Opinion1 March 2010

Facing up to difficult questions about panels

At Casro’s panel conference in New Orleans, researchers shared their efforts to answer some of the tough questions about how panels should and shouldn’t be used in order to get consistent, reliable results.

News19 October 2009

Civic Science to help charities poll donors

US— Civic Science, a provider of online polling software, has partnered with the maker of the DonorPro online fundraising software to create polls for visitors to charity websites.

News30 September 2009

Western Wats fined over child labour violations

US— The Department of Labor ( DOL) has fined fieldwork agency Western Wats more than $500,000 for breaking child labour laws at several of its telephone call centres.

News30 September 2009

Survey Sampling opens office in Mexico City

MEXICO— Survey Sampling International ( SSI) has opened a new office in Mexico City, following the expansion of its online panel in the country earlier this year.

News30 September 2009

Sermo unveils on-demand physician panel

US— Online physician community Sermo has launched an on-demand panel service that gives researchers the opportunity to survey its 110,000 members.

News30 September 2009

Opinion Leader names Boelman associate director

UK— Opinion Leader has appointed Olivier Boelman as an associate director. He spent the last five years at Consensus Research, where he primarily covered the financial services sector.

News30 September 2009

Leapfrog restructures management around key verticals

UK— Cello-owned research agency Leapfrog has restructured its senior management team into separate areas - health and wellbeing, retail, and brand, communications and media.

News30 September 2009

Privacy group logs FTC complaint over Echometrix

US— A privacy group is calling on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Echometrix, the maker of marketing intelligence software that analyses teens’ online conversations, alleging unfair and deceptive behaviour and violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.

News29 September 2009

Digital fingerprinting 'may be unlawful in Canada', warns MRIA

CANADA— The Marketing Research and Intelligence Association ( MRIA) has warned its members that digital fingerprinting may be unlawful in Canada as it “may collect more information than is necessary to identify fraudulent and duplicate respondents in online research”.

News29 September 2009

Added Value launches three marketing initiatives

UK— Added Value has launched a trio of new global marketing initiatives, AV-id, Character Creation and a specialist approcah based on tracking trends.

News29 September 2009

Kwik Fit picks SPSS for customer retention

UK— Kwik Fit Insurance has chosen SPSS’s predictive analytics software tool PASW Statistics to analyse and understand customer motivations when buying motor insurance.

News29 September 2009

YouTube adds Insight data to Content ID tool

US— YouTube is to add data from its Insight statistical service to its Content ID tool, which allows users such as TV broadcasters to identify user-uploaded versions of their videos.

News29 September 2009

Coke and Unilever to trial ARF online quality programme

US— Later today the Advertising Research Foundation is set to unveil a process it has developed in collaboration with industry partners which is designed to improve quality in online research.

News29 September 2009

Nielsen confirmed as UK web currency supplier

UK— Nielsen has been confirmed as the official supplier of a web audience measurement system funded by media owners, data from which is intended to be used as currency for buying and selling online advertising.

News29 September 2009

Laid-off ICT employee calls off claim for compensation

US— A compensation claim by a former employee of a research call centre in Pennsylvania that was shut down last year by data collection firm ICT Group has been dismissed voluntarily.

News28 September 2009

Synovate expands Retail Performance business

UK— Synovate is looking to expand its Retail Performance shopper counting and analytics business across Europe, Asia and the Americas.

News28 September 2009

IFF Research posts 40% sales rise and turnover of £7m

UK— IFF Research has reported a 40% rise in sales to £8.7m for the year ending 31 March 2009. Turnover was up marginally to £6.99m from £6.98m the previous year.

News28 September 2009

Rentrak gets stuck in to measuring TV 'stickiness'

US— Audience size isn’t everything, says Rentrak. The firm, which has ambitions to become a key player in the media research field, today launched a new ‘stickiness’ index to rate the most engaging TV programmes and channels.

News28 September 2009

Beaton merges with Taylor Management Consulting

AUSTRALIA— Business-to-business research and consulting firm Beaton has merged with Taylor Management Consulting.

News28 September 2009

Hansa 'renews' Indian reader survey contract

INDIA— Hansa Research is reported to have secured a three-year contract to run the Indian Readership Survey ( IRS) – despite plans to merge that survey with its rival from next year.

News28 September 2009

SPSS settles with founder Nie over trademark dispute

US— SPSS has reached a settlement in a legal dispute with its founder Norman Nie over the use of the ‘SPSS’ trademark.

News28 September 2009

YouGov and Sky News launch daily political polls

UK— YouGov and Sky News have launched a daily polling service to coincide with the annual Conservative and Labour party conferences.

Feature28 September 2009

What's in it for me? Researchers study cynicism

A team at the London School of Economics has begun researching the social impact of cynicism – the tendency to believe that other people are motivated by self-interest. Research spoke to Charles Liasides and Alain Samson about their work.

News25 September 2009

Needham appointed to Tangible board

News25 September 2009

European launch for The Sound

UK— Canadian youth research agency The Sound has opened an office in London in the first step of its European expansion.

News25 September 2009

Mzinga scoops $10m financing

US— Online analytics software firm Mzinga has received $10m through its second round of private equity funding.

News25 September 2009

Ipsos picks RelevantView for online panel task

US— Ipsos has struck a technology deal with RelevantView to run the latter’s RelevantID digital fingerprinting technology across its online panels.

News25 September 2009

Communispace's Diane Hessan takes to the Spotlight

Spotlight has been on its hols but is back in style with Diane Hessan, president and CEO of Communispace

News25 September 2009

Visual IQ launches Audience IQ to test marketing ROI

US— Marketing intelligence firm Visual IQ has unveiled Audience IQ, a tool that aims to provide analysis on customer behaviours generated by marketing campaigns.

News25 September 2009

People on the move

The latest appointments and promotions in the global market research industry

News25 September 2009

CIMM preparing first audience measurement RFPs

US— The Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement ( CIMM) will release its first two requests for proposals ( RFPs) for new audience measurement techniques next week, according to reports on the web.

News25 September 2009

Angus Reid named marketing legend

CANADA— Research industry veteran Angus Reid has been named as one of eight people joining the Canadian Marketing Hall of Legends this year.

News25 September 2009

Maven debuts customer satisfaction measure

UK— Maven Research has launched CSM Pro, a data measurement tool designed to score, benchmark and track customer satisfaction.

News25 September 2009

Business services sector sees highest August insolvency rate

UK— Insolvency rates during August were highest in the business services sector, according to Experian’s Insolvency and Distress Index.

News25 September 2009

IMS dispenses cures for biopharma firms

US— Healthcare research giant launches Ask IMS, a web-based market intelligence service aimed squarely at early-stage biopharmaceutical companies.

News24 September 2009

Strategic Vision chief vows legal action over AAPOR rap

US— David Johnson, the CEO of pollster Strategic Vision, has vowed legal action against the American Association for Public Research after the professional body ruled the agency was in breach of its rules around survey methodology disclosure.

News24 September 2009

Microsoft invites brands through the LookingGlass

US— Microsoft is planning a move into social media analysis with a new tool code-named LookingGlass, which was unveiled yesterday at Advertising Week in New York.

News24 September 2009

Game on for IAB with ad measurement rules

US— Guidelines for measuring exposure to advertising in PC and console games have been published by the Interactive Advertising Bureau ( IAB).

News24 September 2009

AAPOR calls out Strategic Vision over poll disclosure

US— The American Association for Public Opinion Research has found pollster Strategic Vision in violation of its Code of Professional Ethics and Practices.

News24 September 2009

Cint and Habbo launch online teen panels

SWEDEN— Research software firm Cint has teamed up with Sulake, the owner of online teen community Habbo, to build a series of youth panels around the world.

News24 September 2009

Shoppercentric hires Ipsos veteran as director

UK— Former Ipsos retail and shopper research MD Sharon Hodgson has joined Shoppercentric as a director.

News24 September 2009

Coleman Insights acquires MediaEKG

US— Media research firm Coleman Insights has acquired MediaEKG and its patent-pending consumer feedback technology, which is used to conduct online evaluations of radio and television shows for media companies.

News23 September 2009

WPP and Google open second round of research funding

US— Google and WPP are inviting bids for the second stage of their $4.6m three-year programme to fund media research projects.

News23 September 2009

Arbitron disputes House committee claims on PPM sampling 'problems'

US— Subpoenaed documents from the Media Rating Council show “persistent problems” with minority audience samples for Arbitron’s portable people meter radio measurement system, according to a congressional committee. Arbitron, however, says the committee’s conclusions are “erroneous”.

News23 September 2009

Emnos partners Payback into Poland

POLAND— Retail data analytics agency Emnos has opened an office in Warsaw to support the Polish expansion of the German loyalty card programme Payback.

News23 September 2009

HMV appoints Retail Eyes for customer service task

UK— Entertainment retailer HMV has contracted Retail Eyes to create and operate a customer experience programme.

News23 September 2009

The Leading Edge chief executive steps down

AUSTRALIA— Mark Sundquist has stepped down as chief executive of The Leading Edge, a role he has held for three years.

Opinion23 September 2009

What can Jay-Z teach us about social behaviour?

Anna Thomas, research director at Define, on what Mark Earls, Jay-Z and Greg Dyke can teach us about social behaviour.

News23 September 2009

Nielsen moves to dismiss new Sunbeam complaint

US— Ratings firm Nielsen has again asked a court to dismiss anti-trust proceedings bought against it by Florida-based broadcaster Sunbeam Television.

News22 September 2009

Nielsen and Facebook form alliance and unveil ad testing tool

US— Facebook and Nielsen have launched an online tool to measure the effectiveness of adverts that appear on the social networking website.

News22 September 2009

Lightspeed appoints Cayton as CEO for EMEA

UK— Lightspeed Research has appointed Andrew Cayton as CEO for EMEA, replacing David Day who became global chief executive earlier this year.

News22 September 2009

IBM follows SPSS deal with RedPill acquisition bid

SINGAPORE— Hot on the heels of its deal to buy SPSS, computing giant IBM has agreed to acquire the business of customer analytics services firm RedPill Solutions.

News22 September 2009

Cambiar opens marketing and product positioning practice

US— MR consulting agency Cambiar has launched a new practice to help companies improve the positioning and marketing of their products.

News22 September 2009

Synovate hires community panels director

UK— Synovate has appointed Marc Chester to the newly created role of community panels director.

News22 September 2009

GfK Technology promotes Krajicek to MD in US

US— David Krajicek has been promoted to managing director of GfK Technology from his previous role of executive vice president of the firm’s brand and communications business.

News22 September 2009

Mesh opens 'experience database' to media planners

UK— In the three years since its launch, communications research agency Mesh Planning has catalogued over 100,000 interactions between consumers and brand touchpoints. Now the firm has compiled all that information into a planning database.

News22 September 2009

BrainJuicer plans Chinese expansion

UK— Online research agency BrainJuicer is planning to open an office in China next year. CEO John Kearon said launching in the country is “not for the faint-hearted, but we’ve just got to be there”.

News21 September 2009

NeuroFocus appoints lab operations director

US— Steven Miller has been appointed director of global NeuroLab operations at NeuroFocus. He will be based at the neuromarketing agency’s main lab in Berkeley, California.

News21 September 2009

Rentrak continues to build out measurement offer

US— Rentrak is continuing to build out its media measurement offer, adding Steven Walsh and Jeremy Gabor as senior vice president and director of sales respectively.

News21 September 2009

Nasdaq warns Harris over share price

US— Nasdaq has given Harris Interactive 180 days to raise its share price as the research agency’s stock has closed below the minimum listing price of $1 for the last 30 consecutive business days.

News21 September 2009

Barb sets sights on measuring online TV viewing

UK— The Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board ( Barb) wants to start measuring TV content watched on PCs and laptops - providing it can find a satisfactory way of doing so.

News21 September 2009

Omniture strikes deal with ComScore for 'unified' measurement

US— In an attempt to close the gap between site-specific and panel-based web traffic data, Omniture and ComScore said today they were working together on developing a unified system for digital audience measurement.

News21 September 2009

Phorm cuts first-half loss, but still no revenue to report

UK— Online targeted advertising firm Phorm managed to cut its losses in the first six months of the year but still has no revenue to report, according to results.

Feature21 September 2009

Unlikely alliances

As the recession causes clients to pay more attention to how they buy research, Phil Rushfirth and Caroline Walker of Nunwood say that agencies need to get used to working with their competitors in ‘split service’ models.

Feature21 September 2009

Unlikely alliances

As the recession causes clients to pay more attention to how they buy research, Phil Rushfirth and Caroline Walker of Nunwood say that agencies need to get used to working with their competitors in ‘split service’ models.

News18 September 2009

WOM measurement to continue strong growth - study

US— Spending on research and measurement of word-of-mouth marketing in the US is set to grow at ‘double-digit’ rates this year, according to a study by researcher PQ Media.

News18 September 2009

Esomar announces 2009 award winners

SWITZERLAND— Esomar has announced the winners of its 2009 Congress Awards from Montreux in Switzerland.

News18 September 2009

Synovate to close Iowa call centre

US— Synovate is to close its call centre in Ottumwa, Iowa, in November, according to press reports.

News18 September 2009

People on the move

The latest appointments and promotions in the global market research industry

News18 September 2009

Merkle launches LogicLab analytics business

US— Database marketing agency Merkle has launched a new business, LogicLab, to provide data and analytics to media buyers.

News18 September 2009

P&G and HeadlightVision veterans form new agency

UK— Two former P&G researchers and a co-founder of HeadlightVision’s HV3 division have formed a new agency, InsightOut.

News18 September 2009

In-Stat launches STB, Wi-Fi and pay TV databases

US— Technology market research agency In-Stat has launched three new databases, covering the markets for pay TV, set-top box and Wi-Fi enabled products.

News18 September 2009

Arbitron and radio industry to create 'affinity' metric

US— Arbitron and a group of radio broadcasters, advertisers and media buyers have formed a task force to develop a new metric to measure the relationship or ‘affinity’ listeners have with stations.

Opinion17 September 2009

Metacognition and the anterior superior temporal gyrus

Manfred Mareck joins Jonah Lehrer for a spot of mental gymnastics as the neuroscience writer attempts to help researchers train their brains to aid the insight discovery process.

News17 September 2009

RS Consulting shuffles leadership pack

UK— Research group Cello has named a new leadership team for its RS Consulting subsidiary and confirmed that Neil Swan is leaving the company.

News17 September 2009

Draftfcb shifts MR work to Interpublic

US— Draftfcb has closed its Worldwide Marketing Research Services group, transferring its work to Interpublic’s Center for Marketing Intelligence.

News17 September 2009

Insight agency Snowball bought by Tangent for £3m

UK— Digital marketing firm Tangent has acquired customer insight agency Snowball in a cash and shares deal worth up to £3.2m.

News17 September 2009

Echometrix receives $2m investment

US— Investment house Rock Island Capital has invested $2m into marketing intelligence software provider Echometrix through the purchase of stock at $9.09 a share.

News17 September 2009

Photon Group raises AUS$114m through share offering

AUSTRALIA— Photon Group, the owner of research agencies The Leading Edge and Jigsaw, has raised AUS$114.6m in two rounds of new share offerings.

Opinion17 September 2009

Phishing for a solution to online research challenges

Day two of Esomar Congress finds our correspondent Manfred Mareck wrestling with issues of privacy, data security and confidentiality in online research. He also takes in a paper on best practices in interviewing children and gauges delegate response to a new charity fundraising initiative centred on online surveys.

News17 September 2009

Ando Media acquired by Triton

US— Ando Media, which provides ad measurement and insertion technology for online audio, has been acquired by Triton Digital Media, a firm providing software and digital services to the broadcast industry.

News17 September 2009

Brian Fine to step down from ORU and STW roles

AUSTRALIA— Brian Fine is stepping down from his position as chairman of the Online Research Unit ( ORU) and of the insight division of parent company STW.

News17 September 2009

Toluna posts 67% first-half revenue rise

UK— Toluna has reported a “strong” first half of 2009, with total revenue up 67% to £13.7m from £8.2m in the same period last year. Operating profits were up 21% on last year, at £1.6m compared to £1.3m, and pre-tax profits rose 12% to £1.6m from £1.4m.

Opinion16 September 2009

Paco Underhill on shopping behaviour and MR's failings

Part two of Manfred Mareck’s Esomar Congress report. The Wednesday afternoon session began with a keynote talk on consumer and shopper behaviour by Envirosell’s Paco Underhill ( pictured) and follow up papers on corporate social responsibility and ethical consumerism. Read on…

News16 September 2009

United Sample launches panel for RedFlagDeals.com

CANADA— Online sample supplier United Sample has launched a new panel for shopping comparison website RedFlagDeals.com, which is owned by Clear Sky Media.

News16 September 2009

Arbitron awarded out-of-home ad audit task

US— Arbitron’s portable people meter ( PPM) technology is to be used to deliver a “proof of play” advertising audit for out-of-home video networks.

News16 September 2009

IMS offers outsourcing services to drugs companies

US— IMS Health has been cutting costs internally through outsourcing and offshoring. Now it is looking to do the same for its pharmaceutical clients.

Opinion16 September 2009

The future will be grim, you can bank on that

Manfred Mareck is our man in Montreux, the setting for this year’s Esomar Congress. Here he takes us through this morning’s conference sessions, explaining why current optimism about a speedy upturn in the economy is misplaced and how post-recession market research will become a form of psychotherapy for distressed consumers.

News16 September 2009

Easyjet re-signs Virtual Surveys for community task

UK— Easyjet has renewed its contract with Virtual Surveys to operate its online customer community in 2009-10.

News16 September 2009

Ex-SSI chief joins rival Authentic Response as CEO

US— Former Survey Sampling International ( SSI) boss Jim Follett has joined rival Authentic Response as chief executive.

News16 September 2009

CMOR urges caution over Maine data-handling law

US— Industry lobbyist CMOR is urging researchers to check that their data sets and research plans comply with a new law in Maine that prohibits the sale or transfer of personal data about state residents under the age of 18.

News16 September 2009

Mayor's mother quizzed over gas tax poll

US— Oregon state investigators have written to the mother of Springfield mayor Sid Leiken demanding information about a telephone poll allegedly carried out by her market research company.

News16 September 2009

Adobe to buy web analytics firm Omniture for $1.8bn

US— Design software firm Adobe has agreed a $1.8bn deal to acquire web and marketing analytics software developer Omniture. Adobe says the deal paves the way for ad designers, developers and online marketers to embed Omniture’s “optimisation capabilities” into their creative work.

News15 September 2009

AskYourTargetMarket unveils 'research on-demand' service

US— Beta testing is underway for an online, on-demand survey tool called AskYourTargetMarket.com that allows users to quiz its consumer panel for as little as $29.95.

News15 September 2009

First public sector wins for Spring Research

UK— Spring Research has won its first public sector clients - Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, the Central Office of Information and communications watchdog Ofcom.

News15 September 2009

IQ Holdings raises £150,000 through loan note issue

UK— IQ Holdings, the owner of IQ Research, Viewpoint Field & Studios and Rossyln Research, has raised £150,000 for working capital purposes through the issue of convertible unsecured loan notes.

News15 September 2009

James Turner to head FreshMinds' online business

UK— FreshMinds has hired former BT head of research James Turner to head up its restructured online research division.

News15 September 2009

Direct Marketing Association hails insight as crucial

UK— The Direct Marketing Association ( DMA) has urged marketers to make greater use of research and insight in their campaigns.

News15 September 2009

Bauer Radio in hot water over Costa Coffee research claim

UK— Bauer Radio is in hot water with regulator Ofcom over research claims made by Costa Coffee in its sponsorship of competitions on three radio stations.

News15 September 2009

ComScore promotes Dale to COO

US— ComScore has promoted chief technology officer Gregory Dale to the newly created post of chief operating officer, where he will oversee all the firm’s operating activities.

News15 September 2009

Cello income and profits down, but group positive on second half

UK— Cello’s research and consulting business reported income and profit declines today for the first six months of 2009, though the firm is hopeful for operating profit growth in the second half.

News14 September 2009

MR set to benefit if UK scraps product placement ban

UK— Scrapping the ban on product placement on British television could net research agencies millions in additional revenue as marketers seek to measure the effectiveness of this new brand-building channel.

News14 September 2009

Kuoni and Club Med sign for GfK travel monitor

UK— Swiss tourism company Kuoni and French resort chain Club Med have signed up to GfK Ascent MI’s Leisure Travel Monitor ( LTM), which provides market intelligence on forward booking information for the outbound holiday market.

News14 September 2009

Veteran statistician launches BarryAnalytics

UK— Marketing statistician Barry Leventhal has launched a new data analytics consultancy, BarryAnalytics.

News14 September 2009

MRI touts expanded AdMeasure as print ad 'currency'

US— Mediamark Research ( MRI) is touting an expanded version of its AdMeasure service as a syndicated industry currency for print ad measurement.

News14 September 2009

eDigital names Eccleston to board, hires research manager

UK— Online agency eDigital Research has promoted Derek Eccleston to the board of directors and hired a new research manager, Daniel Curtis.

Feature14 September 2009

Putting wisdom of crowds to good work

Four years ago, clientside researcher Ed Martin set about developing a way to fund millions of dollars worth of charitable programmes by tapping into the billions spent on MR each year. The result is Pause to Support a Cause.

News14 September 2009

Campaign seeks to boost charitable giving through surveys

US— A survey panel has launched with the lofty aims of boosting charitable donations while engaging typically hard-to-reach communities in the market research process.

News14 September 2009

Nielsen appoints consumer research director in India

INDIA— Nielsen has appointed former Heinz India research manager Sandeep Ranada as director of client solutions in the consumer research division.

News14 September 2009

Verve opens in Australia and New Zealand

AUSTRALIA— Verve has opened an office in Sydney as it launches its customer advisory panel and online brand community offer in Australia and New Zealand.

News11 September 2009

E-Rewards adds AeroMexico passengers to panels

US— E-Rewards and AeroMexico have agreed a deal that will see the airline’s passengers join the online researcher’s Mexico business-to-business and affluent-consumer panels.

News11 September 2009

Google creates online stats repository

UK— Google has created an online repository of facts about consumer trends, media consumption, the media landscape, macro economic trends and technology.

Opinion11 September 2009

Mixed messages from new TV industry consortium

A coalition of US media buyers, TV broadcasters and advertisers has stressed that it doesn’t intend to replace Nielsen’s existing rating system, but it is actively looking for another way to measure television viewing. Its message is muddled.

News11 September 2009

Sears to destroy web tracking data

US— The Federal Trade Commission has approved a final consent order that requires the owner of Sears and K-Mart to disclose the installation of tracking software on consumers’ computers in the future.

News11 September 2009

Online 'no less accurate' than phone, says ARF

US— According to new data from the Advertising Research Foundation, there is “no clear pattern” of telephone research based on random samples providing more accurate results than surveys conducted using online panels.

News11 September 2009

Kimberly Bastoni joins GfK Custom in US marketing role

US— Kimberly Bastoni has joined GfK’s North American Custom Research business to head marketing, business development and global key account management.

News10 September 2009

People on the move

The latest appointments and promotions in the global market research and consumer insight industry. This week: YouGov Psychonomics, Passenger, Opinion Leader, iCrossing and Experian.

News10 September 2009

Ipsos creates Hispanic research centre in US

US— Ipsos’s public affairs practice has launched a dedicated research centre to study the US’s burgeoning Hispanic population.

News10 September 2009

Critical Mass launches marketing measurement arm

CANADA— Omnicom-owned digital marketing agency Critical Mass has launched a new business arm to measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.

News10 September 2009

TV industry unveils the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement

US— A group of 14 advertisers, TV content providers and media agencies have officially launched the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement, with the aim of “promoting innovation in audience measurement for television and cross-platform media”.

News10 September 2009

Cossette shuts out co-founder from sale process

CANADA— Cossette has refused to open its books to its former vice chairman François Duffar, who is bidding to buy the marketing services group through his investment vehicle Cosmos Capital.

Opinion10 September 2009

Introducing Research Live forums

Research Live is eager to offer you a platform for discussion that is easy to use, powerful and flexible. That’s why we’re launching forums - a space where you can react to, or chew over, our market-leading coverage and kick-start fresh debate.

News10 September 2009

TNS Infratest and TrustYou track online hotel reviews

GERMANY— TNS Infratest and search engine TrustYou have launched a tool for tracking online customer opinion for the travel industry.

News10 September 2009

Nielsen makes Korean web measurement acquisition

KOREA— Nielsen has acquired online measurement firm KoreanClick. The firm uses proprietary technology to measure usage and attitude data across online messaging, gaming and multimedia web platforms.

Feature10 September 2009

Is co-creation over-hyped?

Co-creation promises to break down the barriers between researchers, consumers and marketers. But how much substance is there behind all the hype? Sheila Keegan of Campbell Keegan and Jeremy Brown of Sense take sides in the debate.

Feature10 September 2009

Is co-creation over-hyped?

Co-creation promises to break down the barriers between researchers, consumers and marketers. But how much substance is there behind all the hype? Sheila Keegan of Campbell Keegan and Jeremy Brown of Sense take sides in the debate.

News9 September 2009

Research industry charity requests double

UK— The Market Research Benevolent Association has seen applications for financial support nearly double this year amid the recession.

News9 September 2009

Nielsen TV panel to track online viewing

US— Nielsen has developed a new meter to track online TV viewing, and will start adding it to households in its National People Meter panel by the end of the year.

News9 September 2009

IAB Singapore appoints new leadership

SINGAPORE— The Interactive Advertising Bureau ( IAB) Singapore has elected a new chairman and a 10-strong leadership council.

News9 September 2009

Carma upgrades social and media monitoring tools

US— Media research house Carma is to upgrade its social media measurement service and add new features to NewsAccess, its media monitoring tool.

News9 September 2009

Saber Khan joins STRC as Middle East boss

UK— Saber Khan, former research director at STRC group company Ethnic Focus, has returned to the group as director of Middle East and emerging markets for STRC Research and Intelligence.

News9 September 2009

A free take on the Free movement

Chris Anderson, author of The Long Tail, recently published Free in the UK. In this Google Talk he gives you a taster of the ideas behind the book.

Opinion9 September 2009

Science fiction: The creeping threat of survey abuse

Science writer Simon Singh has been railing against the abuse of survey research by companies who want free publicity and journalists who want free copy. Tim Phillips fears that the trend bodes ill for genuine market researchers.

News9 September 2009

Skopos unveils social media and UGI tools

UK— Skopos has announced details of Netnography, a social media tool and Webalyzer, a website analysis product.

News9 September 2009

RightNow to acquire community provider HiveLive

US— Customer relationship management firm RightNow has agreed a deal to buy online research community business HiveLive for $6m.

News8 September 2009

NPD promotes in food and beverage unit

US— Mark East has been promoted to president of the North American food and beverage business unit at The NPD Group.

News8 September 2009

Esomar reports 2008 global MR revenue up 4.5% to $32bn

NETHERLANDS— Global market research revenues reached $32bn in 2008, up 4.5%, or 0.4% after inflation, according to the latest figures from Esomar.

News8 September 2009

Synovate debuts community panels

HONG KONG— Synovate has gone to market with its community panels offering, which has been developed in partnership with Vision Critical.

News8 September 2009

Colmar Brunton and Communispace partner in AsiaPac

AUSTRALIA— US-based Communispace has teamed up with Australian research agency Colmar Brunton to develop online research communities in the Asia Pacific region.

News8 September 2009

FCC urged to consider need for tougher online privacy protections

US— The Federal Communications Commission is being urged to consider whether there is a need for additional consumer privacy protections in light of public concern over online targeting.

News8 September 2009

Majestic MRSS in Middle Eastern expansion

UAE— India-based full service agency Majestic MRSS has strengthened its presence in the Middle East with a trio of new appointments.

News8 September 2009

Austria's Integral buys Sinus Sociovision

AUSTRIA— Vienna-based Integral Market and Opinion Research has taken a majority stake in German psychological and social trend specialist Sinus Sociovision.

News8 September 2009

The Newspaper Works opens Australian readership tender

AUSTRALIA— Print industry body The Newspaper Works has officially opened tendering to find an agency to carry out its new readership survey.

News8 September 2009

Ogilvy handed regional role at Effective Measure

UAE— Brendon Ogilvy has been appointed regional director for the Middle East and North Africa ( MENA) region at online audience measurement firm Effective Measure.

News8 September 2009

Vishney launches Vivid quant offer in Sydney

AUSTRALIA— Former Essential Research executive Alex Vishney has joined Vivid Research in Sydney to head the agency’s quantitative offer.

News7 September 2009

Devilfish tests the market research waters

UK— Devilfish Gambling, the owner of a poker site fronted by renowned British card player David ‘Devilfish’ Ulliott ( pictured), is branching out – into market research.

News7 September 2009

GfK's EMO Sensor to gauge emotional response to adverts

GERMANY— GfK has launched a service to measure consumers’ emotional reactions to advertising and marketing campaigns, called the EMO Sensor.

News7 September 2009

ESRC appoints new council members

UK— John Beath has been appointed a member of the Economic and Social Research Council ( ESRC), the organisation responsible for funding research into social and economic matters.

News7 September 2009

Social marketer adds Powered-up analytics capabilities

US— Powered, a social marketing firm that runs campaigns for the likes of Sony, Hewlett-Packard and Motorola, has updated its branded online community platform with “enhanced” measurement and analytics capabilities.

News7 September 2009

Lee named Asia CEO of auto specialist Enprecis

US— Automotive customer research firm Enprecis has set up an Asian subsidiary, which will be headed by Ike Lee, an investor in the business.

Opinion7 September 2009

No sign of ‘green shoots’ as summer ends

Economic commentators may have started calling the bottom of the recession, but research agencies will still struggle to return to growth as information buyers continue to rein in spending. Stuart Butler-Smith reports.

News7 September 2009

JRA hires former Harris divisional leader

UK— JRA Research has appointed David Hassall, formerly in charge of the business and industrial research division at Harris Interactive, as head of business research.

News4 September 2009

People on the move

The latest appointments and promotions in the global market research industry. Today: Comscore, Fox Searchlight, Merkle and more.

News4 September 2009

PSB chairman Don Baer takes board role at DailyMe

US— Don Baer, a former adviser to President Bill Clinton turned chairman of polling firm Penn, Shoen & Berland, has been appointed to the board of DailyMe, an online personalised news site.

News4 September 2009

Ci goes to market with new retail research team

UK— Cheshire-based agency Ci Research has formed a new retail research team headed by former Iceland and Littlewoods researcher Gareth Hodgson.

Opinion4 September 2009

Public sector procurement leaves small suppliers out in the cold

New government procurement recommendations designed to help SMEs win business in the public sector could end up making things worse, say independent researchers.

Opinion4 September 2009

Public sector procurement leaves small suppliers out in the cold

New government procurement recommendations designed to help SMEs win business in the public sector could end up making things worse, say independent researchers.

Opinion4 September 2009

Public sector procurement leaves small suppliers out in the cold

New government procurement recommendations designed to help SMEs win business in the public sector could end up making things worse, say independent researchers.

Opinion4 September 2009

Public sector procurement leaves small suppliers out in the cold

New government procurement recommendations designed to help SMEs win business in the public sector could end up making things worse, say independent researchers.

News4 September 2009

Small MR suppliers 'excluded' by public sector procurement

UK— Independent researchers are claiming that public sector procurement practices are leaving them out in the cold - and changes designed to open up the field to smaller providers could make things worse.

News4 September 2009

Hitwise debuts web measurement service in Brazil

BRAZIL— Hitwise’s internet measurement service made its debut in Brazil this week, with Google-owned sites occupying four slots in a ranking of the ten most visited domains in the country.

News4 September 2009

RIM to quiz BlackBerry users for insights

US— Smartphone manufacturer Research In Motion ( RIM) is recruiting a panel of BlackBerry owners, IT administrators and company partners to take part in monthly surveys.

News4 September 2009

Lightspeed's David Day takes to the Spotlight

The new global CEO of WPP’s online panel firm talks to us about the recession, his mentor and why every research firm should be fit for purpose.

News3 September 2009

Ugam bolsters US offer with new business and ops hires

US— Outsourcing firm Ugam Research Solutions has bolstered its US presence with new hires in the areas of account management, project management and business development. 

News3 September 2009

Borderless Access hires Lightspeed sales director

US— Borderless Access, the online panel company launched earlier this year by India-based research outsourcing firm Cross-Tab, has hired Jason Tiffer as director of sales.

News3 September 2009

TNS and NDS track individual TV viewing

US— TNS Media Research and NDS, which provides technology to pay TV operators, have introduced a system to link TV set-top box data with individual viewers in a household.

News3 September 2009

Research Partnership names Gaj as director in US

US— Pharma market research specialist The Research Partnership has appointed Chris Gaj as a director at the company’s operations in Philadelphia.

News3 September 2009

Privacy groups put proposals to Congress

US— As Congress considers new privacy legislation, consumer and privacy groups have put forward their proposals for limiting online data collection.

News3 September 2009

$3m bonus earmarked for Cossette senior executives

CANADA— Senior executives of marketing services group Cossette could share a bonus pot worth C$3.5m if an acquisition of the group goes ahead.

Feature3 September 2009

Is social media measurement meaningless?

Social media has caused a great deal of fuss in the worlds of marketing and research, but do the attempts to measure and make sense of all those friends, fans, followers, pokes, posts and retweets really amount to anything?

News3 September 2009

Sunbeam files amended complaint in Nielsen antitrust case

US— Sunbeam Television has filed an amended complaint in its anti-trust action against Nielsen, after a court dismissed its earlier complaint.

News2 September 2009

Severn Trent Water picks Maven for three-year visitor study

UK— Maven Research has been commissioned by Severn Trent Water to run a three-year study of visitors to the utility firm’s recreational sites.

News2 September 2009

Researcher to represent England in Miss Earth contest

UK— England’s Miss Earth contestant is not just a pretty face – she’s also a market researcher with online agency Attain Insight.

News2 September 2009

MSW names Insight Engineers as UK partner

UK— New York-based research group McCollum Spielman Worldwide ( MSW) is partnering with UK agency Insight Engineers to push its brand and communications research approaches in the European market.

News2 September 2009

UK mobile industry agrees media measurement deal

UK— Mobile industry body GSMA has announced that it has formally selected ComScore to implement its Mobile Media Metrics ( MMM) service in the UK.

News2 September 2009

Synovate's new boss looks to the future

We speak to Robert Philpott about taking over the global agency amid the recession, and about what he’s learned over the years from his predecessor Adrian Chedore.

News2 September 2009

Evo US relaunched as Think Conservatory following MBO

US— Evo Research & Consulting in New York has relaunched as Think Conservatory after the demise of its UK parent company.

News2 September 2009

IRI acquires sister company The Hendry Corporation

US— Information Resources ( IRI) is acquiring sister company The Hendry Corporation, which provides consumer goods firms with market structure modelling and business simulation software to help them optimise their marketing strategies.

Opinion2 September 2009

Introducing Research Live blogs

Today we’re pleased to announce the launch of blogs on Research Live. When we overhauled the site in June we wanted to provide new avenues for you to have your say on what we write about. Now it’s your turn to do the writing.

News1 September 2009

Nurago launches Digital Club for insights into online activity

UK— Research technology firm Nurago has launched a service that uses a web browser plug-in to track the online activity of 8,000 people. The technology records what sites they visit, the ads they see and the videos they watch.

News1 September 2009

Research exempt from Federal Trade Commission's robocall ban

US— The Federal Trade Commission has banned telemarketing ‘robocalls’ from today - but market research calls are exempt.

News1 September 2009

BBM Canada switches on PPM TV and radio panel

CANADA— Media ratings body BBM Canada has begun using Arbitron’s portable people meter ( PPM) measurement system in what is said to be the world’s largest combined TV and radio audience panel.

News1 September 2009

TiVo 'not looking to dislodge Nielsen'

US— Nielsen faces many challenges to its dominance in the TV ratings business - but it need not completely fear TiVo, according to Tom Rogers, CEO of the digital video recorder firm and aspiring media measurement player.

News1 September 2009

German exit poll 'leaked' on Twitter

GERMANY— Results of exit polls for Sunday’s regional elections in Germany were apparently leaked on Twitter before polling stations closed.

News1 September 2009

SPSS investors to vote on IBM bid in October

US— Shareholders in research and analytics software firm SPSS are to have their say on the company’s sale to IBM at a special meeting on 2 October. If approved, the takeover is expected to be complete before the end of the year.

Feature1 September 2009

Who do you trust?

What drives trust in market research, and how is it changing in different markets? With the help of some fresh data from GfK’s Trust Index, Phyllis Macfarlane looks at how the profession is perceived and how that affects the entire industry.

Feature1 September 2009

Data distrust: lies, damned lies and statistics

In an era of spin, public trust in statistics has taken a knock. Add in fears about the handling of personal data, and you have the makings of a crisis of trust. Richard Young surveys the scene.

Feature1 September 2009

Blanket coverage

Snuggie, the ‘blanket with sleeves’, became a surprise social media phenomenon. Nielsen decided to look at the success of the Snuggie to test ‘listening’ and ‘asking’ based approaches to research.

Feature1 September 2009

Blanket coverage

Snuggie, the ‘blanket with sleeves’, became a surprise social media phenomenon. Nielsen decided to look at the success of the Snuggie to test ‘listening’ and ‘asking’ based approaches to research.

Feature1 September 2009

Healthy curiosity

To find out more about the causes of childhood obesity, 2CV’s Selena King spent two days living with a family in North Tyneside. This is her story.

Feature1 September 2009

60 Second Soapbox – Heather Payne

Heather Payne, CEO of Research International in Asia Pacific, has had enough of using PowerPoint and cannot face another advert where people sneeze on each other.

Feature1 September 2009

Double Lives – Jonathan Shingleton

Researchers reveal how their out-of-hours pursuits impact on the 9-to-5. This month we speak to Jonathan Shingleton, who’s a director of Giraffe Research and Consulting, and has also sailed across the Atlantic.

Feature1 September 2009

If there's one thing I've learnt... Julia Horlov

Career tips for research practitioners. This month: Julia Horlov, partner at McCallum Layton.

Opinion1 September 2009

Making space for conversation

Over the past decade journalists have had a real fight on their hands. They’ve had to come to terms with a public that is spending more and more time talking to each other and sharing with each other. The patriarchal, all-controlling media organisation is an entity that is, broadly speaking, on borrowed time.

Feature1 September 2009

Confirmit Horizons reviewed

Our technology correspondent, Tim Macer, puts this new mixed-mode interviewing system to the test. It’s certainly powerful, but is it going to be a breeze to use?