DeepCanyon.com, an online source of market research reports and informarion, closed in October after it failed to secure a second round of financing.
Rochester, N.Y.-based Harris Interactive announced that all federal claims against America Online, Inc. (AOL) in conjunction with its July 31 lawsuit have been dropped. The suit contends Harris Interacrive’s name was unfairly and arbitrarily placed onto Mail Abuse Prevention System, LLC’s (MAPS) Realtime Blackhole List (RBL), a list of companies accused of electronic mail abuse. MAPS’ action prompted the named ISPs to block Harris Interactive from corresponding with many of its registered subscribers.
Since legal proceedings have commenced, Harris Interactive has been in communication with AOL and, as a result, Harris Interactive has voluntarily agreed to drop AOL as a defendant in the lirigation. Harris Interactive’s dropping of AOL from the litigation is not contingent upon any agreement between AOL and Harris Interactive regarding the delivery of Harris Interactive’s e-mail to its AOL members. However, Harris Interactive believes thatit is now able to fully communicate with all of its registered respondents who have AOL e-mail addresses.
Separately, Harris Interactive, in conjunction with 3Com Corporation, will stage The Planet Project: Your Voice, Your World, beginning November 15. The Planet Project is a four-day online poll (at www.planetproject.com) which will give people around the world the chance to share their thoughts and opinions in real time.
Preliminary data from the latest ESOMAR (European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research) study show that the total market for market research worldwide in 1999 was $14.643 billion, an increase of $1.233 billion or 8.3 percent over the previous year. The European Union accounted for 39.2 percent of the total world market and Europe as a whole 42.3 percent. The U.S. accounted for 37.1 percent of the total world market and Japan 7.3 percent.
The European share of the total world market declined from 43,5 percent in 1998 to 42.3 percent in 1999. This arose primarily because of the fall in the value of the euro against the dollar over the period in question. In terms of euros, the market in Europe rose by 10.7 percent over the level reported in 1998 - a comparable rate of growth to that achieved in the U.S. (10.1 percent in terms of dollars). However, the rate of growth in the European Union calculated in euros continues to decline as the market matures.
The apparent high rate of growth in Japan (18.9 percent) is largely a result of the appreciation of the yen against the dollar. In local currency the rate of growth was a much more modest 3.4 percent. The improvement in Japan is mirrored by the recovery of the Asian market for research in general with an overall increase in the region of 18.8 percent.
Note: The 1998 data take into account more accurate information from countries received since the last report was published. As this is a preliminary report, changes in the information might be included with the full details of the results of the 2000 ESOMAR Study of the Worldwide Market for Market Research, which will be published later in the year. For more information visit www.esomar.nl.
Brigham Young University’s NewsNet service has cited Provo, Utahbased research firm Western Wats Center (WWC) for its help in the NewsNet service winning a second straight EPpy Award for Best College Newspaper Online Service. The award is given by Editor and Publisher Magazine. WWC has provided online research for NewsNet since 1999 and provided the NewsNet staff with audience statistics that helped NewsNet meet the needs of its users.
Menlo Park, Calif.-based marketing information firm Knowledge Networks has acquired Cincinnati-based Promotion Decisions Inc. (PDI), a consumer purchase tracking firm.
MarketTools, Inc. a Sausalito, Calif., application service provider, and Sawtooth Software, Inc., Sequim, Wash., have formed a partnership that will enhance MarketTools’ zTelligence system through the development of Web-based conjoint analysis modules based on Sawtooth Software’s research software products.
Separately, Sawtooth Software and Online Insight Inc., an Atlanta eCRM technology firm, have signed an exclusive contract to accelerate development of guided selling and customer insight applications for e-commerce, including enhancements to Online Insight’s existing products, Precision Choice and Precision Insights.
ESOMAR and the Advertising Research Foundation have released the ESOMAR/ARF Guideline on Conducting Marketing and Opinion Research. Specifically, the Guideline sets out the following ethical and professional standards to be observed by all those conducting online research:
- Respondent cooperation is voluntary and no personal information should be sought from or about respondents without their prior knowledge and agreement.
- The researcher’s identity must be disclosed to respondents.
- Respondents’ rights to anonymityand adequate security of data must be safeguarded.
- Survey reports should describe the methods used.
- Special care must be taken when interviewing children and young people.
- Researchers should not send unsolicited messages online to respondents who have indicated that they do not wish to receive such messages relating to that specific research project.
ESOMAR issued a first guideline on Intemet Research in 1998. This updated ESOMAR/ARF version is endorsed by the ICC (International Chamber of Commerce), WAPOR (the World Association of Public Opinion Research) and the WFA (World Federation of Advertisers). It can be downloaded from
www.esomar.nl/codes_and_guidelines.html as can the ICC/ESOMAR Code for Marketing, Social and Opinion Research, on which the Guideline is based and which has been adopted by over 60 research and marketing associations worldwide.
Milwaukee-area Advantage Research, Inc. has opened a new focus group facility with an 18’ x 28’ focus goup room, an observation room, and adjoining client office. An upper story outside deck is also available off of the client office.
Chicago-based SPSS has announced that e-Dialog, an e-mail marketing services firm, has selected SPSS analytic software, including SPSS’ Clementine data mining workbench, and SPSS 10.0 for statistical analysis, to extend its client services.
Separately, SPSS, NCR, and DaimlerChrysler have published the CRoss-Industry Standard Process for Data Mining (CRISP-DM). CRISP-DM 1.0 is a data mining methodology and process model that provides users a blueprint for conducting a data mining process. Visit www.crisp-dm.org to download a PDF file of the CRISP-DM document.
SPSS also announced that research firms Market Facts, Harris Interactive and NFO Research have selected SPSS’s Verbastat to handle the coding of open-ended survey questions.
San Diego, Calif.-based Salford Systems won an international Web mining competition organized by the Association for Computing Machinery, the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University, and Blue Martini Software. The two-monthlong competition involved analysis of the clickstream and customer data of an e-commerce retail Web site. Contestants were provided data from February and March and were asked to apply their models against the April clickstream. Models were designed to support Web site personalization and to improve the profitability of the site by increasing customer response. Salford Systems won in the category of identifying and characterizing the most valuable customers using its CART, MARS, HotSpotDetector and TreeNet software.
Modalis Research Technologies, Inc., San Francisco, announced that online marketing research revenues at the end of the second quarter of 2000 gew to a record 210 percent of the sales volume compared to the same period in 1999. The gowth is evident in both North American and European markets; both reNons combined show a 58 percent gowth in sales from the first to the second quarter of 2000. The company is on target to meet its sales gowth goals that will result in fiscal 2000 revenues in the $13 million to $15 million range, 85 percent of which is derived from online research activities.
Separately, Modalis Research Technologies has opened a new office in Chicago. The office is located at 5315 N. Clark St., Number 183, Chicago, lll. Contact: Ed Erickson. The firm’s Boston office also has a new location: Riverside Center, 275 Grove Street, fourth fir., Newton, Mass. Contact: Walt Harris. The firm has also opened new offices at 5505 Connecticut Ave. N.W., number 132, Washington, D.C. Contact: Donna Victoria. And at 20910 88th Place West, Edmonds, Wash. Contact Mary Monroe.
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-based research software firm Interactive Tracking Systems, Inc., has opened an office, Itracks International, in Fairfield, Conn. In conjunction, David Bradford has joined the company as vice president, international sales and marketing.
Intelligex, a New York-based start-up scheduled to launch in late fall to match buyers and suppliers of custom market research in a new online marketplace, has partnered with Yankelovich’s decisionDOMAIN, an ASP offering online tools and services to marketers. The agreement will result in collaboration and cross-marketing between Intelligex and decisionDOMAIN.
The Marketing Research Institute International (MRIO, ESOMAR and the University of Georgia Center for Continuing Education (UGA) have launched a Web-based version of the Principles of Marketing Research distance learning course. The course is designed to teach the marketing research core body of knowledge (MRCBOK). As a result of the strate#c worldwide education alliance between MRII, ESOMAR and UGA, the course was recently enhanced to include an international section in each of the 10 study modules.
Opinion Research Corp. (ORC), Princeton, N.J., has acquired the assets of C/J Research Corp., Arlington Heights, 111. The total cost of the acquisition was $9.5 million. In related news, ORC announced that an investment fund had purchased $10 million of its common shares at $8.50 per share. The proceeds of this transaction were intended to be used for the C/J acquisition and for future growth initiatives.
Ottawa-based Manta Corporation has secured $6 million in first-round venture capital financing to promote its mantaINSIGHT product, a Web-based e-survey tool. The financing will assist with the upcoming launch of an open database compliant (ODBC) version of mantalNSIGHT.
Memphis, Tenn.-based Food Insights has moved its corporate office and research center into expanded facilities at 51 Germantown Court, Suite 201, Cordova, Tenn. Food Insights now offers clients a new conference-style focus suite facility featuring a full kitchen, video equipment, client lounge/office, and a two-tier observation room.
Alliance Research, Inc., the research division of Catalina Marketing Corporation, has acquired Market Intelligence, Inc., a Chicago research company. Market Intelligence will add analytical and client service experience to Alliance Research’s capabilities, and will expand the Scope of Alliance Research’s attitudinal research platform.
MarketingInfo(MI), an online market research information source, and the ARF have signed an agreement to build a Web site for the market research industry. Through the collaboration, the ARF will provide MI with content drawn from its publications, and new, original content developed for MI.
RestaurantRow.com, Inc. and Menus.com, Inc. have agreed to merge, creating a global information and services network for the restaurant and foodservice industries. RestaurantRow.com is an ordine and wireless destination for consumer restaurant information and reservations. Menus.com features a database of restaurant and menu information, and provides market research to the foodservice industry. The new company will focus on three primary lines of business: expanding its restaurant information and reservations network, data mining and research for restaurants and foodservice organizations; and marketing and business services for restaurants.
Survey.com, a Campbell, Calif., research firm, and OpinionSurveys.com, the online division of Glendale, Calif.-based The Dohring Company, have formed a parmership to provide access to OpinionSurveys.com’s consumer panel.
St. Louis-based Maritz, including Maritz Marketing Research, ranked 28th on InformationWeek magazine’s InformationWeek 500 list of innovative users of information tectmology.
Separately, Maritz Marketing Research has established an office in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Tania Maria will be the country manager for research activities in Brazil focusing on the automotive industry. The office is located at Rua Pavao 605, Moema, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil.
Clients of ad agencies can visit www.bmaap.com, to complete an online survey to receive feedback on how their opinions compare to those of surveyed peers as well as receive a free copy of the results and analysis report. Using the Business Marketer Ad Agency Perception tool, communicators can rate their experience in working with ad agencies against that of other professionals and CEOs online.
Stamford, Conn.-based Nielsen//NetRatings has released Internet audience information from six new countries - Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Norway and Sweden.
Taylor Nelson Sofres Intersearch, a Horsham, Pa., research firm, has announced a new line of products using multiple standard data collection methods for the company’s pharmaceutical brand audit subscription service SampleMonitor.
Arlington, Texas-research firm Decision Analyst announced that more than 100,000 Europeans are now members of American Consumer Opinion Online, the firm’s global panel of consumers who have agreed to participate in online surveys.
Netherlands-based market research consultants AWA Alexander Watson Associates BV have formed a strategic alliance with Chicago-based research and consulting firm GRFI Ltd. to establish a presence in North America.
Shugoll Research, Bethesda, Md., has won an Innovation Award in the small-company category of the 2000 Business in the Arts Awards. To Nve back to the community in which it does business and nurture appreciation for live theater, Shugo!l developed Arts for Schools, a three-part pro~am comprising TheaterTrips!, ArtSpeak! and the Performing Artist Support Progam. The awards are presented by the Business Committee for the Arts and Forbes magazine.
Luth Research Online, San Diego, has launched SurveySavvy, a Webbased data collection service, at www.surveysavvy.com.
St. Louis data collection firm Quality Controlled Services (QCS) has signed 15 of its locations to the ActiveGroup Internet focus group broadcasting service of Atlanta-based ActiveGroup.
Technology from SPSS MR, Chicago, now enables people to run surveys on Palm Pilots and WAP compatible mobile phones. WAP, or wireless application protocol, is the universal open standard for bringing Internet content to mobile phones and other wireless devices. SPSS MR is working with MORI and Nokia to test the opportunities that these technoloNes hold for researchers.