Research
Brian Tarran Editorial
Brian is the editor of Research Magazine and Research-Live.com. Get in touch if you have ideas for articles or interviews that you'd like to discuss with us. You can find our writing guidelines at http://bit.ly/writeforresearch
Stories by this contributor.
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Wikipedia data analysis platform gets $5m investment
8-Feb-2012
US— WibiData, a company whose data management and analysis platform is used by Wikipedia to understand the behaviour of its contributors, has raised $5m in venture capital funding.
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Greenfield veterans return to sample with reInvention
6-Feb-2012
US— Former Greenfield Online executives Hugh Davis and Keith Price have launched a new sampling firm, reInvention.
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Time Warner invests in video optimisation and analytics firm
6-Feb-2012
US— Time Warner’s investment arm has led a $15m round of funding in online video optimisation and analytics provider Conviva.
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TNS moves virtual shopping online with Actisku deal
6-Feb-2012
UK— TNS is partnering with French software developer Actisku to develop online virtual retail environments for shopper research projects.
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Nielsen posts 8% growth in 2011 – revenue hits $5.5bn
6-Feb-2012
US— Nielsen’s annual revenue grew 8% to $5.5bn in 2011, thanks to sales increases in each of its Buy, Watch and Expositions segments.
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Decipher lands Confirmit's Collins for EMEA client development role
3-Feb-2012
UK— Decipher, a US-based research services and technology firm, has hired Confirmit executive Richard Collins as director of client development for Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
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Rich replaces Nie as Revolution Analytics CEO
3-Feb-2012
US— Statistical software maker Revolution Analytics has hired David Rich as chief executive, replacing Norman Nie (pictured) who remains an advisor to the company.
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Twitter: a network of influence
3-Feb-2012
Who’s setting the agenda for the MR debate on Twitter? Brian Tarran joins the dots to find out.
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MEC names Tomorrow Focus exec as head of insight
2-Feb-2012
GERMANY— Media agency MEC has hired Karin Rothstock as managing partner and head of analytics and insight in Germany and Switzerland.
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Unilever taps Join The Dots for new consumer panel
2-Feb-2012
UK— Unilever is recruiting a new panel of shoppers to take part in research to help “shape the future” of its family of brands.
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GfK commits €1.5m to MR courses in African universities
2-Feb-2012
SOUTH AFRICA— GfK is committing almost €1.5m to fund the creation of market research courses at four African universities.
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Carrier IQ row prompts draft legislation on mobile privacy
1-Feb-2012
US— Draft legislation to force companies to disclose when and if tracking software is installed on mobile devices has been published in the wake of the furore that erupted around Carrier IQ last year.
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Mandel hails Rentrak as Precision Demand signs ratings deal
1-Feb-2012
US— PrecisionDemand, a media agency headed by former Nielsen executive Jon Mandel, has signed a contract with media measurement firm Rentrak to use its national and local TV ratings data.
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D3 Systems finalises investment in Kenya's Infinite Insight
31-Jan-2012
KENYA— Emerging markets research specialist D3 Systems has finalised the acquisition of a “significant” but unspecified share of the Nairobi-based business Infinite Insight.
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AEG picks Nepa for O2 arena research
31-Jan-2012
UK— Entertainment group AEG Europe has commissioned Nepa UK to conduct research among customers and visitors of London’s The O2 arena.
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GfK reports 6.2% rise in 2011 sales to €1.37bn
31-Jan-2012
GERMANY— GfK’s sales were up 6.2% to €1.37bn in 2011, with organic growth reported across the company’s custom research, retail and technology and media businesses.
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Taking MR to the next level
31-Jan-2012
Rajat Paharia, founder of gamification firm Bunchball, talks to Brian Tarran about how to inject life into the research experience.
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Kieselstein quits top job at TNS North America
31-Jan-2012
US— TNS is on the hunt for a new North America CEO after David Kieselstein quit to join b2b media company Penton as chief executive.
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Shugoll Research buys Metro Research Services
30-Jan-2012
US— Shugoll Research has bought Metro Research Services, a provider of data collection services and focus group facilities in Northern Virginia.
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InSites Consulting revenue passes €16m in 2011
30-Jan-2012
BELGIUM— InSites Consulting has posted a 28% increase in annual revenue to €16m, with 20% coming from market research online community activities.
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UK's Firefish expands overseas with Amsterdam office
13-Jan-2012
NETHERLANDS— UK research agency Firefish is opening its first international office next month in Amsterdam with former Synovate director Kees Van Duyn at the helm.
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Investors pump $1.85m into Qualvu's video platform
13-Jan-2012
US— Qualvu, the developer of an online video-based qualitative research platform, has raised $1.85m in a Series B financing round.
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Discovery names Kynoch to senior team
12-Jan-2012
UK— Discovery Research has appointed former Synovate manager Hamish Kynoch to its senior management team.
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Web analytics pros back Tealium with $1m investment
12-Jan-2012
US— Two former CEOs of web analytics firm WebSideStory are financing Tealium, a company that has developed a platform through which marketers and web analytics professionals can manage the page tags used for tracking visitor behaviour.
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Engage hires former Relish director Hetta Bramley
12-Jan-2012
UK— Engage Research has hired Hetta Bramley (pictured), formerly of Relish Research, as a director.
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The Behavioural Architects merges with Chinese firm
12-Jan-2012
UK/CHINA— The Behavioural Architects (TBA) has expanded into China through a merger with Shanghai-based Research Essentials.
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WorldOne partnership to take US panel reach past a million
11-Jan-2012
US— Healthcare data collection firm WorldOne is partnering with healthcare professionals network Physicians Interactive (PI) to expand the reach of its US research panel.
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APCO picks Crimson Hexagon for social media analysis
11-Jan-2012
US— PR group APCO Worldwide has tapped Crimson Hexagon’s ForSight platform for social media analysis and intelligence.
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Collaborative platform goes public with Unilever-backed project
11-Jan-2012
UK/US— Unilever is lending its support to an open-access research project that aims to get people talking about the barriers organisations face in adopting social media practices and how to overcome them.
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$8m funding for marketing software firm ThinkVine
11-Jan-2012
US— ThinkVine has closed an $8m Series C round of financing to support sales and development of its marketing planning and sales forecasting software.
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Sainsbury's insight manager becomes Shoppercentric director
11-Jan-2012
UK— Claire Pearson, a former senior insight manager at Sainsbury’s, has joined shopper behaviour research agency Shoppercentric as a director.
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EMarketer lands $25m private equity investment
11-Jan-2012
US— Digital marketing intelligence firm eMarketer has received a $25m minority investment from private equity firm Stripes Group.
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Nielsen buys fresh food industry consultancy
10-Jan-2012
US— Nielsen has acquired the Perishables Group, a firm that provides research and consultancy to companies in the fresh food category.
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MMR Research Worldwide makes Little hire for big Asian push
10-Jan-2012
SINGAPORE— Food and drink specialist MMR Research Worldwide is launching an Asian business with Clive Little, former TNS regional director, at the helm.
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No 'double dip' for ad industry, says Warc
10-Jan-2012
UK— Global advertising spend is set to increase by 5.4% this year, according to the latest ‘poll of polls’ by Warc – a 0.9-point downgrade on August estimates.
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Ex-Millward Brown leader appointed Efamro director general
10-Jan-2012
NETHERLANDS— Former Millward Brown regional CEO Jan Oostveen has been appointed director general of the European Federation of Associations of Market Research Organisations (Efamro) – an association of associations.
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German acquisition for Schlesinger Associates
10-Jan-2012
GERMANY— Schlesinger Associates has acquired fieldwork services firm Schmiedl Marktforschung, which has offices in Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich.
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Kantar in deal to buy stake in Pakistani firm Oasis Insights
10-Jan-2012
PAKISTAN— Kantar is to acquire a majority stake in Karachi-based research agency Oasis Insights.
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FWD Research hires Ledbury's Kerr as director
9-Jan-2012
UK— FWD Research, a financial services specialist, has appointed Sian Kerr as director. She joins from Ledbury Research where she was an associate director.
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Burger King 'scraps' EMEA insight post
9-Jan-2012
SPAIN— Burger King is reported to have axed the role of head of consumer insights for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region – less than a year after its creation.
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Chartbeat debt offering raises $975,000
9-Jan-2012
US— Realtime web analytics firm Chartbeat has raised $975,000 in a debt offering, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
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Ipsos adds Saudi panel, plans for Egypt and UAE
9-Jan-2012
SAUDI ARABIA— Ipsos has launched an online panel in Saudi Arabia as the first of six it plans to set up in the Middle East and North Africa region this year.
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$53m for community firm Lithium
6-Jan-2012
US— Lithium, a provider of online community technologies, has completed a $53.4m round of financing from new and existing investors.
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MR turnover up 16% in 2011, says Russian association
6-Jan-2012
RUSSIA— Research turnover in Russia grew 16% in 2011, according to the latest estimates from the Russian Association for Market and Opinion Research (OIROM).
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MarketShare and WPP settle over Simpson hiring
5-Jan-2012
UK— Marketing analytics firm MarketShare Partners and its former executive Steve Simpson today issued apologies to WPP over the hiring of Simpson, who was formerly CEO of WPP’s GroupM Business Science arm and an employee of Mindshare.
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Decooda builds API for sentiment analysis platform
5-Jan-2012
US— Decooda, a marketing technology firm, has built an API to allow companies to upload or stream social media data directly into its own sentiment analysis platform.
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Coppa proposals ruffle MRA
4-Jan-2012
US— Proposed changes to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (Coppa), including plans to revoke the “email plus” option of obtaining parental consent, have raised concerns within the Marketing Research Association (MRA).
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Affinnova picks Bhagwat to lead financial services practice
4-Jan-2012
US— Affinnova, a developer of concept optimisation technology, has named Sarita Bhagwat to lead its financial services practice.
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Next Big Sound seen as next big thing – gets $6.5m funding
4-Jan-2012
US— Next Big Sound (NBS), a data analytics firm that tracks the popularity of music artists on social media sites, has closed a $6.5m financing round.
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New management team for Doctors.net.uk
4-Jan-2012
UK— Doctors.net.uk has a new management team following its sale to M3 USA last year, but Anna Garofalo (pictured) remains head of the market research division, MedeConnect Healthcare Insight.
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Harris's Herron takes analytics role at Nunwood
3-Jan-2012
UK— Nunwood has hired former Harris Interactive executive David Herron as its new European head of analytics.
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Tyrrell becomes a director at trends firm Trajectory
3-Jan-2012
UK— Bob Tyrrell, the former chairman of the Henley Centre, has joined trends consultancy Trajectory as a director.
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Philpott resigns from Aegis board
3-Jan-2012
UK— Ex-Synovate CEO Robert Philpott resigned from the board of Aegis Group, Synovate’s former parent company, at the end of 2011.
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Ipsos invests in tech firm AdMaster
28-Dec-2011
CHINA— Ipsos has made a strategic investment in technology firm AdMaster to collaborate on the development of a monitoring and assessment system to measure the effects of digital marketing.
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'I didn't expect Twitter to have such a great influence on our profession'
23-Dec-2011
Research Tweeter of the Year Tom De Ruyck on all things Twitter: its evolution from curiosity to content curation tool, how it helps in his career and what we’ll all be talking about on the #MRX hashtag in 2012.
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Irish data commissioner reports on Facebook privacy audit
22-Dec-2011
IRELAND— Facebook has agreed a series of new measures to improve transparency and control around user data with the Irish Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC).
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Nielsen and ComScore settle patent dispute
21-Dec-2011
US— ComScore and Nielsen have settled their disputes over online measurement patents, with ComScore acquiring four of Nielsen’s families of patents and Nielsen acquiring $19m-worth of ComScore stock.
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Value Engineers founder Walton to retire from Cello board
21-Dec-2011
UK— Paul Walton, a founding partner of brand consultancy The Value Engineers and a board director of Cello, is retiring at the end of this month.
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SMG taps Bluefin to pinpoint most talked-about TV
21-Dec-2011
US— Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG) has signed a deal with Bluefin Labs to analyse social chatter around TV shows to help guide media planning and buying decisions.
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EmSense's Moses takes neuroscience role at Ipsos
21-Dec-2011
US— Former EmSense strategy and analytics chief Elissa Moses is joining Ipsos next year as executive vice president of neuroscience and emotion.
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Post-Newsweek commits to Rentrak as local TV currency
20-Dec-2011
US— The broadcasting division of The Washington Post Company is adopting Rentrak’s local market ratings as the trading currency for ad space on its TV stations.
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Job swap for Gemius president and VP
19-Dec-2011
POLAND— Online media measurement firm Gemius has named Piotr Ejdys as president, replacing Artur Zawadzki (pictured) who becomes vice president.
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Sunshine rules for doctors keep survey exemption
16-Dec-2011
US— Rules requiring doctors to disclose payments made by drug companies have been published – maintaining an exemption for survey-related incentives.
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Media Monitors makes another Asian buy
16-Dec-2011
MALAYSIA— Media Monitors has acquired another media monitoring and analysis business in Asia, MediaBanc, just days after inking a deal to take over China Clipping.
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SPA's Handford launches Resound Digital
16-Dec-2011
UK— SPA Future Thinking’s former research and innovations director Chris Handford has launched Resound Digital, a new business focused on digital market and user research.
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And the #MRX Tweeter of the Year is...
15-Dec-2011
InSites Consulting’s Tom De Ruyck tops the public vote, but who was the Most Retweeted of the Year and what were the community’s most talked-about buzzwords? Announcing the winners of the #MRX Tweet Awards 2011.
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SurveyMonkey gets Zoomerang, TrueSample in MarketTools takeover
14-Dec-2011
US— DIY survey software supplier SurveyMonkey is to take over MarketTools’ Zoomerang, ZoomPanel and TrueSample businesses as part of deal with investment firm TPG Capital.
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Client turns supplier as Ritchie joins eDigital
13-Dec-2011
UK— Virgin Media’s former head of customer experience insight Anna Ritchie has joined eDigitalResearch as research director.
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Ipsos's Fredrickson takes group ops role at Toluna
13-Dec-2011
US— Jim Fredrickson, president of Ipsos Interactive Services North America, has joined Toluna as group chief operations officer.
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Carrier IQ publishes report to fight privacy fears
13-Dec-2011
US— Mobile intelligence firm Carrier IQ has published a 19-page report to reassure consumers that its software is not the threat to privacy that some have claimed.
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Announcing the winners – and why they won
13-Dec-2011
It’s been seven months since we first put out the call for the best and brightest in the research industry to compete for our annual awards – and last night (12 December), at a black tie dinner at the Lancaster London, the winners were announced.
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Sparkler and The Co-operative take top prizes at Research Awards
13-Dec-2011
UK— Sparkler last night clinched Research magazine’s Best Agency prize at the Research Awards 2011, while The Co-operative Group was crowned Best In-house Research Team.
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Philips resigns as Photon chief executive
12-Dec-2011
US— Jeremy Philips has resigned as Photon CEO after a precarious 18 months for the marketing services group, which owns research firms Auspoll, Jigsaw and The Leading Edge.
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SAP becomes NetBase social analytics reseller
12-Dec-2011
US— SAP, a business management software firm, is to become a reseller of NetBase’s social media insight and analytics platform.
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Kooyman to become GfK Custom COO after KN buy
12-Dec-2011
US— Simon Kooyman, CEO of Knowledge Networks (KN), is to become chief operating officer of GfK Custom Research North America once GfK completes its acquisition of KN.
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GfK in deal to buy Knowledge Networks
9-Dec-2011
US— GfK is acquiring digital research specialist Knowledge Networks and its probability-based online panel, Knowledge Panel, which it expects to help strengthen its media measurement offering.
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'No return' for shareholders from Media Square MBO
9-Dec-2011
UK— Media Square shareholders won’t see a penny from the sale of the group’s ten agencies for a reported price of between £10m and £15m.
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Real money for virtual store creator InContext
8-Dec-2011
US— InContext Solutions, which creates virtual retail environments for research purposes, has received $1.5m in funding from a consortium of investors.
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Aegis Media signs on for Rentrak's commercial ratings
8-Dec-2011
US— Aegis Media agencies, including Carat, will get access to viewership metrics for individual ad spots under a deal announced this week with media measurement firm Rentrak.
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Buddy Media partners ComScore for social metrics
7-Dec-2011
US— WPP-backed social marketing management platform Buddy Media is partnering with ComScore to add its social media metrics to Buddy Media’s product suite.
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Web user drops complaint over Google tracking error
7-Dec-2011
US— A web user who sued Google over a software glitch that allowed the company’s Toolbar browser add-on to keep tracking browsing habits after it had been disabled has dropped his case.
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Introducing the 2011 #MRX Tweet Awards
7-Dec-2011
We love Twitter, especially the #MRX community. Here’s your chance to show your love and vote for your favourite market research tweeter.
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Dapresy says GfK software deal is biggest ever
6-Dec-2011
GERMANY/SWEDEN— Dapresy today announced the biggest-ever contract win for its dashboard reporting software with the signing of a global agreement with the GfK Group.
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Tech firm hacks Kinect for shopper analytics
6-Dec-2011
ARGENTINA— Software developer Agile Route has hacked Microsoft’s motion-sensing videogame technology Kinect to make it fit for tracking shopper behaviour in retail environments.
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Waste not, want not
6-Dec-2011
Brian Tarran meets John Dick, the CEO of CivicScience, a company on a mission to tease the value out of the millions of online polls people take part in each day.
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Greenberg Quinlan Rosner adds digital practice
5-Dec-2011
US— Opinion research and strategy group Greenberg Quinlan Rosner has launched a digital division specialising in social media analytics, micro-targeting and online strategic consulting.
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Carrier IQ hits back at 'surveillence' claims
5-Dec-2011
US— Under-fire mobile intelligence firm Carrier IQ broke its silence late last week to defend its technology and “vigorously disagree” with those speculating that the firm may have violated federal wiretap laws.
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Ipsos Mori finalises senior leadership team
5-Dec-2011
UK— Ipsos Mori CEO Ben Page has finalised his senior leadership team following the company’s merger with Synovate.
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Q&A: Rentrak's Exact Commercial Ratings
5-Dec-2011
Chief research officer Bruce Goerlich responds to reader questions about the company’s new measure of commercial viewing.
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People on the move
2-Dec-2011
The latest appointments and promotions in the global market research and consumer insight industry. This week: Pulse Group, DDB UK, SCB Partners, Peryam & Kroll, Spanish Broadcasting Systems, The Marketing Workshop, Mesh Planning, TNS, iKnowtion and Questor.
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Awe.sm investment for Groupon analytics partner
2-Dec-2011
US— Groupon’s social media analytics partner Awe.sm has raised $4m in a series A financing round to help expand its team and add features to its performance tracking platform.
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Alterian and SDL reach agreement on £68m takeover
2-Dec-2011
UK— Alterian’s directors have reached agreement with SDL on the terms of an acquisition that values the marketing analytics firm at £68.4m.
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Nielsen still exploring 'opt-in only' services with Carrier IQ
2-Dec-2011
US— Nielsen is continuing to work with Carrier IQ to explore opportunities for joint measurement of mobile services, networks and devices despite the privacy storm engulfing the mobile intelligence company.
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Insight names senior management for eVillage
1-Dec-2011
UK— Healthcare specialist Insight Research Group has hired former Verve operations director Dave Bostock as research operations director.
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Carrier IQ warned of lawsuit risk
1-Dec-2011
US— First it was Carrier IQ threatening legal action, now the mobile intelligence firm is being warned it could be open to lawsuits from consumers whose phones are installed with its software.
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Rentrak to count viewers for individual commercials
1-Dec-2011
US— Rentrak today boasted that it had jumped ahead of rival Nielsen with a new TV metric that can tell advertisers how many viewers were exposed to specific commercials in a national campaign.
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Hartmann takes over as GfK chief executive
1-Dec-2011
GERMANY— Matthias Hartmann steps into the role of GfK chief executive today, replacing Klaus Wübbenhorst who has lead the company for the past 13 years.
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Learning the lessons of 2011
Dec 2011
Sitting down Sitting down to plan out this month’s issue, the team and I were faced with a choice: to reflect on the year just gone or look ahead to the coming 12 months. We chose the latter.
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Alterian half-year revenue down 6% to £17m
30-Nov-2011
UK— Marketing analytics software firm Alterian has reported revenue down 6% to £17.2m and an operating loss of £18.6m for the six months to 30 September.
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Six-month research revenue down 3% at Creston
30-Nov-2011
UK— Research agencies owned by the marketing communications group Creston reported £7.5m in revenue for the six month period to 30 September, down 3% year-on-year.
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Facebook settles privacy complaint with FTC
30-Nov-2011
US— Facebook has reached a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which claimed that the social networking site had failed to keep its privacy promises to consumers.
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What the Facebook FTC settlement means for market research
30-Nov-2011
Privacy, control, consent. Three words that sum up the Federal Trade Commission’s demands of Facebook. Three words researchers can’t avoid.
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Kimberly-Clark on board with mag ad ROI guarantee
29-Nov-2011
US— Kimberly-Clark is the first major advertiser to commit to a magazine advertising ROI guarantee being offered by publisher Meredith in partnership with Nielsen.
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‘We can’t hunker down any more’
29-Nov-2011
Brian Tarran meets the Market Research Society’s new CEO Jane Frost, the former BBC marketer on a mission to prove the value of the MRS – and the researchers it represents.
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Kantar commits £2m to Lumi Mobile data collection tech
29-Nov-2011
UK— Kantar has signed a £2m deal with Lumi Mobile to help commercialise Lumi’s mobile phone-based data collection platform.
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Senator's privacy fears halt shopper tracking trial
29-Nov-2011
US— Shopping malls in California and Virginia have suspended trials of a UK-developed system for monitoring shopper movements after privacy concerns were raised by New York senator Charles Schumer.
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FreshMinds boosts staff with ten hires
28-Nov-2011
UK— FreshMinds Research has hired Katie Buckley as a research consultant in its consumer healthcare team – one of ten new hires.
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Vision Critical signs Animux as Sparq partner
28-Nov-2011
BRAZIL— Animux, a new research agency formed by ex-Ipsos and Synovate executives, has reached a deal with Vision Critical to use its community panel platform Sparq.
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COI cuts research spend by 65%
28-Nov-2011
UK— The Central Office of Information (COI), the UK government’s communications arm, cut its research spend by 65% last year to £9.5m, according to the latest annual accounts.
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Ex-Kadence and ICM director Boyland joins River
28-Nov-2011
UK— River Research has hired former Kadence and ICM director Marcus Boyland as research director.
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UK government spent £4.2m on MR in September
28-Nov-2011
UK— The UK government spent over £4.2m on market research services in September, according to latest monthly departmental disclosures of all spending over £25,000.
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People on the move
25-Nov-2011
The latest appointments and promotions in the global market research and consumer insight industry. This week: Tpoll, More Th>n and Outlook Research.
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New health partner for Hall & Partners
25-Nov-2011
UK— Lee Gazey, the former commercial development director of Insight Research Group, has left the healthcare research specialist to join Hall & Partners as a partner in its health business.
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ForeSee settles Lodsys patent dispute
25-Nov-2011
US— ForeSee Results has settled its patent dispute with Lodsys, a company that had brought legal action against ForeSee and its clients over their use of ForeSee’s website survey software.
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Panelbase appoints client development manager in London
24-Nov-2011
UK— Panelbase has hired former Research Now and Lightspeed Research executive Andrew Pringle as client development manager, based in London.
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Omnibus to follow university leavers entering the world of work
24-Nov-2011
UK— A new omnibus service from OpinionPanel will allow companies to survey young professionals in their first five years after leaving university.
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Carrier IQ drops legal action against software researcher
24-Nov-2011
US— Mobile intelligence firm Carrier IQ backpedalled yesterday from threats of legal action brought against a researcher who raised concerns about the type of data the company was collecting from mobile phone handsets.
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Red Bee planner joins Firefish as group head
23-Nov-2011
UK— Former Red Bee Media planner John Jones is joining Firefish as group head, responsible for a team of researchers working with retail, FMCG and media brands.
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Porta refutes Media Square's conspiracy claims
23-Nov-2011
UK— Porta Communications said this morning that it “absolutely refutes” claims of an attempted unlawful conspiracy made against the company and its CEO David Wright by marketing communications group Media Square.
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Muncaster and Menzies join ex-ICM colleagues at Populus
23-Nov-2011
UK— Populus continues to raid the ranks of former ICM staff, hiring Gary Muncaster and Chris Menzies as director and research director respectively.
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EBay bets $80m on Hunch for smarter product suggestions
22-Nov-2011
US— Auction site eBay has spent a reported $80m acquiring the Hunch.com recommendation engine.
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Media Square sues Porta Communications for £760,000 in damages
22-Nov-2011
UK— Media Square, the owner of research agency Illuminas, is suing Porta Communications and its CEO David Wright for damages of £760,000.
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Kimberly-Clark's Watson takes SPA Future Thinking role
22-Nov-2011
UK— Kimberly-Clark’s UK shopper insight manager Shelley Watson has joined SPA Future Thinking as research director, working in the shopper research team alongside fellow director Jamie Rayner.
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Edbrooke promoted to president at pharma specialist Healogix
21-Nov-2011
US— Pharma and biotech research consultancy Healogix has named Tim Edbrooke as president and chief operating officer.
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'Right to be forgotten' is unenforceable, says ICO
17-Nov-2011
UK— The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s personal data watchdog, has come out against a proposed ‘right to be forgotten’, saying it is unenforceable and has implications for freedom of expression.
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Bunchball working with Adobe on gamification analytics
17-Nov-2011
US— Bunchball, the developer of a website gamification platform, is partnering with Adobe in a bid to integrate gamification analytics into Adobe’s digital marketing suite.
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Matt + John in 7bn rebrand
16-Nov-2011
UK— Insight and strategy firm Matt + John has rebranded as 7bn – timed to coincide with the world population passing the seven billion mark.
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LinkedIn privacy suit dismissed for 'lack of harm'
16-Nov-2011
US— A LinkedIn user who sued the business networking site for allegedly sharing his personal information with third parties – including web tracking firms – has had his complaint dismissed.
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Web consortium publishes draft do-not-track standards
15-Nov-2011
US— The Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C) has published draft standards for a do-not-track mechanism that it hopes will become official by mid-2012.
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Petco to share store data with SymphonyIRI
14-Nov-2011
US— Pet supplies chain Petco has agreed to share census-level point-of-sale data from its 1,000 stores with SymphonyIRI.
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Adobe looks to take lead in managing, measuring digital ads
11-Nov-2011
US— Adobe, which bought the Omniture web analytics business two years ago, is setting out to be “the leader in solutions to manage, measure and optimise digital marketing and advertising” with a company restructure.
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Rentrak extends CEO and COO employment agreements to 2015
11-Nov-2011
US— Media researcher Rentrak has entered into extended employment agreements with CEO Bill Livek and COO and CFO David Chemerow, taking them through to 2015.
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Online video ad network settles with FTC over Flash cookies
10-Nov-2011
US— Online video ad network ScanScout has agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charges that it deceptively used Flash cookies to track consumers online.
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Federated Sample gets $2.8m to support Fulcrum development
9-Nov-2011
US— Federated Sample has received $2.8m in series A funding to support the development of its sample management and routing platform, Fulcrum.
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MetrixLab buys CRM Metrix for performance research boost
9-Nov-2011
NETHERLANDS— Online research firm MetrixLab has bought digital marketing analytics specialist CRM Metrix, creating a combined digital marketing research business of over €30m in annual revenues.
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Commissioner wants 'explicit consent' for data use throughout EU
8-Nov-2011
BRUSSELS— EU justice commissioner Viviane Reding wants European data protection laws to be updated to require companies to get the explicit consent of consumers before their data is used.
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Ipsos launches Mobi-Vision mobile research tool
8-Nov-2011
UK— Ipsos MediaCT has gone live with its Mobi-Vision mobile phone-based research tool, which it says has been in development for the past two years.
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Market Probe buys Illinois's Richard Day Research
7-Nov-2011
US— Market Probe has bought financial services and pharmaceutical market research specialist Richard Day Research, based in Evanston, Illinois.
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Labour pollster and strategist Philip Gould dies
7-Nov-2011
UK— Labour Party pollster and political strategist Philip Gould has died of cancer aged 61.
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Peanut Labs builds its own DIY offering
3-Nov-2011
US— Social media sample provider Peanut Labs, part of online fieldwork group e-Rewards, is the latest company to come to market with a DIY survey tool, called SurveyTool.com.
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SymphonyIRI and Legolas tie online ads to offline sales
2-Nov-2011
US— Retail researcher SymphonyIRI has teamed with online ad marketplace Legolas to enable marketers to buy online ads based on in-store purchase data.
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Yahoo bids $270m for data tech firm Interclick
2-Nov-2011
US— Yahoo is to buy segmentation, targeting and analytics technology firm Interclick in a $270m cash deal to boost its online display ad business.
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ARF white paper talks up neuromarketing potential
2-Nov-2011
US— The Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) reckons neuromarketing is poised to make a “significant” contribution to the development of great advertising, according to a draft white paper.
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Clearspring acquires data science expertise in XGraph
1-Nov-2011
US— AddThis developer Clearspring has bought data science company XGraph to boost its analytics and targeting capabilities.
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Adobe buys video ad management and analytics firm
1-Nov-2011
US— Adobe is buying Auditude, an online video ad management and analytics platform, for a rumoured $100m.
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Q3 revenue climbs 17% for IT analyst Gartner
1-Nov-2011
US— IT analyst firm Gartner has reported third-quarter revenue up 17% to $345.8m, with net income up 52% to $30.5m.
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Harris up 3.5% in Q1, but sales problems persist
1-Nov-2011
US— Harris Interactive’s first-quarter revenue grew by 3.5% to $38.3m, but CEO Al Angrisani says the company still has some way to go to correct “systemic sales problems”.
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The UK market research industry in review
1-Nov-2011
2010 will be remembered as the year that wasn’t as painful as the one before. The UK industry may have been flat – but there were still some growth stories worth talking about.
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Tools don't make MR
Nov 2011
Jason Anderson works for Blizzard Entertainment, publishers of World of Warcraft, one of the biggest-selling videogame franchises. As director of global consumer insights, he has to understand the needs of the company’s millions of customers – and he could tell you that gamers aren’t backwards in coming forwards about issues that irk them.
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IMS to sell SDI audit businesses to appease FTC
31-Oct-2011
US— IMS Health is buying healthcare data rival SDI but will have to sell two of SDI’s business lines in order to assuage concerns the acquisition would be anticompetitive.
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SurveyMonkey adds Audience panel to DIY survey offer
28-Oct-2011
US— SurveyMonkey has built its own panel. The DIY survey software supplier has been recruiting from its pool of survey takers for several months and now has 350,000 US panellists signed up.
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Relish names Thompson as managing partner
28-Oct-2011
UK— Relish Research has made Simon Thompson managing partner of the full-service agency, a new position.
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MRS names former BBC marketer as chief executive
27-Oct-2011
UK— Former BBC and Shell marketer Jane Frost CBE has been named the new chief executive of the Market Research Society (MRS).
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Growth trend stable – Nielsen up 10% in Q3
27-Oct-2011
US— Nielsen has seen third-quarter revenue rise 10% to $1.4bn thanks to a 12% increase in consumer research sales and 6% growth in media research activities.
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Alterian plans job cuts to save £10.6m
27-Oct-2011
UK— Alterian is looking to save an additional £10.6m in operating costs through staff cuts and office closures as part of the business transformation initiative being implemented by new CEO Heath Davies and chairman Phil Cartmell.
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Credit card data to target online advertising?
26-Oct-2011
US— Credit card networks Visa and Mastercard are working on plans to segment card users based on their offline purchase behaviour to target them with online advertising, according to a report.
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USamp looks to play SurveyMonkey at its own game
26-Oct-2011
US— Online sample provider uSamp has launched a free SurveyBuilder tool that allows users to create and distribute surveys among their friends and contacts.
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McCrindle issues 'correction' for sample size errors
26-Oct-2011
AUSTRALIA— McCrindle Research has issued a “correction” following allegations made in the ABC TV show Media Watch, acknowledging that in the past it had erroneously recorded the wrong sample sizes on press released surveys.
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AMSRS probes McCrindle survey allegations
25-Oct-2011
AUSTRALIA— The Australian Market & Social Research Society (AMSRS) is investigating member company McCrindle Research after concerns were raised about the basis of several survey findings quoted in the press.
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Arbitron sees Q3 growth, eyes cross-platform future
25-Oct-2011
US— Arbitron has seen third quarter revenue rise 6.1% to $105.6m thanks to the continued commercialisation of portable people meter-based (PPM) radio ratings services in new US markets and planned PPM price increases.
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Toluna rolls out data reporting and analysis tool
24-Oct-2011
US— Panel and technology provider Toluna has developed a web-based data reporting and analysis tool, TolunaAnalytics.
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EU trade orgs lobby European Commission to ban 'sugging'
24-Oct-2011
BRUSSELS— Trade bodies Efamro and Esomar have written to the European Commission calling for rules that would ban companies from selling and fundraising under the guise of research.
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Chevignon to lead YouGov operations in France
24-Oct-2011
FRANCE— YouGov has appointed former Nielsen executive Julien Chevignon to lead its French operations based in Paris.
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$20m funding for Chinese digital marketing measurement firm
24-Oct-2011
CHINA— Digital marketing measurement firm Moment Systems has raised US$20m in a series B financing round involving WPP Digital and a number of venture capital groups.
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RII sees 'continued stagnation' of US MR business
21-Oct-2011
US— A stale economy is no friend to market researchers, it seems – the latest wave of the US Research Industry Index finds “continued stagnation” of business.
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Research associations lobby for Census Bureau funding
21-Oct-2011
US— A collective of census users including the American Association for Public Opinion Research and the Marketing Research Association have written to senate leaders to plead for more funding for the Census Bureau.
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IAB Australia launches mobile council with measurement focus
17-Oct-2011
AUSTRALIA— The Interactive Advertising Bureau Australia has formed a mobile advertising council to look at mobile audience measurement, ad standards, guidelines and best practice.
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Aevolve continues Asia push with Malaysia office
17-Oct-2011
MALAYSIA— Aevolve, the insight and evaluation unit of Aegis Media, has moved into Malaysia with Mark Chaves at the helm.
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Ex-George Street director re-joins RFM Research
17-Oct-2011
UK— Ex-George Street Research director David Primrose has re-joined RFM Research as director of market research, eight years after he last worked there.
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Co-founders Talbot and McCarthy leave Alterian
14-Oct-2011
UK— Alterian directors Michael Talbot and Tim McCarthy, who co-founded the business in 1997 with former CEO David Eldridge, have resigned “by mutual consent”.
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Gemius replaces ComScore on Czech online study
12-Oct-2011
CZECH REPUBLIC— Gemius and partner firm Mediaresearch have replaced ComScore as the provider of the Czech Association for Internet Advertising’s (SPIR) audience measurement services for online and mobile media.
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MRA sees survey opportunity in Obama deficit plan
12-Oct-2011
US— The Marketing Research Association (MRA) is hoping to hitch an exemption for the use of autodiallers in cellphone-based survey research to President Barack Obama’s package of deficit reduction measures.
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Sun Microsystems founder embarks on Q&A app venture
11-Oct-2011
US— Sun Microsystems co-founder Scott McNealy has gone from selling computers to selling opinions through his new venture Wayin.
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Understanding IBM's big analytics bet
11-Oct-2011
An IBM study finds chief marketing officers unprepared to deal with the data explosion caused by social media. Just as well, then, that the company has invested $14bn in buying analytics businesses. How can market researchers hope to compete?
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Vision Critical signs Sparq deal in Italy
10-Oct-2011
ITALY— Vision Critical has reached a deal with Demoskopea that sees the Italian research agency use Vision Critical’s Sparq platform to build community panels for clients.
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Truth bags funding from private equity firm
10-Oct-2011
UK— Strategic insight consultancy Truth has received investment from private equity group Vitruvian as part of a takeover of Truth’s early-stage backer, The College Group.
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People on the move
7-Oct-2011
The latest appointments and promotions in the global market research and consumer insight industry.
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ComScore's Ad Metrix gets social with new metrics
7-Oct-2011
US— ComScore’s display ad measurement tool Ad Metrix now reports impressions for ‘socially published’ and ‘socially enabled’ ads.
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Lego makes crowd-sourcing platform global
7-Oct-2011
DENMARK— Lego has launched a global website, Lego Cuusoo, to crowd-source new product ideas, after testing the concept in Japan for the past three years.
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USamp iPhone app to allow location-based polls
6-Oct-2011
US— Online sample provider uSamp has developed an iPhone app called iPoll to allow its panellists to complete surveys on the go, including those targeted on a user’s current location.
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Suppliers 'trailing buyers' on new techniques
6-Oct-2011
US— Research suppliers are not keeping up with buyers over some of the most promising research techniques, according to the latest wave of the Greenbook Research Industry Trends survey.
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Essential's Kendrick set for BBC research role
6-Oct-2011
UK— The BBC has appointed Essential Research’s Simon Kendrick as a research manager within the Future Media Audiences team.
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Research Magazine Awards shortlist announced
5-Oct-2011
This year’s judging session for the Research Magazine Awards was tougher than ever. There were many fine entries to choose from across the five categories, but here you’ll find our shortlists of nominees.
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Ex-Nielsen leader Arthur C. Nielsen Jr dies aged 92
5-Oct-2011
US— Arthur C. Nielsen Jr, son of the founder of market research giant Nielsen and a long-time president and chairman of the company, has died aged 92.
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The future, by those who'll make it
4-Oct-2011
What does the future have in store for market research? Our graduates offer their view in part two of our careers round table.
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New readership research supplier for Norwegian magazine body
4-Oct-2011
NORWAY— The Media Business Association (Mediebedriftenes Landsforening) has picked TNS Gallup to run its magazine and weekly press readership survey from 2012.
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Facebook to tell brands what people are talking about
4-Oct-2011
US— Facebook is ramping up its Page Insights product to give brand owners a clearer view of the engagement levels generated by their page and wall posts.
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Cymfony heads to Europe and opens London office
4-Oct-2011
UK— Media monitoring firm Cymfony, part of Kantar Media, is pushing out from the US into Europe with an office in London.
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DoCoMo and Intage plan research joint venture
3-Oct-2011
JAPAN— Mobile phone giant NTT DoCoMo is planning a market research joint venture with Intage, according to tech news website Nikkei.com.
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Pollster André Pineda dies aged 46
3-Oct-2011
US— André Pineda, a Democratic pollster, has died at the age of 46. Reports say he took his own life.
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Mobile media needs 'solid metrics', says IAB
3-Oct-2011
US— Cookies are unreliable; server logs are stymied; the ecosystem is fragmented and privacy concerns loom large – none of which changes the fact that mobile advertising needs a standardised set of measurements, according to a new IAB paper.
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USamp founder calls for change in sample pricing model
3-Oct-2011
US— USamp co-founder Matt Dusig is pushing for a new pricing model in the online sample business – moving away from cost-per-interview (CPI) to cost-per-finish.
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Risk and reward
October 2011
Everyone likes to talk about the successes of their research techniques and methodologies, but we often tend to brush the failures under the carpet,” wrote Jon Puleston, head of GMI Interactive, in a comment piece last month.
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$20m funding for social analytics firm Networked Insights
30-Sep-2011
US— Social analytics firm Networked Insights has raised $20m to fund the continued development of its SocialSense platform, used by companies including Samsung, MTV and Kraft.
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If it's in the game, EA's measuring it
30-Sep-2011
US— Games publisher EA is rolling out an analytics suite next week, built on nPario software, to provide campaign and audience insights to brands that advertise within its mobile, social, online and console games.
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ESPN becomes Touchpoints charter subscriber
30-Sep-2011
US— Sports broadcaster ESPN has signed on as the charter subscriber to Media Behaviour Institute’s (MBI) US version of the Touchpoints media usage survey.
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Congressmen push for FTC probe of 'super cookies'
28-Sep-2011
US— Two congressmen have joined consumer groups in pushing the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate the use of so-called ‘super cookies’ – web technologies that can allow companies to circumvent user privacy expectations.
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Maxwell swaps Razorfish research for Starcom role
28-Sep-2011
US— Media agency Starcom USA has hired Chad Maxwell from interactive agency Razorfish, a sister company within Publicis, as senior vice president and research intelligence director.
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WorldOne hires Richard Hall as COO
27-Sep-2011
US— Healthcare fieldwork provider WorldOne has hired Richard Hall as chief operating officer.
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Court denies TRA an injunction against Kantar's RapidView
27-Sep-2011
US— TRA has been denied a preliminary injunction to block Kantar from making and selling its media planning tool, RapidView for Retail, which TRA accuses of infringing on its patents.