News notes
Karen Forcade of Youth Research, St. Petersburg, Fla., was sentenced in September 2010 to eight months in prison, eight months of house arrest, three years of supervised release and a $10,000 fine for falsifying safety tests conducted among children for cigarette lighters made or imported for sale in the U.S. from 1994 to 2005, according the St. Petersburg Times.
The Market Research Society, London, has published guidelines for deliberative research to serve as an addendum to the existing guidelines for qualitative research and to address how to manage the information provided to participants in deliberative research and the responsibilities of the researcher in managing the involvement of clients and other stakeholders. For more information visit www.mrs.org.uk.
Dallas research company e-Rewards Inc. has consolidated its e-Rewards Market Research and Research Now brand names. The company will conduct business as Research Now, and Research Now will continue to operate the Valued Opinions panels as well as e-Rewards’ Opinion Panels.
Orem, Utah, research company Western Wats has changed its name to Opinionology and launched its company Web site at www.opinionology.com.
Millward Brown, a Naperville, Ill., research company, has rebranded its global qualitative practice as Firefly Millward Brown. The Firefly practice includes Greenfield Consulting Group, Sadek Wynberg Millward Brown and MFR, among others. The company is online at www.fireflymb.com.
Acquisitions/transactions
Maritz Research has acquired research company evolve24. Both firms are based in St. Louis.
Dallas research company e-Rewards Inc. has agreed to acquire San Francisco research company Peanut Labs. Under the agreement, Peanut Labs will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of e-Rewards.
London private equity firm Next Wave Partners has funded the merger of research consultancies SPA, London, and Future Thinking, Oxford, U.K. As part of the integration process, a single company brand will be developed with a management board comprised of SPA and Future Thinking personnel.
San Antonio marketing agency Harte-Hanks Inc. has acquired Information Arts, a High Wycombe, U.K., research company. Information Arts will operate as a business unit of Harte-Hanks.
Los Angeles research company MarketShare Partners has acquired JovianDATA, a San Jose, Calif., research company.
The Dieringer Research Group Inc. has acquired the customer base of research firm Lein/Spiegelhoff, which has ceased operation after 38 years of business. Both companies are based in Brookfield, Wis.
Reston, Va., research company comScore Inc. has acquired Amsterdam, the Netherlands, media measurement company Nedstat for approximately $36.7 million. Upon the acquisition, Nedstat became a wholly-owned subsidiary of comScore.
Association/organization news
The Advertising Research Foundation, New York, has announced Engagement 3: NeuroStandards Collaboration, a research project designed to provide transparency regarding biometric and neurological research methods. Duane Varan will lead the study.
CASRO, Port Jefferson, N.Y., has formed a social media research task force to address ethical and methodological issues developing in the wake of social media research’s emergence. The force is expected to craft guidelines that may be included within The CASRO Code of Standards and Ethics.
The Southern African Marketing Research Association, Johannesburg, South Africa, has elected its 2010/2011 council, and Elsa Thirion-Venter has been named chairperson.
The University of Georgia, Athens, in conjunction with the Marketing Research Institute International, St. Louis, has launched Principles of Pharmaceutical Marketing Research: An Online Certificate Course, a program offered to those whose careers are focused on the pharmaceutical, bio-tech and medical device fields and are interested developing their market research skills. For more information visit www.georgiacenter.uga.edu/popmr.
Awards/rankings
EMI - Online Research Solutions, Cincinnati, and Promedica Inc., a Burlingame, Calif., research company, have been named to Inc. magazine’s 2010 Inc. 5000 list, which ranks the fastest-growing private companies the U.S. Additionally, Optimal Strategix Group, a Newtown, Pa., research company, has been named to the 2010 Inc. 500 list, which comprises the fastest-growing and most entrepreneurial companies in the U.S.
American Honda Motor Co., Torrance, Calif., has presented Pacific Marketing Research, Santa Monica, Calif., its Premier Partner Award for excellence in providing strategic marketing research.
New York research company Authentic Response has been recognized as having the best customer service among online sample providers in a July 2010 study conducted by MarketResearchCareers, New York.
Vancouver, B.C., research company Vision Critical has been ranked No. 12 among the Deloitte Technology Fast 50, a listing of the 50 fastest-growing technology companies in Canada, based on the percentage of revenue growth over five years.
Catherine Fish of BrainJuicer Group PLC, London, has been awarded the Young Researcher of the Year Award at the 2010 ESOMAR Congress.
Survey Sampling International (SSI), a Shelton, Conn., research company, has named MarketVision Research, Cincinnati; Sinomonitor Market Research; and Product Perceptions, a Crawley, U.K., research company, as the winners of its SSI QUEST Awards, which honor companies for creating engaging research experiences. Product Perceptions also received the BEST in QUEST Award for the top survey performance globally.
New accounts/projects
Entercom Communications Corp., Bala Cynwyd, Pa., has signed multi-year, multi-market contracts for Columbia, Md., research company Arbitron Inc.’s Portable People Meter and diary radio ratings. The agreement extends Entercom’s use of Arbitron’s services in all of Entercom’s radio markets.
Oslo, Norway, research software company Confirmit has signed a three-year reseller agreement with Australia-based Information Research Management (IRM), allowing IRM to resell the Confirmit product suite in the Australian and New Zealand markets.
Portland, Ore., research company Rentrak Corporation has entered into a contract with the Smithsonian Channel, Washington, D.C., to provide its TV Essentials local market measurement service. Rentrak has also signed an agreement with entertainment company RightNetwork to provide its OnDemand Essentials local market measurement service.
Al Aan satellite channel, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, has selected Dubai research company YouGov Siraj’s panel to conduct polls across the Arab region.
Starcom MediaVest Group, Chicago, has selected Actual Customer Behaviour, Brighton, U.K., to conduct convergence research in a project called 1-3-9 Media Lab, which is intended to examine how advertising impact differs across household media platforms.
Market Publishers Ltd., London, and TechSci Research, New Delhi, have formed a partnership authorizing MarketPublishers.com to distribute and sell TechSci’s research reports.
U.K. research consultancy Medix has selected Cologne, Germany, research company Globalpark for its feedback management platform.
Westport, Conn., research company Imperium has formed the Imperium User Group, an online forum for users and clients to share data quality best practices; explore data quality topics; and suggest product enhancements.
Separately, Boston research company Communispace has adopted Imperium’s RelevantID digital fingerprinting technology.
G & S Research Inc., Indianapolis, has been chosen as a preferred supplier by Amgen, a Thousand Oaks, Calif., human therapeutics company.
Retail Insights, an Antwerp, Belgium, research company, has selected Kansas City, Mo., research company Decision Insight’s SimuShop platform to interact online with large samples of shoppers in a virtual store environment.
Stockholm, Sweden, research company Cint has added several companies to its Panel Exchange, bringing the number global panelists to 4 million. Among the new additions are The GfK Group, Nuremberg, Germany; Cotterweb, Mendota Heights, Minn.; spiderMetrix, Melbourne, Australia; MotivAction LLC, Minneapolis; Itracks, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; Fotolog, New York; C&R Latino Eyes Panel, Chicago; Universal Survey, New York; and Hachette Filipacchi Media, New York.
M/A/R/C Research, Dallas, has adopted Irvine, Calif., business intelligence company WiseWindow’s MOBI (mass opinion business intelligence) platform to add to its research.
New companies/new divisions/relocations/expansions
Chicago research company Synovate has restructured its operations in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan to form the Greater China business unit, which includes all of Synovate’s offices in the region: Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Wuhan, Hong Kong and Taipei.
Innerscope Research, Boston, has opened a West Coast office in Los Angeles.
Iconoculture, a Minneapolis research company, has launched its India Consumer Advisory Service.
Research Panel Asia Inc., Tokyo, has launched a 24-hour operation center in the Philippines.
User Vision, an Edinburgh, Scotland, user experience company, has opened an office in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The office is located at Office 508, The Fairmont Dubai, Sheikh Zayed Rd.
Cello Group PLC, a London research company, has opened an office in New York.
Berlin, Germany, research company eye square has established an office in Tokyo. Stefan Nüsperling has been chosen to lead the office.
Portland, Ore., research company Webtrends has opened a location in Tokyo and has made available the Japanese version of Webtrends Analytics On Demand. Webtrends Japan will be headed by Kazayuki Kimura.
Market Insight Corporation, a Palo Alto, Calif., research company, has launched Market Insight (Asia) Limited, a Hong Kong-based, wholly-owned company.
Compass Marketing Research, Norcross, Ga., has opened its Culinary Research Center, a facility that houses a domestic and commercial test kitchen.
Hall & Partners, a New York research company, has launched its Shopper Insights and Shopper Engager division.
Orem, Utah, research company Western Wats has opened a service bureau in Toronto.
New York research company WorldOne has opened its Tokyo office.
Research company earnings/financial news
Cint, Stockholm, Sweden, has secured $13 million in financing from Prime Technology Ventures, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Invoke Solutions Inc., Waltham, Mass., has fulfilled its $1.75 million mixed-securities offering with six investors: Bain Capital, Boston; BEV Capital, Stamford, Conn.; BRM Group, Fort Lee, N.J., and Israel; and North Atlantic Capital, Portland, Maine.
Revelation Inc., Portland, Ore., reported sales growth of over 300 percent for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2010.
Decipher Inc., Fresno, Calif., announced revenue growth of more than 55 percent in the quarter ended July 31, 2010, over the previous-year quarter.
BrainJuicer Group PLC, London, announced interim results for the six months ended June 30, 2010, including 49 percent revenue growth; 119 percent growth in operating profit; and 108 percent increase in profit before tax.
MarketSight LLC, Cambridge, Mass., posted a 49 percent increase in revenue for the first half of 2010, compared with the same period in the prior year.
Communispace, Boston, announced a 29 percent year-over-year increase in revenue for its 2010 fiscal year.
Synovate, Chicago, reported £248.8 million in revenue for the six months ended June 30, 2010, up 6.1 percent. Gross profit rose 5 percent to £152.9 million while operating profit was £4.7 million, compared to a loss of £3.2 million in the same period in 2009.
USamp, Encino, Calif., recorded revenue growth of 167 percent in year-over-year results, driven by an increase in global consumer panels and river sampling and the acquisition of DMS Insights from AOL.