News notes
The Insights Association, Washington, D.C., has filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its proposals to combat robocalls. In its comments, the association endorses the use of a white list for legitimate dialers (like researchers) to avoid being blocked by call-blocking services as well as proposing a slight change to the FCC’s definition of illegal robocall, which the association says is overly broad. The association also commented on the FCC’s release of complaint data for call-blocking efforts, which it believes would do more to disrupt legitimate dialing than to combat illegal robocalls.
Warren, N.J., researcher Lightspeed has been granted a patent by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for its Honesty Detector solution, which analyzes responses to a combination of statements and calibration benchmarks, removing respondents from studies who say yes to nearly everything being asked in order to qualify for surveys.
Cincinnati-based researcher Burke, Inc. has attained the ISO 27001 certification for information security. ISO 27001 provides companies with a framework, requirements and controls to protect information assets. The certification was awarded by CIRQ, a subsidiary of the Insights Association, in collaboration with the Professional Evaluation and Certification Board.
Action Based Research, headquartered in Ohio, celebrated its 20-year anniversary on Aug. 1.
Circle Research, London, has launched its 2018 scholarship program, which is open for applications until June 1, 2018. The winner will receive a £1,000 contribution to their fees.
Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., qualitative research firm The Candor Company has announced plans to phase out focus group facility work and instead focus on meeting research participants using methodologies like ethnography, in-home dinner parties and mobile diaries.
CIRQ, a subsidiary of the Insights Association, has awarded certification to Fairfax, Va., consulting and technology services firm ICF for compliance to the ISO 20252 standard for market, opinion and social research. ISO 20252 establishes globally-recognized terms, definitions and service requirements for project management in research organizations.
Acquisitions/transactions
Apple, Cupertino, Calif., has acquired Germany-based eye-tracking solutions firm SensoMotoric Instruments.
Columbia, Md., marketing agency Merkle has acquired U.K. data analytics company Aquila Insight. The company will be branded Merkle|Aquila and will become part of Merkle’s European operation, led by Tim Berry, president of Merkle Europe. Aquila’s staff will join the Merkle team and John Brodie and Warwick Beresford-Jones, Aquila’s joint CEOs and co-founders, will remain at the helm of the leadership team.
In the U.K., market and customer insights firm MARU Group has acquired SynGro, a customer experience technology company, for an undisclosed sum. SynGro will rebrand as Maru/SynGro and its management team will remain with the company to oversee its development and integration into MARU Group’s technology platform.
Market Track, a Chicago-based business intelligence solutions firm and a newly-acquired portfolio company of Vista Equity Partners, has joined forces with San Francisco-based consumer insights firm InfoScout. The cash and stock purchase of InfoScout by Market Track allows for the linking of omnichannel marketing and pricing activity to actual sales results. Following closing, InfoScout will maintain its name, its employees, its headquarters in San Francisco and Jared Schrieber will continue as its CEO.
London-based digital communications group Next 15 has acquired Circle Research Limited, also based in London, through its data and insights subsidiary MIG Global Limited for £5.21 million. Circle Research Founders Andrew Dalglish and Beth Pearson will remain as joint managing directors, while Founder David Willan will relinquish his role as chairman but continue to support the business in an advisory capacity. Next 15 has also recently acquired B2B digital agency Velocity Partners Limited.
Singapore-based retail technology firm Trax has acquired Nielsen’s Store Observation (NSO) project-based services in the U.S. market. NSO provides in-store research for manufacturers, retailers and distributors. Trax will assume responsibility and ownership for delivering NSO to existing customers.
Toronto-based market research and data analysis firm ValidateIT Technologies Inc. has been acquired by Victoria Pelletier, who has taken control of the firm as CEO. Original Founder Corrine Sandler will partner with Pelletier through the transition in the months ahead.
U.K. health care and strategic marketing firm Cello Group has acquired Princeton, N.J., biopharmaceuticals insights consultancy Advantage Healthcare.
Professional services company Accenture, New York, has acquired Austin, Texas, digital optimization company Clearhead to strengthen the personalization services of Accenture Interactive. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
New York research company Advanced Focus has acquired Marketview Research, located in Danbury, Conn. The acquisition adds a two-room focus group facility to Advanced Focus’s other offerings which include a traditional focus group facility and non-traditional creative loft space in New York City, as well as a facility in Tarrytown, N.Y.
India-based researcher MRSS India has acquired Singapore-based research company Market Probe Asia Pacific from its U.S. parent Market Probe Inc. in an all-cash deal.
New York-based social intelligence platform Synthesio has acquired Social Karma, a Brussels-based audience insights firm. Social Karma’s solution will combine Synthesio’s social data to provide the capabilities to build audience personas, provide audience insights and offer owned-channel analysis to Synthesio’s users.
Columbia, Md., marketing agency Merkle has acquired India-based marketing and analytics agency Sokrati. The company will be branded Merkle|Sokrati and Sokrati’s staff will join the Merkle team. Anubhav Sonthalia will serve as CEO of the new company and will become part of the Dentsu Aegis Network leadership team in India along with Sokrati co-founders Ashish Mehta, CEO, and Santosh Kumar Gannavarapu, head of innovations.
In the U.K., professional services firm PwC has acquired Optimisa Research, expanding the capacity of its existing research to insight consulting business. The merged teams will become PwC Research and will provide insight to local, national and international businesses. Nielsen, New York, has acquired vBrand, an Israel-based technology start-up that developed a machine learning-enabled platform to measure brand exposure and impact in sports programming. VBrand and its technology will be fully integrated into Nielsen Sports.
Boca Raton, Fla., mobile marketing services firm 3Cinteractive has acquired the Prime Message mobile marketing business unit from Scottsdale, Ariz., mobile enterprise solutions company CellTrust Corporation. The acquisition will give CellTrust mobile marketing messaging clients access to 3C’s Switchblade platform.
Syracuse, N.Y., research firm KS&R Inc. has acquired health care insights firm Delta Marketing Dynamics to broaden its experience and resources in the health care industry.
New York-based communications company Grey Group has acquired a majority stake in hug digital, a digital marketing agency based in Dubai, UAE.
Los Angeles-based research services firm MarketCast has acquired Indianapolis-based social insights and analytics company Fizziology.
San Jose, Calif., mystery shop provider Jancyn Evaluation Shops has acquired Customer Perspectives, a mystery shopping company based in Hooksett, N.H.
Alliances/strategic partnerships
Sydney-based data and insights company Pureprofile Limited has formed a partnership with Branded Research Inc. The partnership allows Pureprofile to upgrade the Branded panel of consumer research profiles in the U.S., U.K. and Canada, increasing Pureprofile’s offering in the U.S. and U.K. markets within programmatic media, digital publishing and market research.
Prosper Insights & Analytics, Worthington, Ohio, and economic research and consulting firm e-forecasting.com have joined forces to create the New Consumer Confidence Indices (NCI), an anticipatory macro-economic indicator and predictive analytic that uses Prosper’s data sets on sentiment and mood to show inflection points in business cycles.
Consumer insights firm Toluna, Wilton, Conn., has formed a strategic partnership with health care-focused digital platform Treato, providing Toluna with access to Treato users for survey research.
Los Angeles nonprofit organization Women in Research has formed an alliance with the London-based Market Research Society. With the partnership, the two groups will co-produce and promote events and share resources for professionals in the industry.
New York-based data and technology firm PlaceIQ and Chicago-based researcher IRI have expanded their alliance. PlaceIQ’s location-based insights will be integrated into the new IRI Personalization Suite to provide market-level insights into the customer journey based on location data.
Stamford, Conn., digital media intelligence company Tru Optik has formed a partnership with New York-based data management platform Lotame, allowing advertisers and publishers to access Lotame’s first-party data and audience segments to create targeted over-the-top and CTV campaigns. Lotame’s audience segments are available through Tru Optik’s OTT Marketing Cloud.
U.K. video insight platform Voxpopme has formed a partnership with London-based researcher Kantar. Through the partnership, Kantar can integrate short video responses and interactions from consumer surveys, use Voxpopme’s communities to capture feedback and make use of video from qualitative groups, interviews and ethnographic research. Kantar will also benefit from Voxpopme’s collaboration with Affectiva, providing facial coding to detect engagement levels and emotional states of respondents in video responses.
System1 Research, London, has signed a multi-year Decipher license with research technology company FocusVision. Decipher, FocusVision’s online survey software and reporting solution, will be rolled out by System1 as its programming system to its employees in offices in the U.K., the U.S., Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Brazil, Singapore, Australia and China.
Nielsen, New York, has collaborated with Chinese e-commerce company JD.com to launch a multi-touch attribution offering in China, allowing marketers to understand and assess the sales impact of advertising and marketing investments across media platforms. The companies will jointly market the offering to help marketers better determine the effectiveness and return on investment of ads both in and outside of JD.com.
Wellesley Hills, Mass., technology company RedPoint Global has formed a strategic partnership with Canada-based Bond Brand Loyalty to maximize loyalty engagement efforts with a complete view of customers across all channels for loyalty programs and campaigns. Bond Brand Loyalty’s Synapze Platform will leverage the RedPoint Customer Engagement Hub to expand its existing personalization and omnichannel capabilities and better support customer engagement.
Nielsen, New York, and grocery retailer Aldi have formed a multi-year relationship for integrated analytics data around shopper panel, custom retail analytics and advertising effectiveness. Nielsen will be Aldi’s preferred data and analytics provider and cover nearly 1,700 stores in 35 states across the U.S.
In London, research company GfK has partnered with financial management service Money Dashboard to introduce GfK Consumer Wallet in the U.K., providing retailers and brands with insights into consumer spending patterns by category. Consumer Wallet clients will receive online access to data allowing them to analyze consumer spend by demographics and geographical region. The data sample is de-identified by Money Dashboard before it is shared with GfK.
New York research firm BuzzBack and San Francisco-based machine learning platform GlimpzIt have formed a partnership. The companies have collaborated to develop a proprietary approach to idea screening and eliciting user-generated content, with applications in-store, in-home and other consumer experiences.
Portsmouth, N.H., research company Opinions 4 Good (Op4G) has formed a three-year partnership worth $100,000 with Stamford, Conn., research technology firm FocusVision. Op4G, which currently uses the Kinesis platform for programming, will use FocusVision’s FV Decipher insight platform as its primary survey platform.
Association/organization news
The ESOMAR Foundation, in cooperation with Los Angeles-based nonprofit Women in Research and Unilever, has funded the Marketing and Social Research Association’s Kenyan Scholarship initiative. The scholarship has been given to Innocent Rwamba Nyaga, who will be pursuing a Master of Science in marketing with a focus on market research at the University of Nairobi School of Business.
The Insights Association, Washington, D.C., has formed an international chapter for member companies and individual members operating outside of the U.S. It’s the association’s 12th chapter and the first outside the U.S. The Insights Association has proposed that members of the Alliance of International Market Research Institutes (AIMRI) join the new chapter, which AIMRI members voted in favor of.
Awards/rankings
Jay Ruparel of Piscataway, N.J., research solutions firm Azure Knowledge Corporation has been named Entrepreneur of the Year 2017 at Ernst & Young’s Regional Awards gala. The awards program recognizes entrepreneurs who excel in areas like innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. Ruparel was selected as a winner in the Services category by a panel of independent judges.
Felipe Korzenny, professor emeritus of Advertising and Integrated Marketing Communication and founder and director emeritus of the Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication at Florida State University, has been inducted into the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies’ Hall of Fame.
France-based research company Strategir has been awarded first prize in the research category of the French Marketing Awards for a joint study with Switzerland-based fragrance and flavor company Firmenich. The research approach gave Firmenich higher predictability for sniff tests by using virtual reality.
Media company TMC has named Confirmit Horizons from Oslo, Norway, researcher Confirmit as a recipient of the 2017 CRM Excellence Award, presented by CUSTOMER magazine.
London-based Circle Research has named Ben Gallagher as the winner of the inaugural Circle Research Scholarship. Gallagher will receive £1,000 in funding. The scholarship was open to individuals entering their first year of undergraduate or who taught post-graduate study in a field related to marketing.
New accounts/projects
Burbank, Calif., firm ThinkNow Research has become the executive founding sponsor of the Journal of Cultural Marketing Strategy, a bi-annual publication dedicated to cultural marketing strategy in the U.S. and abroad.
NOM (Nationaal Onderzoek Multimedia), a joint industry committee responsible for a national readership survey in The Netherlands, has commissioned Nuremberg, Germany, researcher GfK to integrate its print (newspaper and magazine) brand consumption data with its online published media brand consumption data. The integration will produce figures for total readership, including consumption of brands across all platforms (print, PC/laptop, tablet, smartphone).
Tampa International Airport has contracted with Tampa, Fla., firm Study Hall Research for a series of qualitative Baccalaureate Groups to explore parking behaviors and practices.
Chicago-based researcher IRI has reached a long-term agreement with supermarket chain Southeastern Grocers to leverage analytics to better serve its existing customers and attract new shoppers.
Nielsen, New York, and media company Turner have formed an agreement where CNN and Turner Sports will subscribe to Nielsen’s national out-of-home reporting service. The agreement provides program and commercial ratings for live plus seven days of time-shifted viewing.
The Hershey Company has selected Chicago-based researcher IRI as its preferred market insights and analytics provider. Hershey will use the IRI Liquid Data technology platform to better understand retail performance, partner with customers and build long-term relationships for enhanced sales.
In New York, ABC Network has subscribed to Nielsen’s National Out-of-Home Reporting Service, providing ABC with out-of-home viewing data, including ratings for all content (programs and commercials) aired on the network for live plus seven days.
New companies/new divisions/relocations/expansions
Berkeley, Calif., artificial intelligence and machine learning company MachineVantage has launched with financing from Chicago-based researcher IRI and Unilever Ventures. Founded in 2016 by A. K. Pradeep, MachineVantage uses artificial intelligence algorithms and machine learning techniques to provide product innovations, brand semiotics, creative inspirations and digital and retail point-of-sale messaging.
U.K. research agency Join the Dots has launched Spirit, a dedicated qualitative research unit that specializes in multi-method projects. The new brand aims to help clients better understand consumers through a combination of mobile, ethno, communities, co-creation, groups, depths, accompanied shops, user testing and more. Spirit will operate from the firm’s main office in Manchester and will also service the Singapore office and all multinational clients.
Digital agency Wunderman, New York, has launched Wunderman AI Services, a new division for developing and deploying artificial intelligence solutions for marketers across customer care, acquisition, product development and customer retention. Wunderman AI Services will be powered by Microsoft Azure and uses the Cortana Intelligence Suite.
Microsoft, Redmond, Wash., has announced Microsoft Research AI, a research and incubation hub within its research organization that the company says will focus on addressing challenges in artificial intelligence and integrating things like machine learning, perception and natural language processing to develop tools and understandings to help with complex tasks.
San Jose, Calif.-based analytics software company FICO has opened an office in Miami to serve Latin American and Caribbean clients. The team in the Florida office includes Marisa Arribas, head of marketing for Latin America, and Martin Perez, head of professional services for Latin America.
Brisbane, Australia, behavioral advertising company YomConnect has launched in the U.S. with an office in Los Angeles.
San Jose, Calif., research firm infoAnalytica has launched Act Healthcare Solutions, a new division for its health care and life sciences services.
Competitive Edge Research, headquartered in San Diego, has opened a 63-station call center in El Paso, Texas.
London-based researcher Verve has launched a dedicated innovation practice that the company says aims to become the research partner of choice for customer-driven innovation.
Stockholm-based software company Cint has opened an office in Chicago and has added Joseph Jordan as SVP of supply.
Customer insights agency SKIM, based in the Netherlands, has opened an office in Gothenburg, Sweden, on the campus of Chalmers University of Technology. The new office will serve clients in consumer products, technology and the automotive industry. Stefan Svensson will serve as new venture lead, SKIM Sweden.
Encino, Calif., researcher Innovate has opened an office in London and has appointed Brendan Russell as sales director for the EMEA region. The company says it plans to make additional hires in the region to help service its portfolio of European-based clients.
Insight Loft, a new focus group facility, has opened in New Rochelle, N.Y. The facility includes live videostreaming, digital video recording, usability labs, eye-tracking and biometrics capabilities and more. Meredith Falvo has been appointed as facility manager for Insight Loft.
MFour Mobile Research, Irvine, Calif., has expanded its office to accommodate its growing team, increasing its floor space from 14,000 to 22,000 square feet. In September, the company opened its first satellite branch, an office in Scottsdale, Ariz., where 25 additional employees focus on software development.
Health care research firm M3 USA, Fort Washington, Pa., has launched its Integrated Solutions division, which leverages the firm’s physician panel and digital assets to provide marketing and educational solutions for the pharmaceutical industry, device companies and other health care corporations.
Customer management firm Convergys Corporation has opened a new contact center in Colombia. The facility will house 1,000 new employees by mid 2018 who will provide service in English, Spanish, French, Italian and German to customers in the retail and health care industries.
Atlanta-based researcher Geo Strategy Partners has opened an office in Managua, Nicaragua, to expand its B2B/industrial research and growth strategy capabilities and reach.
Q Research Solutions, based in Old Bridge, N.J., and Redwood Shores, Calif., sensory evaluation firm Tragon Corporation have merged to form a sensory and consumer research supplier, which will initially trade as QRS-Tragon. The merger includes RedJade, a proprietary Web-based application and reporting tool for sensory analytics measurement. David Japhet, former CEO of Q Research Solutions, will act as CEO of QRS-Tragon, while Douglas Vort, former CEO of Tragon Corporation, will be president of RedJade Software Solutions.
Survey and data insights platform SurveyGizmo, based in Boulder, Colo., has announced a new Canadian division. The company will utilize Amazon’s data center in Montreal to provide service that is fully compliant with Canadian data and privacy laws.
Nielsen, New York, has launched Nielsen Esports, a new business vertical focused on competitive gaming that will provide sponsorship valuation, fan insights, custom industry research and consulting services to rights holders, media platforms and brands.
Food Affairs, a Norwalk, Conn., research company focused on foodies, has been launched by consumer researchers Shelley Forrester and Hal Hauser. The company aims to bring insight to food and beverage marketers, food retailers and the travel and tourism industry to help expand their brands and businesses with foodies.
Research company earnings/financial news
U.K. firm DJS Research has achieved 11 percent growth in annual turnover to £4.7 million for 2016/17, compared to £4.2 million for 2015/16.
Tampa, Fla., firm Study Hall Research reports that for the first six months of the year, it increased its revenue by 32.5 percent over the same period in 2016.
Market research language and translation service firm GlobaLexicon, London, reported that it achieved its fourth consecutive year of over 50 percent revenue growth.
Paris-based researcher Ipsos reported revenue of €833.8 million for the first half of 2017, compared to €833.6 million in the first half of 2016.
Nielsen, New York, reported revenues of approximately $1.64 billion for the second quarter of 2017, up 3 percent compared to the second quarter of 2016.
London-based communications group WPP made a strategic investment in Within Unlimited Inc., a Los Angeles-based virtual reality/augmented reality company.
Forrester Research, Cambridge, Mass., reported total revenues of $89.7 million for the second quarter of 2017, compared to $87.8 million for the second quarter of 2016. Research revenues decreased 1 percent and advisory services and events revenues increased 7 percent compared to second-quarter 2016.
Louisville, Colo., customer experience management firm Market Force Information has closed a management-led buyout of the company in partnership with Houston-based principal investment firm Main Street Capital.
Stamford, Conn., technology research and advisory firm Information Services Group reported revenues of $68 million for second-quarter 2017, compared to $60.4 million the previous year.
San Francisco-based data analytics firm Databricks has secured $140 million in a Series D funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation by New Enterprise Associates and Battery Ventures. The funding brings the firm’s total capital raised to $247 million and will be used to expand investment in its Unified Analytics Platform.