News notes
Columbia, Md., research company Arbitron Inc. has received accreditation from the Media Rating Council, New York, for its Portable People Meter ratings service in five markets: Los Angeles; Baltimore; Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla.; Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif.; and San Antonio.
The Marketing Research Association (MRA), Washington, D.C., has announced its support of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) plan for a new federal do-not-call registry as a way to screen out emergency lines.
“The PSAP [public safety answering point] registry could help prevent researchers from inadvertently calling emergency lines with their auto-dialers and violating the law,” says Howard Fienberg, MRA’s director of government affairs. “We support the new registry and will work with the FCC to make it functional, efficient and affordable.”
Acquisitions/transactions
Tokyo advertising and communications company Dentsu Inc. has agreed to buy Aegis Group PLC, London, for approximately $5 billion. Separately, Aegis Group has acquired London research company Data2Decisions.
TiVo, Alviso, Calif., has acquired TRA Inc., a New York research company.
Science, a Los Angeles technology company, has acquired Pinpuff, a Los Angeles company that measures and tracks the influence of Pinterest users.
Fairfield, Conn., research company Kantar has acquired a majority stake in Press Index S.A., a Boulogne-Billancourt, France, European press monitoring company.
Kansas City, Mo., research company Service Management Group has acquired Boston research company Locately.
McCann Health, a New York communications company, has acquired London research company Double Helix.
New York research company WorldOne has acquired Sermo, an online community of U.S. physicians.
The GfK Group, a Nuremberg, Germany, research company, has acquired the remaining 40 percent shares in German research firms SirValUse Consulting and nurago. The companies will be known as GfK nurago and GfK SirValUse Consulting and be incorporated into the GfK Digital Market Intelligence and user experience offer.
Rotterdam, Netherlands, research company MetrixLab has acquired MarketTools Research Solutions Inc., San Francisco.
New York researcher The Nielsen Company has acquired Vizu, a San Francisco technology company.
London publishing group Centaur Media PLC has agreed to acquire London research company Econsultancy.
Alliances/strategic partnerships
Annik Technology Services, a Haryana, India, research company, has partnered with McLean, Va., mobile marketing company Mobile Posse to provide brands and researchers access to consumers who have opted in to receive studies on their phone’s home screen via Mobile Posse’s software.
Arbitron Mobile Oy, a division of Columbia, Md., research company Arbitron Inc., and iResearch Consulting, Shanghai, China, have partnered to operate a mobile media research service in China. The service is based on an opt-in panel of approximately 10,000 people in China who would install an on-device software meter onto their smartphones and tablets.
Research companies iTVX, New Rochelle, N.Y., and Rentrak Corporation, Portland, Ore., have announced an initiative to integrate Rentrak’s TV Essentials TV audience measurement with iTVX’s Branded Engagement metrics.
State College, Pa., research company VideoMining Corporation has formed a strategic alliance with Willard Bishop, a Barrington, Ill., consulting firm, to combine their research capabilities to enhance the sales performance of product categories in the center store of supermarkets.
M/A/R/C Research, Irving, Texas, has partnered with the Michigan State University (MSU) Master of Science in Marketing Research (MSMR) graduate degree program. Scott Waller, vice president of M/A/R/C Research, has joined the MSU MSMR advisory board as the company’s representative.
Research companies The Search Monitor, Orlando, Fla., and comScore Inc., Reston, Va., have collaborated to combine data into a research offering for SEM and SEO marketers, dubbed Lighthouse.
Awards/rankings
The Marketing Research Association, Washington, D.C., has awarded Ed Sugar of Bartlesville, Okla., research company OLC Global with the Meritorious Service to Marketing Research Award for having demonstrated tremendous leadership, dedication and commitment to the marketing research profession.
The Parlin Board of Governors, as an entity of the American Marketing Association and the American Marketing Association Foundation, Chicago, has named Greg M. Allenby of the Fisher College of Business at Ohio State University, Columbus, the recipient of the 2012 Charles Coolidge Parlin Marketing Research Award. The award recognizes Allenby’s contributions and dedication to the ongoing advancement of marketing research practice.
Stamford, Conn., research company InsightExpress has announced the winners of the 2012 InsightExpress Awards for excellence in advertising effectiveness, which honor brands, agencies and publishers that have created and delivered campaigns that were exceptionally successful at positively influencing a client’s business and delivering measurable results. Healthy Choice was named the overall winner, along with winners Blue Moon Brewing Company, Walgreens, MD Anderson Cancer Center and Macy’s.
The Market Research Council, New York, has inducted Julian Baim of New York research company GfK MRI into its Hall of Fame for his contributions to newspaper, magazine, digital and advertising research.
The Philadelphia Business Journal has named Bala Cynwyd, Pa., research company Group Dynamics In Focus Inc. one of the top 100 women-owned businesses in Philadelphia.
The European Pharmaceutical Market Research Association has awarded John Branston of The Research Partnership, London, and Martin Lange of Merck Serono the Jack Hayhurst Award for Best Paper for their work, “Rx Rationale: Physician Research via an iPhone App."
Alison White of Face Facts Research, Leeds, U.K., has been recognized as one of Management Today's top 35 Women Under 35.
Tim Keiningham of Ipsos Loyalty; Lerzan Aksoy of Fordham University; Bart Lariviere of Ghent University; Sunil Mithas of the University of Maryland; Forrest Morgeson of American Customer Satisfaction Index; and Atakan Yalcin of Koc University have received the award for Best Practitioner Presentation at the Frontiers in Service Conference in June for their work, “The Satisfaction, Repurchase Intentions and Shareholder Value Linkage: A Longitudinal Examination of Fixed and Firm-Specific Effects.”
MarketVision Research, Cincinnati, has been named to the Cincinnati Enquirer's list of Best Places to Work.
New accounts/projects
Chicago research company SymphonyIRI Group Inc. has added BP and Murphy Oil to its AllScan Convenience Store Tracking Service.
CMI Research, Atlanta, has selected Wilton, Conn., research company Toluna as its online community and panel solutions provider.
Synapse Research, New York, has adopted Westport, Conn., research company Imperium’s RelevantID digital fingerprinting technology.
L’Oréal USA, New York, has chosen Reston, Va., research company Clarabridge to manage its social media data as part of its The Voice of Beauty project.
St. Louis research company GroupM Next has selected Philadelphia marketing company Curalate to provide clients of GroupM media agencies with engagement analytics on the social platform Pinterest.
New York researcher The Nielsen Company has launched the Nielsen Innovation Lab, a program designed to spur ideas and advancements in advertising effectiveness.
Additionally, Simulmedia, a New York advertising company, has expanded its relationship with New York researchers The Nielsen Company and GfK MRI to license several research products, including Nielsen’s National All Minute Respondent Level television ratings data and Nielsen TV/GfK MRI Data Fusion.
Research companies Medimix, Miami; Toluna, Wilton, Conn.; and UniversalSurvey (SurveyHealthCare), New York, have joined The Trust Alliance, a London not-for-profit organization intended to advance health care data collection standards; develop and promote best practices; and foster trust in online physician research.
New York research company EyeTrackShop has selected Mumbai, India, research company Majestic MRSS to distribute and sell EyeTrackShop’s services throughout Asia and the Middle East.
Chicago research company VivaKi Nerve Center has adopted Reston, Va., research company comScore Inc.'s validated Campaign Essentials Audience On Demand offering.
State College, Pa., research company VideoMining Corporation has added 10 convenience store retailers to its C-Store Shopper Insights program: Circle K, AM/PM (BP), Chevron, Hess, RaceTrac, Cumberland Farms, Thornton’s, Maverik, Holiday and GetGo (Giant Eagle).
The Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement, New York, has selected San Francisco research company Symphony Advanced Media (SAM) to pilot test approaches to cross-platform advertising effectiveness by linking passive measurement of actual advertising exposure to consumer response data. SAM will collect data from its Media Insiders Panel.
Buenos Aires, Argentina, research company DatosClaros has adopted New York research company OnePoint Global’s mobile survey platform.
Shelton, Conn., research company SSI has been selected by Ghent, Belgium, research company InSites Consulting to provide sample and data collection for a study across managers in six countries to explore their companies’ social media habits.
San Marino, Calif., research company DB5 has selected Boston research company Crimson Hexagon's ForSight platform to expand its social media analysis.
The Duke-Ipsos Research Center, New York, has added Pleasanton, Calif., grocery chain Safeway Inc. and Dallas consumer packaged-goods company Kimberly-Clark to its advisory board. The purpose of the Center is to advance the knowledge of participating members through a better understanding of the decision theory associated with creating demand generation through the shopping experience.
New companies/new divisions/relocations/expansions
Research Now, Plano, Texas, has rebranded iPinion, a Columbus, Ohio, research company it acquired in May, as Research Now Mobile.
Nuremberg, Germany, research company The GfK Group has created Digital Market Intelligence (DMI), a global practice to help companies understand their return on digital marketing and advertising investments. DMI will incorporate the capabilities of KN Dimestore and nurago, both recently acquired by GfK.
ABI Research, Oyster Bay, N.Y., has opened a research and forecasting facility in Wellingborough, U.K.
Tokyo research company AIP Corporation has opened an office in Singapore.
Maritz Europe, a division of Maritz Research, St. Louis, has established a business services division.
Boston research company Communispace has opened an office in Shanghai, China. As part of its expansion, Communispace will partner with Shanghai research company Jigsaw International.
Needham, Mass., research company Visual IQ has opened a London office that will serve as the company’s European headquarters.
FourthWall Media, Dulles, Va., has launched a research division called MassiveData, designed to combine television viewing data with data mining technologies to produce audience analytics for television.
Las Vegas research company Precision Opinion has announced plans to add 200 employees in Las Vegas and other locations in Nevada.
Livonia, Mich., research company Market Strategies International has launched a qualitative insight boutique. The group will be led by Steve Wolf.
Third Eye Market Research Inc., a Toronto company focused on Canadian ethnic target groups, has opened its doors at 37 Bulwer Street. The company is online at www.thirdeyemarketresearch.com. Gautam Nath will serve as managing director.
Elkins Park, Pa., language services company CETRA Language Solutions has opened a facility in San Diego at 2534 State Street.
Perception Research Services International, Fort Lee, N.J., has opened an office in Rome.
Sands Research, El Paso, Texas, has moved its headquarters to Los Angeles. The company will maintain its manufacturing facility in El Paso.
Taylor Research, San Diego, has moved its offices to 6602 Convoy Court, Suite 210, San Diego.
Research Panel Asia, Tokyo, has relocated its U.S. headquarters from Los Angeles to Constellation Place in Century City, Calif.
Adam Weinstein and Nathan Lynch have launched Synapse Research Inc. in New York, with offices in Connecticut and Maryland. The company is online at www.synapseresearch.com.
Bhagyam Market Research has opened for business in India. The company is online at www.bhagyam-marketresearch.com.
Food Insights, Chicago, has rebranded as Research Between the Lines. The company is online at www.researchbetweenthelines.com.
Andrew Johnson and Catherine Read-Fletcher have opened Beyond Insights, a South Africa research company. The company is online at www.beyondinsights.co.za.
Research company earnings/financial news
ComScore Inc., Reston, Va., reported revenue of $60.3 million for the second quarter of 2012, an increase of 4 percent over second-quarter 2011.
Harris Interactive Inc., Rochester, N.Y., reported revenue of $36.5 million for fourth-quarter 2012, compared to $44.2 million in the same quarter in 2011. Full-year 2012 revenue was $147.5 million, down from $160.7 million in 2011.
The Nielsen Company, New York, reported second-quarter 2012 revenues of $1,385 million, up 4 percent in constant currency. Net income for the quarter increased to $103 million from $69 million in 2011.
Ipsos, Paris, generated revenues of 837 million euros in the first half of 2012, an increase of nearly 50 percent over the first half of 2011. In the second quarter of 2012, revenues increased 53.4 percent.
The Mobile Marketing Association, New York, has secured over $1 million in funding for research to launch SmoX.me (Smart Mobile Cross Marketing Effectiveness), a global in-market research project to evaluate the return on investment that mobile contributes to the marketing mix.
Verve, London, closed a £0.75 million expansion capital fundraising.
NetBase, Mountain View, Calif., announced an $18.1 million expansion round from Thomvest Ventures, Redwood City, Calif.; Altos Ventures, Menlo Park, Calif.; and Tran Ventures, New Orleans, among others.
Visual IQ, Needham, Mass., received $12 million in funding from Volition Capital, Boston, and Fog City Capital, San Francisco.
Affectiva, Waltham, Mass., raised $12 million in Series C financing, backed by Horizons Ventures, Hong Kong, and Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers (KPCB) Digital Growth Fund, Menlo Park, Calif., with participation from existing investors. As a part of the financing, Frank Meehan at Horizons Ventures will join Affectiva’s board of directors and Mary Meeker, a partner at KPCB, will join as an Affectiva board observer.