News Notes
London-based Market & Opinion Research International Ltd. (MORI) was the fastest-growing top 10 market research agency in Britain in 2001, for the second year running, according to figures released by the British Market Research Association. MORI’s sales grew by 26 percent in 2001, following 27 percent growth in 2000.
Acquisitions
U.K.-based Millward Brown has acquired Firefly, a Thailand research and consulting firm. Millward Brown Thailand, as the new company will be known, will be managed by Mark Ryan, formerly director of qualitative research at ACNielsen. Daren Poole, formerly based in Millward Brown’s Singapore office, will relocate to Bangkok to help establish the quantitative division.
SPSS Inc., Chicago, has acquired LexiQuest Inc., a developer of linguistics-based information management software. The acquisition combines LexiQuest’s experience in linguistics-based text mining with SPSS’s data mining capabilities. The MRCGroup Research Institute, Las Vegas, has acquired Studio 11 Productions, a firm with proprietary multimedia platforms and a video player that provides MRCGroup entry into the online travel, entertainment ticketing, and roombooking industries. Re-branded as MRCStudio11, the company features two primary products: COLTS (Custom On-Line Ticketing System) and COLRRS (Custom On-Line Room Registration System).
Informark Pty. Ltd., an Australia research firm, has become a whollyowned subsidiary of GfK Marketing Services Australia. With a staff of 14, Informark achieved total revenue of approximately EUR 0.7 million in financial year 2001.
Separately, Germany-based GfK increased its stake in a joint venture, ORG-GfK Marketing Services (India), from 26 to 40 percent. For financial year 2001, ORG-GfK Marketing Services earned total revenue of around EUR 0.6 million. Also, GfK has increased to 100 percent its holding in French research company M2A.
Alliances/strategic partnerships
SPSS MR, Chicago, has forged an alliance with Optimum Pay, an online payment service. With Optimum Pay, customers can create differentiated incentive programs to drive cooperation rates in surveys. Incentives are paid in cash, paid directly into bank accounts, as points, or by paper checks for those unwilling to accept electronic rewards.
Separately, the business intelligence division of SPSS Inc. has announced that KXEN, a global analytic software company that provides modeling technology for users of data mining, has become a member of the Clementine Plus Partner Program and will integrate the KXEN Analytical Framework with Clementine, SPSS Inc.’s data mining product.
TNS Tellex and Parker Bishop have announced that they are to rebrand as one dedicated media monitoring agency - TNS Media Intelligence. The new name is part of a global re-branding of the Media Intelligence sector of U.K.-based Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS).
The European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research (ESOMAR) has appointed Chris van Schijndel as its new director general. Van Schijndel takes over from acting Director General Mario van Hamersveld. From 1981 onwards Van Schijndel managed international marketing research for Volvo. In 1990 he took up a similar function with Nissan Europe, became product marketing manager for a number of models in 1995, and subsequently marketing director for Nissan Motors in the Netherlands a few years later. Since 2000 he has been located in Paris, acting as chief marketing manager for part of the Nissan line in Europe, within the framework of Nissan’s alliance with Renault.
The Focus Facility Association, an organization representing 21 focus group facilities in the New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut area, has celebrated its first anniversary. The organization’s primary goal is to keep the lines of communication open between qualitative researchers and facility management for the purpose of promoting professionalism, establishing ethical standards, eliminating professional respondents, and developing a partnership to better understand the needs of both facilities and clients.
The organization is open to all facility management within the area whose qualitative research activities represent at least 50 percent of their organization’s business.
Awards
Fairfield, Conn., research firm Survey Sampling Inc. (SSI) has been named Supplier of the Year by the Gallup Organization. The award is presented for the highest levels of marketing research consultation and service. Recipients are rated on accuracy, responsiveness, credibility, partnering, trust, and discovery. Jessica Smith, SSI senior account executive, manages the Gallup account. Special mention also goes to Linda Piekarski, Missy Richards, and Jerry Cap, as well as SSI’s production, data products, database, and information systems departments.
San Diego-based marketing information firm Claritas Inc. has formed an agreement with Cox Target Media (CTM) to provide lifestyle segmentation data through its PRIZM system to strengthen the value of CTM’s Valpak envelope of offers.
Target Corporation has renewed its information-sharing contract with ACNielsen U.S., Schaumburg, Ill. Under the new agreement, Target also signed on for ACNielsen’s Category Business Planner (CBP). Separately, ACNielsen U.S. announced that Merisant U.S., Inc., a tabletop sweetener firm, has selected ACNielsen as its preferred provider of syndicated marketing research information and insights for U.S. markets.
Greenfield Online, Inc., a Wilton, Conn., research firm, has added three new firms - Hall & Partners, MORPACE International, and MRSI - to its partner program.
Information Resources, Inc., Chicago, has been awarded a new multi-year contract to provide data, analytic insights and software applications to the Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA). The expanded agreement will include CPGNetwork, IRI’s Web-based decision support tool, as well as ad hoc and pre-formatted reports. DeCA generates sales of $5.1 billion annually, providing groceries and related items to qualified military personnel. It has 281 stores worldwide.
Market Researchers & Analysts has opened a new focus group facility in Newport News, Va. Amenities include a 20x20 focus group room, ceiling-mounted video cameras, and a separate pre-staging area for catering, screening or IDIs.
In March, Galloway Research Service, San Antonio, Texas, dedicated its new opinion research center to the company’s founder, the late Ruth K. Galloway. The dedication ceremony was held in the lobby of the firm’s new headquarters at 4751 Hamilton Wolfe and included an unveiling of a bronze plaque bearing a likeness of Ruth Galloway. Each of the new facility’s three focus groups suites is themed in a different South Texas decor, including Hill Country, Spanish Mission, and Gulf Coast.
CRA Superooms has relocated its Bay Area facility to 450 Sansome St., 8th floor, San Francisco, Calif., 94111. The new location has five fullsize focus group suites featuring wraparound two-way mirrors for enhanced viewing.
New York-based RoperASW and NOP Research Group, two operating units within NOP World, have formed RoperNOP Technology, a new entity which will provide research and consulting services to U.S.-based technology companies. RoperNOP Technology will include research staff from RoperASW, NOP, and CMP Media, a technology publisher and sibling organization to NOP World. The unit will be based in New York and supported by staff in London, Princeton, Dallas, San Francisco, and Seattle.
A new online research company, Amplitude Research, Inc., has been founded at 600 South Adams Road, Suite 210, Birmingham, Mich., 48009-6863. Stephen S. Birnkrant is the firm’s founder and CEO.
A new research firm, Inner Portugal, has opened at Av. Republica No. 41 1050-187, Lisbon. Oscar Escribano is the firm’s director general. The offices include qualitative research facilities, simultaneous translation equipment, videoconference equipment, and 10 CATI posts.
Company earnings report
Irving, Texas-based Aegis Communications Group, Inc., a CRM and research firm, released financial results for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2001. The company reported earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) for the fourth quarter of 2001 of $4.3 million on $55.9 million of revenue as compared to EBITDA of $1.9 million on revenue of $56.3 million in the third quarter of 2001. Net loss after preferred stock dividends for the fourth quarter of 2001 was $8.7 million, which includes the effect of a $6.0 million reduction in the net realizable value of the company’s long-term deferred tax asset, or ($0.17) per share, as compared to a net loss after preferred stock dividends in the third quarter of 2001 of $4.6 million, or ($0.09) per share. For the year ended December 31, 2001, the company generated EBITDA of $17.5 million on $237.3 million of revenue, versus EBITDA of $16.8 million on revenues of $295.4 million for the prior year period.
National Research Corporation, Lincoln, Neb., announced revenues for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2001 were $4.1 million compared with revenues of $4.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2000. Financial results in the fourth quarter were affected by pre-tax legal expenses of $359,000 related to a previously announced lawsuit. Net income for the fourth quarter, excluding the aforementioned legal expenses, was $411,000, or $0.06 per basic and diluted share, compared with net income of $742,000, or $0.11 per basic and diluted share, in the prior-year period. Including legal expenses, net income for the quarter ended December 31, 2001, was $192,000, or $0.03 per basic and diluted share. Revenues were $17.7 million compared with revenues of $18.3 million for the yearago period. Net income, excluding pre-tax legal expenses of $980,000 related to the lawsuit, was $2.3 million, or $0.32 per basic and diluted share, compared with net income of $2.7 million, or $0.39 per basic and diluted share, in the prior-year period. Pre-tax expenses related to the lawsuit in 2000 were $34,000. Including legal expenses, net income for the year was $1.7 million, or $0.24 per basic and diluted share.