German online ads promote research

The campaign is being run by the Initiative Markt- und Sozialforschung (Market and Social Research Initiative), which was begun in 2008 by a group of research associations, and has now been formally established as a not-for-profit organisation in its own right.

The banner ads extol the benefits of research while emphasising that legitimate research practitioners always protect the anonymity of respondents and do not use surveys to sell or promote products.They use some of the same creative elements as a poster campaign launched last year. A print advertising campaign is also planned.

The organisation’s members include research associations ADM (representing research agencies), BVM (representing individual research professionals), DGOF (representing online researchers) and ASI (representing social researchers). It announced that in the new structure Bernd Wacther of Psyma Group and Raimund Wildner of GfK will serve on its board, with Sibylle Appel of IFAK acting as managing director.