News notes
The Media Rating Council (MRC), New York, has lifted the viewable impression advisory it issued in November 2012, which advised the marketplace to refrain from transacting on viewable impressions as a digital advertising currency metric until certain issues related to the measurement of viewable impressions could be resolved.
The advisory was a result of the MRC’s findings from an industry-wide pilot project that revealed significant measurement issues standing in the way of a seamless transition from a digital advertising currency based on served impressions to one based on viewable impressions.
Since that time, MRC and other parties have worked to identify and remove these obstacles. For video advertising, MRC advises the marketplace to observe an additional gating period prior to transacting on viewable video impressions. This gating period will expire on June 30, 2014.
Acquisitions/transactions
Stockholm, Sweden, digital music service Spotify as acquired Somerville, Mass., music intelligence company The Echo Nest. The Echo Nest will continue to operate out of its Somerville and San Francisco offices.
Cincinnati research company RDI Corporation has acquired SIRS Inc., a Fort Mitchell, Ky., research company. RDI will assume all of the technology assets, clients and retain all of the current employees of SIRS Inc.
Van Nuys, Calif., research company SoapBoxSample has acquired Bloomington, Minn., research company ClickIQ’s e/visor panel of 350,000+ members across the U.S. and Canada.
Rotterdam, Netherlands, research company MetrixLab has acquired a majority stake in Oxyme, an Amsterdam social media analytics company.
Plano, Texas, research company Sentry Marketing Group has acquired Feedback Plus, a Dallas research company. The combined group will be led by David Agius at Sentry’s new Plano offices at 2222 W. Spring Creek Parkway, No. 114.
London research company Salience Insight has acquired the U.S. operations of Washington, D.C., research company CARMA International. The two companies will operate side-by-side.
Oslo, Norway, research software company Confirmit has acquired Oslo social intelligence and text analytics company Integrasco.
Alliances/strategic partnerships
Montreal research companies Suntaeg Technologies and Semeon Analytics Inc. have formed a strategic partnership to merge Suntaeg’s data management and data integration solution with Semeon’s social media platform.
Portland, Ore., research company Rentrak Corp. has partnered with data management company i360 to provide insights into political audiences by integrating 18 segments of voter data with Rentrak’s local television viewing ratings.
Encino, Calif., research company uSamp and WorkFusion, a New York crowd computing software company, have integrated uSamp’s audience into WorkFusion’s platform to build a network of online talent.
Westlake Village, Calif., research company J.D. Power has formed an alliance with DealerRater, a Waltham, Mass., automotive dealership consumer review service, to integrate DealerRater’s customer ratings and reviews of car dealerships with J.D. Power’s customer satisfaction insights via J.D. Power’s customer experience management platform.
Nuremberg, Germany, research company The GfK Group has merged PT Primera Indonesia, a Jakarta, Indonesia, research company, into GfK’s existing retail tracking and media business.
Chicago retail experience company The Carlson Group has partnered with New York research company GfK and Schiller Park, Ill., retail design and branding firm RGLA, incorporating GfK and RGLA’s insights to improve Carlson’s retail solutions.
Port Washington, N.Y., research company The NPD Group Inc. has signed a market information services agreement with New York researcher The Nielsen Company for school and office supplies retail market data and analytic services. As part of the agreement, Nielsen will serve as NPD’s preferred analytics provider for school and office supplies clients.
Separately, Nielsen and Yangon, Myanmar, research company Myanmar Marketing Research and Development Co. have entered into a joint venture, dubbed Nielsen MMRD, to combine their solutions to help companies established in Myanmar or that have plans to enter the market to understand the market and consumer dynamics.
Finally, Harleysville, Pa., consulting firm the Natural Marketing Institute (NMI) and Nielsen have collaborated to overlay Nielsen’s Homescan panelists on four NMI consumer segmentation models: health and wellness; sustainability (LOHAS); organic; and healthy aging.
Research companies Ipsos MediaCT, New York, and mTAB, Yorba Linda, Calif., have partnered to make the Ipsos Affluent Survey USA available to brand marketers on mTAB’s platform.
Awards/rankings
The Advertising Research Foundation, New York, held a ceremony for its 2014 Great Minds Awards in March in New York. William A. Cook received the Lifetime Achievement Award; Gian Fulgoni the Outstanding Board of Directors Lifetime Achievement Award; Decipher Inc.’s Kristin Luck the Future-Forward Award (Gold); Electronic Arts’ Jack Koch the Innovation Award (Gold); and TNS Global’s Prerrit Souda the Rising Star Award (Gold). For a full list of winners visit http://thearf.org/great-mind-14.php.
Point of Purchase Advertising International, Chicago, announced the winners of its annual Outstanding Marketing at Retail Achievement Awards on March 19 in Las Vegas, including the Display of the Year Award, Budget Award, Creative Award and Choice Award. For a list of winners visit www.popai.com.
Reston, Va., research company comScore Inc.’s Digital Analytix Multi-Platform product was named the 2014 New Technology of the Year by the Digital Analytics Association, New York.
New accounts/projects
ESOMAR, Amsterdam, has selected research companies Decipher Inc., Fresno, Calif., and Global Market Insite (GMI), Bellevue, Wash., as its cross-platform survey providers. ESOMAR’s surveys will be powered by Decipher’s Beacon survey and reporting software solution. GMI will provide local creative survey design and programming support.
U.K. shopping centers Meadowhall and intu have each selected eDigitalResearch, Hampshire, U.K., to gather in-the-moment voice-of-the-customer feedback.
The American Hospital Association, Chicago, has expanded its endorsement of Minneapolis research company Avatar Solutions to include Avatar’s full suite of health care survey tools, including employee engagement, exit, new hire, physician, patient experience/satisfaction and culture of safety.
Shelton, Conn., research company SSI has partnered with Spirit Airlines, Miramar, Fla., allowing members of the airline’s loyalty rewards program Free Spirit to join Miles for Thoughts, a business research panel from SSI. Miles for Thoughts panel members can earn Free Spriit miles for sharing their opinions.
Cheshunt, U.K., retailer Tesco has selected Chicago research company Information Resources Inc. as its market tracking provider for its U.K. business.
Rotterdam, Netherlands, research company MetrixLab has formed a new division called MetrixLab Big Data Analytics.
Baltimore video advertising platform Videology has selected TV data from New York researcher The Nielsen Company for cross-screen planning, buying and measurement across linear television and online video.
Network Research, London, has adopted the Beacon market research and reporting platform from Decrypt, the London branch of Fresno, Calif., research company Decipher Inc., for its online customer experience research.
GlobalWebIndex, an ongoing study of the digital consumer, has selected Encino, Calif., research company uSamp to power its syndicated tracking service, surveying a minimum of 170,000 internet users a year.
New companies/new divisions/relocations/expansions
London research company Purdie Pascoe has expanded into the U.S. by opening an office in Chicago.
Wilton, Conn., research company Toluna has opened an office in Seoul, South Korea. Kayne Park has been appointed country director, Korea, and will lead the operation.
Sands Research Inc., El Paso, Texas, and Neurons Inc ApS, a Copenhagen, Denmark, research company, have merged. The new entity, called Neurons Inc., will be headquartered in the U.S.
Matt Dusig and Gregg Lavin have launched Innovate MR, a Los Angeles research company. The company is online at www.innovatemr.com.
Nuremberg, Germany, research company The GfK Group has rebranded GfK International GmbH as GfK Entertainment. The new entity is online at www.gfk-entertainment.com.
MSS, a Scottsdale, Ariz., research company, has opened a London office. Susan Luebke, director, global research and analytics, will manage the operation.
Matt Prados has founded Message Metrics, a Ladera Ranch, Calif., research company. The company is online at www.messagemetric.com.
Research company earnings/financial news
MetrixLab, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, announced a 22 percent increase in revenue, to $67 million, in 2013.
Confirmit, Oslo, Norway, achieved double-digit organic revenue growth in 2013.
The GfK Group, Nuremberg, Germany, announced financial results for 2013. Adjusted operating income grew by 1.6 percent to €190.4 million. Organic sales growth amounted to 0.8 percent. At €1,494.8 million, sales were slightly below 2012 (€1,514.7 million) due to currency effects.
Sarang Panchal, CEO at MRSS India, a Mumbai, India, research company, has acquired a significant equity stake in MRSS India.