News notes
Omaha, Neb., research company Infogroup Inc. has charged its founder and former CEO Vinod Gupta with stealing confidential information to help grow his new Database 101.com venture, also in Omaha. In 2010 Gupta was forced out of Infogroup and accused of using company money to support a lavish lifestyle. The most recent allegations state that Database 101 is trying to steal Infogroup’s customer database by hiring more than 20 Infogroup employees and that Database 101 has been advertising its services in a misleading manner that conceals the fact that Gupta’s new company isn’t related to Infogroup.
Gupta responded, stating that he is using the same skills he used to build Infogroup to grow Database 101 so it shouldn’t be a surprise that the companies’ products appear similar. He said there is no agreement in effect that would prevent him from competing with Infogroup and plans to defend Database 101 against the lawsuit in court.
Reston, Va., research company comScore Inc. has been accused of siphoning confidential information, including passwords, credit card numbers and Social Security numbers, from unsuspecting users, according to a class-action lawsuit filed in a Chicago court in August. The lawsuit also says comScore software embeds itself via games and screensavers and scans all files on users’ personal computers and modifies security settings without proper notice and is nearly impossible to disable once installed.
ComScore defends itself, saying that it warns visitors to its premieropinion.com Web site that its software monitors all Internet activity and gains full rights to access and change any file on the computer.
Under the Freedom of Information Act, Philip Morris International, New York, has requested raw survey data from the University of Stirling in the U.K., which includes approximately 5,500 confidential interviews with 11-to-16-year-olds, discussing their views on smoking and tobacco. The university is fighting the request on the grounds that it constitutes a breach of confidence and could also jeopardize future research.
Waltham, Mass., research company Affinnova Inc. has been awarded a sixth patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Washington, D.C., for its “method and system for predicting personal preferences.”
New York researcher The Nielsen Company has received accreditation from the Media Rating Council, New York, for its Puerto Rico television audience ratings and its Nielsen Online Campaign Ratings.
Amsterdam, Netherlands, research company Noviodata has received ISO 20252 certification for its fieldwork and ISO 26362 certification for its online access panel Polland.
Acquisitions/transactions
U.K., research company SPA Future Thinking has acquired Essential Research, London, for an undisclosed sum. Essential Research will retain its own identity and continue to serve its clients out its current offices.
ImpactRx, a Mount Laurel, N.J., research company has acquired Horsham, Pa., research company TargetRx Inc. The new company will be known as ImpactRx.
New York technology management company Genpact Limited has acquired EmPower Research, New York. EmPower will join Genpact’s Smart Decision Services business.
Oslo, Norway, research software company Confirmit has acquired New York research company Techneos Systems Inc. The acquisition is expected to add a mobile component to Confirmit’s Horizons technology platform.
IBM, Armonk, N.Y., has agreed to buy i2, a Cambridge, U.K. intelligence and investigation management software provider, from an investor group.
New York digital media company Ziff Davis has acquired Focus Research Inc., Covington, La.
Google, Mountain View, Calif., has acquired Zagat, a New York company that hosts consumer survey-generated reviews and ratings.
Maritz Research, St. Louis, has acquired Wiesbaden, Germany, research company Imagin AG. Imagin’s 75 employees will join the Maritz Research team.
Boulder, Colo., research company Market Force Information Inc. has acquired U.K. mystery shopping provider Retail Eyes. Retail Eyes will serve as Market Force’s European headquarters.
Research companies Global Market Insite Inc. (GMI), Bellevue, Wash., and Lightspeed Research, Warren, N.J., have combined their samples and panels, following the acquisition of GMI by Lightspeed’s parent company Kantar Group, Fairfield, Conn. The companies will continue to operate as both Lightspeed Research and GMI for the remainder of 2011.
Washington, D.C., research company M3 USA has acquired Doctors.net.uk Limited, an Oxon, U.K., network of physicians.
New York Web analytics company Julpan has been acquired by Twitter, San Francisco.
Alliances/strategic partnerships
Vancouver, B.C., research company Vision Critical has partnered with Australia panel company Nine Rewards. Nine Rewards’ 1.4 million panelists will become part of Vision Critical’s Springboard panel network and Nine Rewards clients will be able to use Vision Critical’s panelists for international projects.
Stockholm, Sweden, research company Cint has partnered with Tokyo research company Borders to open a Japanese office and increase its panel size.
Research Panel Asia, Tokyo, has formed an alliance with Data100 Market Research, Beijing, to expand its online panel capabilities in China.
New York researcher The Nielsen Company has formed an alliance with Mumbai, India research company Informate Mobile Intelligence to form Nielsen Informate Mobile Insights.
Horsham, Pa., research company TNS has partnered with Acquia, a Burlington, Mass., software company, to use its Acquia Commons social business software to build a Mercedes-Benz social community Web site. The community, called Stars Insight, is designed to allow Mercedes to pilot test marketing materials, commercials and advertisements to its target community.
Awards/rankings
Shelton, Conn., research company SSI announced the winners of the second-annual SSI QUEST Awards, which honor companies for creating the most engaging research experiences, at the annual ESOMAR Congress in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in September. InfoTrends, Weymouth, Mass.; Data100 Market Research, Beijing; and Opinion Matters, London, received awards for excellence in survey design. Data100 also received the BEST in QUEST Award for top survey performance globally. Top honors for product placement surveys went to StrataVerve Intelligence Online, Minneapolis; Nielsen BASES in Asia-Pacific; and GfK Custom in Europe.
Orlando Wood, managing director of London research company BrainJuicer Labs, was honored with the American Marketing Association’s 4 Under 40 Marketing Research Emerging Leader Award. The award recognizes the contributions of four of the top emerging young leaders in the market research industry.
Milwaukee research company Market Probe announced the four banks that posted the highest levels of customer advocacy in their respective regions in 2011, based on the firm’s survey of the 20 largest U.S. banking institutions: PNC, Eastern region; SunTrust, Southern region, Harris, Central region; and Bank of the West, Western region.
Inc. Magazine has named several research companies to its 2011 Inc. 500|5000 list of the fastest-growing companies in the U.S. based on three-year growth: Optimal Strategix Group, Newtown, Pa., at No. 150 (second year listed); Focus Forward LLC, Fort Washington, Pa., at No. 2,196 (first year listed); iModerate Research Technologies, Denver, at No. 2,412 (second year listed); The Olinger Group, New Orleans, at No. 2,398; e-Rewards Inc., Plano, Texas, at No. 1,134 (fifth year listed); Decipher Inc., Fresno, Calif., at No. 2,580.
New accounts/projects
Readex Research, Stillwater, Minn., has adopted the GiftDonkey.com incentive platform for its subscribers.
Richardson, Texas, restaurant chain Wingstop has chosen Boulder, Colo., research company Market Force Information Inc. to deploy a nationwide mystery shopping program across its 485 restaurants.
The Interactive Advertising Bureau Europe, Brussels, Belgium, has made available its Mediascope consumer research study on the European media landscape via New York researcher The Nielsen Company’s Nielsen IMS Clear Decisions.
Austin, Texas, research company Kinesis Survey Technologies LLC’s Kinesis Survey platform has been adopted by Aachen, Germany, research company Dialego for its online survey research projects and by Harmon Research Group, Anaheim, Calif., as its exclusive multimode research solution.
Boulder, Colo., advertising agency CP+B has selected Cambridge, Mass., research company Crimson Hexagon’s ForSight platform to power its social media analytics research.
New companies/new divisions/relocations/expansions
U.K. research company SPA Future Thinking has launched The Analytics Hub. The company is located in Oxford, U.K., and is online at www.theanalyticshub.com.
Hurth, Germany, research company Skopos Nekxt has expanded to the U.K.
London research company Kantar Media has opened its Audiences Central Research Unit, also in London.
German research company SirValUse has opened an office in Cologne.
Cologne, Germany, research company respondi AG has expanded into the U.K. with an office in London, dubbed respondi Ltd. Christopher Morasch will serve as managing director and Jennifer Roberton as director, sales.
Market Research Worldwide, Berlin, Germany, has expanded its call center by adding 50 CATI stations and seven additional languages among its interview staff.
Manchester, U.K., research company B2B International has opened a new central London office on Euston Road. Research Manager Matt Powell will lead the operation.
Research company earnings/financial news
Market Force Information Inc., Boulder, Colo., has raised $15 million. The company is using the funds to grow both organically and through acquisitions.
Innerscope Research Inc., Boston, has closed the final $2 million tranche in a $9.4 million Series A financing round.
Kadence International, Framingham, Mass., reported a 37 percent year-on-year increase, with global revenues reaching $17.5 million for the fiscal year ended June 2011, compared to $12.8 million in 2010. This is Kadence International’s ninth year of consecutive growth.
The BrainJuicer Group Plc., London, announced interim results for the six months ended June 30, 2011. Financial highlights include 26 percent revenue growth; 24 percent growth in operating profit; and 25 percent increase in profit before tax.
Kennet Partners, a London technology growth equity investor, announced a $25 million investment in WorldOne, New York. The financing will be used to accelerate WorldOne’s global expansion and to fund continued development of new business lines. Michael Elias, managing director at Kennet, will join WorldOne’s board of directors.