Listen to this article

Tampa-based Okra Marketing Corp. has reached an agreement with the Atlanta-based MDS Group to jointly market MDS' analytical and modeling software with Okra's database management products. Okra Marketing provides database marketing customer information file (MCIF) services.

Total Research Corporation, Princeton, NJ, has formed a strategic alliance with TRCA, s.a., of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Total Research/Argentina will serve as liaison for clients of Total Research Corporation, providing local coordination and facilitation of activities involving Total Research's product technologies. TRCA specializes in advanced statistical marketing techniques.

Partners in Research, Inc. has opened in Wyckoff, NJ at 200 Braen Ave., Wyckoff, NJ 07481. The firm will specialize in taste/sensory tests, focus groups and has the capabilities of car clinics and large display studies. For more information contact Connie Kass or Wanda Gorman.

Data Description, developer of exploratory data analysis software for the Macintosh, has signed an exclusive distribution agreement with DoubleClick ab of Gothenberg, Sweden. DoubleClick ab will offer sales and technical support of Data Desk to dealers and VARs in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland. Both companies have developed a special educational grant program that will award Scandinavian educational institutions with free software with a single purchase of a minimum of five licenses. The purchased and matching licenses acquired through the program are to be used for teaching in a class¬room or laboratory environment.

Blackburn Marketing Services, Inc. (BMSI) has acquired the Chicago-based National Research Bureau, publishers of the annual Shopping Center Directory, Shopping Center Developer Directory, Top Shopping Center/Major Markets 1-50, and Working Press of the Nation. BMSI, a large Canadian marketing information company, recently moved into the United States by acquiring Urban Decision Systems, a provider of U.S. demographic and business information.

MRCA Information Services of Stamford, CT, has announced a major business development program. Responsible for this effort will be Kenneth Murphy, who has been named to the new position of senior vice president, sales and marketing. MRCA provides consumer behavior data to clients in the packaged goods and soft goods markets.

Nashville-based Advanced Database Marketing Inc., a provider of telemarketing and telephone interviewing services, has expanded its offices at 1161 Murfreesboro Rd., Ste. 502, Nashville, TN 37217.