News Notes
Following a complaint to the Market Research Society (MRS) made by the Welsh government, the MRS found that a question in a health poll conducted by U.K.-based polling company ICM for BBC Wales breached the MRS code of conduct. The MRS said the wording of a question led participants to a certain viewpoint. The poll question was: “In England, NHS money is ring-fenced for the Cancer Drugs Fund. In Wales, funding for cancer drugs is treated in the same way as funding drugs for all other illnesses. Do you believe money for cancer should be protected?”
The Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland (ASAI) has issued a new Code of Standards for Advertising and Marketing Communications, which goes into effect in March 2016. The ASAI widened the Code’s definition of “gender” after recent complaints regarding transgender issues in advertisements. Other changes to the Code include new rules on e-cigarette advertising, gambling advertising, food advertising, children’s advertising, health and beauty products and environmental claims.
Representatives of quality-standards organization ISO from up to 18 countries met in Toronto on Oct. 7-9 to propose a draft of the ISO 19731 quality standard for digital analytics and Web analyses in market, opinion and social research. These standards focus on procedures and practices for newer digital areas within marketing research such as Web tracking, social media listening, metered panels, tag-based measurement and other similar methodologies. The team has been working on this specific set of standards since 2014 in order to reflect the evolving nature of marketing research beyond traditional qualitative and quantitative research. The meeting also included a discussion of the existing standards, including ISO 20252 and ISO 26362, in order to identify areas that may need updates, expansions or connections. The three-day meeting was supported by MRIA, ESOMAR, Environics, Research Now and TNS.
Acquisitions/Transactions
Verint Systems, Melville, N.Y., has acquired software firm Telligent to extend its customer engagement optimization portfolio with the addition of an enterprise-class community solution.
South Korea-based Yello Digital Marketing Group has acquired a majority stake in Computerlogy, a social media analytics firm based in Bangkok.
Oracle, Redwood Shores, Calif., has acquired Maxymiser, a New York cloud-based software provider that enables marketers to test, target and personalize what a customer sees on a Web page or mobile app.
Chicago gift card marketplace Raise has acquired Tastebud Technologies, a Chicago-based predictive technologies developer that creates customized mobile shopping experiences based on a user’s style sensibilities.
Seattle social media analytics firm Simply Measured has acquired Inside Social, a marketing analytics company also based in Seattle.
Oakbrook Terrace, Ill., B2B media and information company Winsight has acquired Technomic, a Chicago-based research and consulting firm for the food and food-service industry. Technomic will continue to operate under its brand name and will serve as Winsight’s information and advisory services platform.
Atlanta-based consumer research and data collection firm Jackson Associates Research Inc. has merged with Adept Consumer Testing, a facility with offices in Beverly Hills and Encino, Calif. The new California division of the company will be named Jackson Adept Research. The company will be headquartered in Atlanta where its facilities will continue to operate as Jackson Associates Research Inc.
Portland, Ore., TV and movie measurement firm Rentrak has acquired New York-based big data platform SponsorHub. Through the acquisition, Rentrak will offer products that measure the effects of social media on television, dynamic ad insertion, online video advertising, movies and branded content integration.
Stamford, Conn., researcher Gartner has acquired Capterra, a business software provider based in Arlington, Va. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Alliances/Strategic Partnerships
New York health care consulting firm Kantar Health has partnered with Israel-based technology company Data2Life to provide early signal intelligence on drug side effects based on real-world information to the pharmaceuticals industry.
Mumbai, India, managed analytics firm Ugam is partnering with OnePoint Global, a mobile and online survey technology solutions firm based in the U.K. The partnership will enhance Ugam’s mobile and SMS-based survey capabilities and allow Ugam to set up mobile surveys on any device to collect responses online or offline using OnePoint Global’s survey technology, allowing clients to capture customer feedback in real-time.
Budapest, Hungary, social media analysis firm Bakamo.Social and Nepa U.K., part of Stockholm-based research, consulting and IT firm Nepa, have entered a strategic partnership that adds Bakamo.Social’s insight to Nepa’s ActionHub platform to provide clients with a better understanding of consumer behavior.
Chicago-based market intelligence and insights firm IRI Worldwide has formed an alliance with Gigwalk, a San Francisco-based distributed workforce management platform, to combine the IRI Liquid Data platform – a data management tool that offers predictive analytics and insights on a mobile technology platform – with insights from Gigwalk’s Mobile Crowdsourcing solution to form data sets CPG brands can use to support retail strategy and in-store execution efforts. It also gives consumers a view into retail operations to ensure initiatives at the store level are being executed correctly and delivering maximum ROI for business.
U.K. customer science company dunnhumby has set up a joint venture with Chinese supermarket chain China Resources Vanguard, giving dunnhumby data from all Vanguard shoppers and 20 million loyalty card users.
A new partnership between Netherlands-based data collection software firm Nebu and Australia-based Tremayne Consulting Group will add Tremayne as a Nebu reseller in the Australasian region.
Tokyo-based GMO Research has expanded its panel reach in China by forming a strategic capital and business alliance with Ignite Vision Holdings, a subsidiary of China-based Internet research and advertising agency Ignite Vision. Through the alliance, GMO Research has acquired rights to market Ignite Vision’s panel for survey purposes. Ignite Vision’s panel will integrate into GMO Research’s China Cloud Panel platform in October and concentrate its business scope on promotion and GMO Research will take over survey panel management through the DIY research system Market Observer.
Wellington, New Zealand, mobile data collection software company Harvest Your Data has partnered with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), a relief and human development agency based in the Middle East. Harvest Your Data has developed a survey data collection app that is able to conduct poverty assessment surveys with over 1 million Palestinian refugees. Using this app, UNRWA preloads home visit “baseline” data that has been collected in prior months onto social workers’ tablet devices. During the social workers’ home visit, they can update historical data and collect new poverty assessment data.
GfK, Nuremberg, Germany, and Germany-based vehicle researcher Deutsche Automobil Treuhand GmbH are cooperating in the field of vehicle data, aiming to create new products for end consumers and various stakeholders in the automotive industry. The cooperation will allow the two companies to offer vehicle data over the entire life cycle of a vehicle, with data consisting of vehicle information prior to market introduction, data regarding configuration of new vehicles, valuations for used cars, repair cost calculations and data on vehicle recycling. It will initially cover four fields, including new and used cars, fleet business and after-sales retail.
Sterling, Va., information services provider Neustar has partnered with Wilton, Conn., analytics firm Kantar Shopcom to deliver digital media campaign insights to advertisers across various industry verticals. The partnership allows marketers to measure the impact of online marketing tactics on purchases with Neustar’s PlatformOne integrated marketing solution.
The Farnsworth Group, an Indianapolis research firm, has selected Market Cube to be the manager of its Specpan Panel on Market Cube’s Panel Cube platform. In addition, Market Cube will provide panel management services to help support the member experience for Specpan’s construction-industry panelists.
Awards/Rankings
Inc. magazine has ranked Stamford, Conn., research firm FocusVision and Elkins Park, Pa., translation services company CETRA Language Solutions on its 34th annual Inc. 5000, a ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies.
The Parlin Board of Governors, an entity of the American Marketing Association (AMA), Chicago, and the American Marketing Association Foundation, has awarded Kevin J. Clancy the 2015 Charles Coolidge Parlin Marketing Research Award. The award ceremony took place at the AMA’s Advanced Research Techniques Forum in June. The award honors academics and practitioners who have demonstrated leadership and sustained impact on the marketing research profession over an extended period.
Nuremburg, Germany, firm GfK is holding its Next Generation (NextGen) Competition where undergraduates from North American colleges or universities can submit proposals for market research projects studying the interactions among consumers, mobile technology and brands. Winners will receive a $1,000 cash award, tour GfK’s North American headquarters in New York City to present and work with GfK thought leaders and be featured in GfK’s press material.
WordStat for Stata, text analysis software from Montreal-based developer Provalis Research, was selected as a 2015 Trend-Setting Product by KMWorld magazine.
RTi Research, Norwalk, Conn., has been awarded the Connecticut South 2015 Top Workplaces Award by Hearst Media. The Top Workplace lists are based on results of an employee feedback survey administered by Exton, Pa., survey provider WorkplaceDynamics.
Research firm Cross-Tab, Mumbai, India, has been awarded a Best-in-Biz Award for most innovative product version of the year for its ctOS Livewire platform.
Jacqueline Beckley, president and founder of Denville, N.J., research firm the Understanding and Insight Group, was given an Award of Distinction from the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of California, Davis in October. The award recognizes those whose contributions and achievements enhance the college’s ability to provide research, teaching and innovative outreach.
Shelton, Conn., researcher SSI presented 2015 QUEST Awards to the following firms at the ESOMAR Congress in September: France-based research firm Scènes de vie won the Best in QUEST Award for survey excellence; MaritzCX, South Jordan, Utah, won a QUEST Award in a new category, ESOMAR Top 25, which are the largest global research firms as defined by ESOMAR; Shanghai-based firm Diagaid Marketing Research won in the general consumer category for multiple projects in conducted in China; Los Angeles-based manufacturer MGA Entertainment won for general consumer survey research; Forrester Research, Cambridge, Mass., won for business-to-business and Wakefield Research, Arlington, Va., won for mobile survey excellence.
New Accounts/Projects
Baldwinsville, N.Y., firm Research and Marketing Strategies has received approval from the Center of Medicare and Medicaid Services to administer the 2015-2016 CAHPS for Accountable Care Organizations Survey, which is devised to capture patient experience feedback about care they received from groups of doctors, hospitals and other health care providers.
New Companies/New Divisions/Relocations/Expansions
The National University of Singapore (NUS) has spun off a new start-up, a big data analytics firm called 6Estates, from the NUS-Tsinghua Extreme Search Centre, a research center it established with Tsinghua University of China. The new Singapore-based start-up converts structured and unstructured data into insights and has strengths in natural language processing for both English and Chinese.
New York media services agency Horizon Media and Seoul, South Korea-based global marketing and communications firm Innocean Worldwide have partnered to launch a standalone media agency network called Canvas Worldwide. The new agency will have two main offices in Los Angeles and New York with regional offices in Chicago, Dallas and Atlanta.
Palo Alto, Calif.-based SurveyMonkey will move its headquarters to Bay Meadows in San Mateo, Calif., in 2017.
Federated Sample, a New Orleans-based research sample company, has rebranded to Lucid to reflect the company’s growth. Lucid reorganized its business units Fulcrum (a global exchange for market research sample) and Federated Sample (a full-service sample provider for market research) and they will continue to operate under the Lucid brand umbrella.
Chagrin Falls, Ohio, research firm Opinions Ltd. opened its 28th mall-based data collection facility in Hurts, Texas - Northeast Mall. The facility specializes in CLT, CAPI, mall intercept, focus groups, pre-recruits and on-site fieldwork. Mike Hall has been appointed as dual facility manager for the new location.
Seattle-based business intelligence and analytics firm Tableau Software has expanded into China by opening a new office in Shanghai.
Warren, N.J., research firm Lightspeed GMI has opened a new office in Gurgaon, India.
Chris Diener, founder of Salt Lake City-based predictive modeling, analytics and research firm the Modellers, has started a new company, the Analytics Team Inc. to provide multivariate analytics from maps and driver models, through CHAID and segmentation, to max-diff and choice modeling or choice-based conjoint. It also offers database, social media and marketing analytics to help internal and external market research teams integrate data.
Louisville, Ky., firm Thoroughbred Research Group opened a new marketing research call center in Phoenix and has appointed Tim Wirtz as director of field operations for the new center.
India-based television ratings company BARC India and TAM India, a television audience measurement joint venture between Nielsen, New York, and Kantar, London, have formed a new meter management company that will run meter operations and supply raw data to BARC India. Meters will be deployed based on BARC’s sample design and ratings will be computed and disseminated through BARC India’s software. The ratings data will be the sole trading currency for the country, giving better measurement to advertisers, broadcasters and agencies.
London-based brand engagement and communications research firm Hall & Partners has opened a new office in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The firm’s MENA team will be led by Managing Director Ziad Skaff.
San Francisco survey solutions firm Computers for Marketing Corporation (CFMC) has rebranded to Survox Inc.
Stamford, Conn., research and technology firm FocusVision is moving its London office to a larger location due to a growing employee base.
Switzerland-based research and consulting firm m1nd-set and Sweden-based firm Generation Research have come together to create a travel-retail research agency, called m1nd-set Generation. M1nd-set Generation will remain a separate entity from the companies’ existing businesses.
Sandpoint, Idaho, mobile attribution and analytics platform Kochava has opened an office in Seoul, South Korea. David Son, Kochava general manager of Korea, will head up the new operations.
Austin, Texas, researcher Latin Field has opened a new office in Colombia.
Verve, a London-based research firm, has opened a new office in Chicago. Tim Martin, vice president of research and consulting, will move from Verve London.
The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research will relocate to Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., from the University of Connecticut as of November 7 and will be known as The Roper Center at Cornell University.
U.K.-based out-of-home marketing organization Outdoor Media Centre has rebranded as Outsmart.
Los Angeles media company AwesomenessTV is set to launch Wildness, an independent research and consulting firm to help brands reach a young audience, primarily 12-to-24-year-olds, who have different media habits than their parents. The new firm will develop custom research on this group, which AwesomenessTV executives refer to as Generation Z, and has tapped Margaret Czeisler to lead as chief strategy officer.
Tokyo-based panel provider Research Panel Asia has rebranded itself to dataSpring.
The Internet of Things Security Foundation (IoTSF), an international, collaborative and vendor-neutral initiative established to respond to concerns over security in the Internet of Things, launched in September at the Digital Catapult in London. IoTSF has an executive steering board comprised of technology and security organizations and has named John Haine as the inaugural chair. The initiative is funded by a low-cost membership model and will supplement income through its own operations. It will also accept donations from benefactors who support its mission.
Research Company Earnings/Financial News
Cincinnati media production firm the E.W. Scripps Company has invested $500,000 in Cintric, a consumer intelligence company also based in Cincinnati that helps brands, publishers and retailers analyze behavioral data from potential customers and act on insights with personalized experiences and messaging.
Mumbai, India, firm MRSS India reported revenue of approximately Rs. 55 million, compared to over Rs. 22 million reported the same time last year.
Bozeman, Mont., customer experience measurement start-up IgniteFeedback has raised over $300,000 to grow its business locally and hire in sales, marketing and development.
Paris-based researcher Toluna has been approved for a $10 million investment in the company’s QuickSurveys product by private investment firm ITWP Acquisitions Ltd. The investment will be used to fuel further growth by appointing staff, developing enhancements to market research automation tools and increasing market spend.