A La Carte Research, Syosset, N.Y., now has three focus group rooms in the same building. Each room has a separate central air-conditioning system with its own thermostat. Two rooms have a tiered viewing room with seating for 15 to 20, and an attached client lounge with a TV monitor. A La Carte also has an 85-seat theater in its office complex.
Ask Southern California Inc. has moved to 12437 Lewis St., Garden Grove, Calif. 92640, in the City View office plaza, five minutes from Anaheim Convention Center. The office is Orange County's largest data collection facility. It features focus suites with a 27-foot by 28-foot conference room, an adjoining viewing room with tiered seating and writing tables for 20 observers, and adjoining client lounge with closed-circuit viewing and a private client restroom. A separate minitheater seats 50 respondents for central location testing. It has a fully equipped kitchen, including dishwasher and washer/dryer. Complimentary shuttle service by the Doubletree Hotel at The City is available to and from John Wayne Airport, the office and the hotel.
American Demographics has voted Claritas/NPDC, Ithaca, N.Y., one the best 100 providers of marketing information in the United States. The firm won in the demographic data category for its Update current year estimates and five-year projects; and for psychographic data category, for Prizm Criteria for selection included demographic content, general availability, geographic scope and experience.
Consumer Pulse of Baltimore has moved to new focus group and field facilities in northeastern Baltimore, 1232 Race Road, Baltimore, Md., 21237. Two suites feature a 20-foot by 36-foot group/exhibit room and an 18-foot by 26-foot group room. Each client room seats a minimum of 12 observers viewing through floor-to-ceiling mirrors. The facility has a fully equipped kitchen and telephone/WATS center.
Creative Research Systems has relocated to: 140 Vista View, Suite 100, Petaluma, Calif. 94952-4728.
Custom Research Inc., (CRI) Min-neapolis, Minn., has been selected as a finalist for the 1993 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality award. CRI will be one of four small companies nationwide that will receive a site visit in September by a team of Baldrige award examiners. The site visit is the final step in the selection process.
The Brand Institute Inc. has opened offices at 300 Park Ave., 17th floor, New York, NY 10022. The firm is a brand identity consultant specializing in name development. Services include brand strategy assessment, creative ideation/brainstorming, trademark screening, linguistic screening and communication name evaluation (qualitative and quantitative market research). U.S. and international market research capabilities are available for name development and testing. James L. Dettore is president and CEO; Robin Niecko is vice president and general manager.
Field Research Corp. has relocated to: 550 Kearny St., San Francisco, CA. 94108.
FocusVision Network Inc., New York, has received the top award from the International Teleconferencing Association for "most significant application of teleconferencing in two-way video." The award was given for the company's use of videoconferencing in transmission of live focus groups.
Genesis Research Associates has relocated to: 3150 Almaden Expressway, San Jose, CA 95118.
Group 1 Software, Lanham, MD, has signed a letter of intent with Pittsburgh-based Advanced Software Applications Corp. to distribute ModelMAX, a new automated predictive modeling software application. ModelMAX enables direct marketers to perform sophisticated modeling using desktop computers, with no special user skills required. ModelMAX is based on a hybrid of advanced technologies, including neural networking, and expert system and a genetic algorithm. An 80486 PC with a math co-processor is advised. ModelMAX runs under Windows 3.0 or higher and requires an ANSI standard C compiler to export models to alternate platforms such as a mainframe or midrange computer.
Herron & Associates, Greenwood, IN, has finished a 9,000-square-foot renovation. The facility features state-of-the-art furnishings and equipment.
IntelliQuest Inc., Austin, TX, has received equity funding from Austin Ventures, also of Austin, and Summit Partners, Palo Alto, CA. The investments will be used to assist IntelliQuest in expanding its products and services to the high-technology community. Austin Ventures is a venture capital firm with more than $160 million of capital under its management; Summit Partners manages approximately $675 million in investments. IntelliQuest also has announced it will conduct market research jointly sponsored by Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp. Initial funding for the $2 million study also will be provided by CMP, IDG and Ziff-Davis publishing houses. The study is expected to be completed by the end of 1993. The study will measure media behavior among a broadly defined audience of computer-related purchase influencers for business and home users. The proposed 10,000 respondents will have a range of computer product-buying responsibilities for computer systems, software, peripherals and networking products. The study will examine readership of computer-related and general interest publications, and viewership of broadcast and cable television programs. Participation in the study is open to all publishers, manufacturers and advertising agencies.
Richard Kurtz has returned to New York from the United Kingdom and will be offering a full range of quantita¬tive and qualitative market research services, with an emphasis on international work. He will be resuming his affiliation with Seaport Surveys, which will enable him to conduct large-scale phone and personal interview studies on a national and localized basis. Kurtz can be reached at 34 Cliff St., New York, NY 10038.
Lieberman Research West, Los Angeles, CA, has formed a new division that specializes in total quality management. Charles "Chuck" Teaman, has been appointed vice president and will lead the new division.
Mercator Computer Systems, Ltd., Bristol, England, has opened a U.S. subsidiary, Mercator Corp., The Carriage House, 28 Green St., Newbury, MA 01951. Mercator, founded in 1982, is a software house specializing in data and information processing solutions, and is the author of SNAP data analysis software. Through the new U.S. office, Mercator will bring Snap Professional, its latest questionnaire and survey analysis package, to the North American market this fall.