, Mass., consulting company inVentiv Health Inc., has agreed to acquire certain promotional and medical audit businesses of Plymouth Meeting, Pa., research company SDI Health, which Danbury, Conn., research company IMS Health has committed to divest in connection with obtaining regulatory approval of its acquisition of SDI.
Separately, IMS Health has acquired Bangalore, India, research company PharmARC.
Chicago research company Accenture has agreed to acquire Madrid, Spain, research company Neo Metrics Analytics S.L.
London research company Kantar Media has agreed to acquire Shanghai, China, research company CIC.
Association/organization news
Researchers Mark Michelson and Jasper Lim have formed the Mobile Marketing Research Association (MMRA), Atlanta, to develop professional standards and ethics to advance the use of mobile devices for marketing research. MMRA will recognize the first 300 members who register as Founding Members and is accepting memberships online at www.mmra-global.org.
The Qualitative Research Consultants Association, St. Paul, Minn., is accepting presentation proposals until March 16 for its 2012 annual conference, themed “Immerse Yourself.” The conference will be held on October 3-5 in Montreal. For more information visit www.qrca.org/2012CFP.
New accounts/projects
Encino, Calif., research company uSamp has adopted Westport, Conn., research company Imperium's RelevantID digital fingerprinting technology into its SampleMarket platform for fraud prevention.
Portland, Ore., research company Rentrak Corporation has renewed and expanded its contract with Dallas television company Belo Corp. for Rentrak’s StationView Essentials ratings data. Raycom TV, Montgomery, Ala.; Camelot Strategic Marketing and Media, Dallas; and Koplar Communications, St. Louis, have also adopted StationView Essentials.
Rentrak has also signed a multi-year TV Essentials contract with MavTV, Centennial, Colo.
Washington, D.C., communications consultancy APCO Worldwide has adopted Boston research company Crimson Hexagon’s ForSight platform.
Light Media, Atlanta, has selected Columbia, Md., research company Arbitron Inc.’s radio ratings service to support its radio station Power 105.5.
Blauw Research, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, has adopted Norrköping, Sweden, research company Dapresy’s Dapresy Pro software to create dashboards and online portals for its ad hoc and tracking surveys.
Washington, D.C., research company Ipsos Public Affairs has been awarded the General Services Administration’s Advertising and Integrated Marketing Solutions Schedule 541 4A: Survey Services contract.
New companies/new divisions/relocations/expansions
In Quirk’s February 2012 issue, it was incorrectly reported that Milwaukee research company Market Probe had moved its headquarters to New York. Instead, New York research company Market Probe International has relocated its headquarters to 805 3rd Avenue, 11th Floor, New York. Phone and fax numbers and e-mail addresses will remain the same.
Market Probe remains headquartered in Milwaukee.
SurveyGizmo, a Boulder, Colo., research company, has announced plans to hire 20-30 new employees in 2012.
Stamford, Conn., research company Information Services Group Inc. (ISG) has merged its TPI, Compass and STA Consulting divisions into one ISG brand.
Omaha, Neb., research company Database101 has opened ResearchUSA, a joint venture business dedicated to managing Database101’s proprietary business database. John Ferris has been appointed to lead the operation.
Research Now, Plano, Texas, has opened an office in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Kinesis Survey Technologies LLC, Austin, Texas, has relocated its U.S. and U.K. offices. Its U.S. headquarters will be located at 8140 North MoPac, Suite 120, Austin. Its U.K. office will be located at Dephna House, 24/26 Arcadia Ave., London.
C&C Market Research, Fort Smith, Ark., has opened offices in Long Island, N.Y., at Broadway Mall, and in Detroit at Laurel Park Place Mall.
Food Perspectives Inc., a Plymouth, Minn., research company, has opened a new testing facility at its headquarter location.
Chicago research company Mintel has opened offices in Mumbai, India; Singapore; and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Researchers Sanjay Vrudhula and Lyle J. Durbin have launched ReconMR, an Austin, Texas, research company. ReconMR will focus exclusively on Texas enterprise clients. The firm is online at www.reconmr.com.
Chicago research company Leo J. Shapiro and Associates has turned its health care practice group into a new division called CarbonSix.
Research company earnings/financial news
SurveyGizmo, Boulder, Colo., reported increased revenues 54 percent over 2010 ($3.3 million to $5.1 million).
Kinesis Survey Technologies LLC, Austin, Texas, achieved 30 percent 2011 revenue growth over 2010.
EasyInsites, Surrey, U.K., reported increased revenue of 37 percent in 2011 over 2010.
Qualvu, Denver, has raised $1.85 million through a Series B financing round.
ThinkVine, Cincinnati, has closed $8 million in Series C investment.
SurveyMonkey, Palo Alto, Calif., has raised $65 million in new funding in the form of convertible preferred stock.