News notes
Link, the advertising copy testing solution by research agency Kantar Millward Brown, New York, has completed the Marketing Accountability Standards Board (MASB) metric audit process. MASB’s process, the Marketing Metric Audit Protocol, assesses connections from marketing activities to marketing metrics to financial performance.
UC Davis Extension, Davis, Calif., is now accepting applications for the Applied Sensory and Consumer Science Certificate Program. Applications are due Sept. 15 for the fall 2017 program.
Acquisitions/transactions
The Dieringer Research Group Inc., Milwaukee, has acquired Wisconsin-based Probe Research Services. The company has also hired Jill Carnick as account director.
Quality improvement software firm Minitab Inc., State College, Pa., has acquired San Diego-based analytics technology company Salford Systems.
Research America Inc. has acquired Roda Marketing Research Inc., enhancing its work in health care and pharmaceutical research. The Roda Marketing Research team is expected to move from its current location in Jenkintown, Pa., into nearby Research America offices in Willow Grove, Pa., operating under the MSP Analytics brand. Adele Roda, owner and president of Roda Marketing Research, will continue to work within the new structure.
Health care analytics company SurveyVitals Inc., Springtown, Texas, has acquired Novaetus Inc., an administrator of CAHPS surveys. Lori Moshier, founder and president of Novaetus, will join SurveyVitals as CAHPS program director.
E-mail marketing and automation software firm Campaign Monitor, San Francisco, has acquired customer data platform Tagga. With the acquisition, Campaign Monitor will provide access to behavioral data, enabling marketers to capture data and create behavioral profiles for customers to drive a greater return for their business.
Alliances/strategic partnerships
Data analytics company Meetings Analytics has joined sales and marketing firm ZS. Kimberly Meyer and Peter Matthews, founders of Meetings Analytics, will lead ZS’s meetings analytics solution area from the firm’s office in Evanston, Ill.
Pennington, N.J., research consulting firm Cambiar and London-based agency Keen as Mustard Marketing have formed a strategic alliance. The two companies will work together on strategic consulting and marketing projects for clients in the U.S., U.K. and EMEA. Simon Chadwick, founding and managing partner of Cambiar, will also join the Mustard board as an advisor.
Chicago research firm Halverson Group is partnering with the crowdsourcing research platform Collaborata on a nationwide, cross-category study called Politics and Purchase Power: Do People Really Put Their Money Where Their Party Is? The study aims to uncover which brands are at risk of landing on a boycott list and what deeper motivations are at play. Questions to be answered include: Could a brand lose (or gain) consumers along party lines? Are there situational factors that drive political purchase decisions? Are certain categories more vulnerable? How can motivations for boycotting be leveraged as opportunities?
In New York, software company Remesh has formed a partnership with digital research solutions firm eCGlobal Solutions to bring Remesh’s artificial intelligence platform for market research to Latin America. The Remesh platform allows brands and agencies to pose open-ended questions to a group selected from eCGlobal’s community of consumers. The partnership will provide online focus group-style conversations to media and entertainment, consumer goods, telecom and other industries, as well as global and local research agencies within the region.
London-based researcher E-Tabs and Paris-based research software firm Askia have formed a new strategic partnership to develop a dashboard designer application for market research which can be used as a standalone tool or linked with the Askiavista analysis software.
Morrisville, N.C., marketing technology company MaxPoint has partnered with San Francisco-based researcher InfoScout to use shopper-level insights to help CPG companies and retailers measure their marketing programs. The partnership allows digital advertisers to reach audiences based on where and when they shop, as well as the products in their baskets.
Warren, N.J., researcher Lightspeed has formed a strategic partnership with Boston-based emotion recognition software firm Affectiva to capture emotional coding within its surveys. Lightspeed has also introduced Emotion Analytics across the Americas, Europe and the Asia-Pacific regions. Emotion Analytics allows researchers to quantify emotion from Lightspeed panelists in real-time through Affectiva’s emotion recognition technology built on an automated facial coding system.
Univision Communications Inc., New York, has formed a partnership with Pittsburgh-based polling and market intelligence company CivicScience to provide research on Hispanic consumers and emergent trends. The partnership will combine Univision’s Hispanic audience with CivicScience’s polling and data analysis platform to give insights to advertisers, brands, political organizations and investors.
Analytics and insights firm Kantar Shopcom, Wilton, Conn., has formed an enhanced partnership with omnichannel identity resolution firm LiveRamp. The partnership makes Kantar Shopcom’s data available for people-based targeting and measurement through the LiveRamp IdentityLink Data Store.
Chicago-based researcher IRI has formed a strategic collaboration with information services company Experian. The joint effort will give Experian clients access to IRI ProScores, an audience targeting solution built from household purchase data that predicts the likelihood of consumers to purchase specific CPG brands and categories.
Researcher brinc (Branded Research Inc.), San Diego, has formed a partnership with GlimpzIt, a San Francisco-based machine learning platform. GlimpzIt allows consumers to use pictures, video and text to answer unstructured and open-ended questions and uses its AI technology to detect patterns in behavior and uncover consumer emotions. The data collected by GlimpzIt enables brinc to create conversations and surveys with specific demographics in mind.
Association/organization news
The Advertising Research Foundation (ARF), New York, has appointed Scott McDonald as its president and CEO. Josh Chasin, chief research officer for Reston, Va., firm comScore, has been elected to the ARF board of directors. Additionally, Vice President of Analytics Ray Pettit has been renominated to the ARF’s board of curators.
Jan Gooding has been named president of the U.K.-based Market Research Society.
In Bend, Ore., nonprofit organization Women in Research has hired Michelle Andre as its new managing director.
In Wakefield, Mass., the Association of Sports Analytics Professionals has launched its operations. The association aims to advance the use of analytics in the global sports business industry and drive greater collaboration among representatives in sports business, industry and academia.
Awards/rankings
The American Marketing Association New York has selected the following as 2017 inductees to its Marketing Hall of Fame: Gary Briggs, VP, CMO, Facebook; Jon Iwata, SVP, marketing and communications, IBM; Jim Stengel, former global marketing officer, Procter & Gamble and president/CEO, The Jim Stengel Company; and Jerry Wind, professor of marketing, The Wharton School.
New accounts/projects
Univision, New York, has signed a multi-year agreement with Nielsen Audio that covers all of Univision’s 64 owned and operated stations in 16 markets and its national radio network.
U.K. research firm DJS Research Ltd has been selected to conduct a research project on behalf of the Leicester City Football Club. DJS Research will engage with fans of the club and measure their satisfaction with services and accessibility for supporters with a disability. The firm will also explore the potential for improvements to King Power Stadium.
New York brand intimacy agency MBLM has rebranded Wyng, a marketing platform formerly called Offerpop that allows brands to build and run campaigns that drive participation and increase consumer influence. As Wyng’s branding agency, MBLM produced a new brand promise, name, identity, video and Web site.
India-based research firm MRSS India is collaborating with three development agencies: America India Foundation (AIF), Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) and Population Council. The AKF project aims to improve the quality of education in Muzaffarpur, Patna and Samastipur. MRSS India will provide technical support in analyzing the data and prepare the report. The AIF project will evaluate the learning resource centers in parts of Odisha. MRSS India will execute a quasi-experimental design and mixed-method for data collection. The Population Council project involves MRSS as an advisory member for its project titled, Climate-induced Disasters in Odisha, India: Impacts, Adaptation and Policy Implications.
New companies/new divisions/relocations/expansions
Digital innovation company Delvinia, based in Toronto, has opened a new office in Quebec which will be led by Daniel Brousseau, who will serve as vice president and general manager. Kassandra Blais will also join the Quebec team as a business development associate.
Philadelphia-based researcher Focus Pointe Global has rebranded with a new logo tag line and Web site.
Scottsdale, Ariz., health care research company The HSM Group has merged with New York-based marketing company Disruptyx, rebranding as NEWRISTICS to align with a focus on decision heuristics science. NEWRISTICS has also introduced two new products: subscription pricing for message heuristicization for pharmaceutical brands; and CHOOSE, a new heuristics-based algorithm for qualitative and quantitative message testing.
U.K. research company BrainJuicer held a general meeting on March 22 to approve resolutions to change its name and to put a new long-term incentive plan for senior managers in place. Shareholders were asked to approve the proposed name change from BrainJuicer Group PLC to System1 Group PLC. The rebranding launched with effect from April 1.
Predictive marketing software company Rocket Fuel Inc., San Francisco, has opened an office in Prague that will focus on development of the data science behind the company’s artificial intelligence and machine learning.
In New York, Evoke Group, a collection of health marketing companies, has created Fabric, a multicultural agency that will partner with pharmaceutical and other wellness clients, as well as other Evoke Group agencies, to navigate the evolving cultural landscape and identify insights that can create more culturally-inspired brands. Roger Salazar has been appointed as managing director and will lead the new agency.
MarketVision Research has relocated its corporate headquarters from Blue Ash, Ohio, to a new office in Cincinnati to support its growth.
Researcher BDRC South Africa, which operated independently for more than 10 years, has rebranded as BDRC Africa and has realigned with U.K. research agency BDRC Group.
France-based communications company Havas Group has rebranded Havas Health as Havas Health & You, joining together the agencies of Havas Health with the consumer health marketing communications practices across Havas companies. Donna Murphy will be CEO of the new enterprise.
London-based inbound marketing consultancy The B2B Marketing Laboratory has opened a new office in Singapore. Georgiana Verdonk Sim, vice president, Asia, will work with Verity Dearsley, the firm’s managing director, to head up the new office.
The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), based in Arlington, Va., and professional services company Accenture have collaborated to launch RILA’s (R)Tech Center for Innovation, a new initiative that explores the impact of technologies like artificial intelligence and virtual reality on the retail industry. Accenture will work with RILA to shape the overall program, conduct joint research and bring together retailers and technology start-ups to explore the industry changes that are being driven by digital technologies.
Marketing firm SIGMA Marketing Insights, based in Rochester, N.Y., has expanded into the Boston area with new offices in Rockland, Mass. Gregg Sullivan will join the senior team and lead efforts in the new market.
In Iasi, Romania, research company Verve has moved to larger offices due to its growing team. Verve Iasi grew 50 percent last year and plans to further increase staff numbers over the course of 2017.
Research company earnings/financial news
Paris-based researcher Ipsos reported overall revenue of approximately €1.8 billion for 2016, with an organic growth of 3 percent during the year. For the fourth quarter of 2016, Ipsos reported revenue of €517.4 million, down 1.8 percent from the same period in 2015.
U.K. research firm Join the Dots reported £9.8 million in revenue for 2016, a growth of 26 percent. The firm has also added Lucy Hampson, Covie Williams and Jessamine Hopkins as senior research executives.
For 2016, Oslo, Norway, researcher Confirmit reported a 60 percent increase in new business sales over 2015.
Researcher Macromill Inc. has successfully completed its listing on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.