News26 November 2010

People on the move

The latest round-up of personnel changes in the research and insight business. Companies announcing staff changes this week include Percept Research, Purdie Pascoe, Nunwood and Progressive.

News29 October 2010

RSMB targets growth through data fusion

UK— Audience research agency RSMB is targeting data fusion projects as a growth area for its business, off the back of work with the National Readership Survey ( NRS) and the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising ( IPA).

News29 October 2010

AAPOR updates cellphone survey guidelines

US— The American Association for Public Opinion Research ( AAPOR) has updated its guidelines on the use of cellphones in survey research as the percentage of US homes without landlines passes 25%.

News29 October 2010

All Global launches 24-hour Snapshot survey

US— Healthcare panel provider All Global has launched a service to provide feedback to breaking industry news stories and trends within 24 hours.

News29 October 2010

People on the move

The latest appointments and promotions in the global market research industry. This week: BMF, Swift Research, Synovate, EDigital Research, WISERD, Smartfocus, Leapfrog, iSuppli, FreshMinds Research, Discovery and Insight Research Group.

News29 October 2010

Google adds Kantar's DirecTView data to TV Ads service

US— Google has signed up to use return path data ( RPD) from Kantar’s DirecTView television audience measurement panel to support its online TV advertising marketplace, Google TV Ads.

News29 October 2010

White House joins internet privacy debate

US— The debate over internet privacy has gone right to the top of government – the White House’s National Science and Technology Council has formed a subcommittee with the goal of fostering consensus in legislative, regulatory and international internet policy realms.

News29 October 2010

Revenue down, losses up in Harris Interactive's first quarter

US— Revenue decreased and losses mounted for Harris Interactive during the first quarter of fiscal 2011 – but CEO Kimberly Till remains confident that the firm is well placed to turn a profit for the full year.

News29 October 2010

Strong consumer insight growth helps WPP to 10-year high

UK— Quarterly like-for-like revenue growth at WPP hit a ten-year high in the third quarter of this year, the marketing services group said today – with consumer insight revenue up 6.4%.

Feature29 October 2010

Boom follows bust follows boom?

As part of its cost-cutting efforts, the UK government is making previously mandatory research projects discretionary – a move that has already cost jobs in public sector research, including that of MRUK boss Jim Law. Is this a long-term policy shift or merely a way to save money in the short term?

News28 October 2010

Dunnhumby founders make way for Hay as new chief executive

UK— Edwina Dunn and Clive Humby, founders of database analytics firm Dunnhumby are to step away from day-to-day management of the business next year, with UK and Ireland chief Simon Hay replacing Dunn as CEO.

News28 October 2010

New Zealand gets third-party mobile web measurement service

NEW ZEALAND— Nielsen has added mobile internet audience measurement to its Market Intelligence service in New Zealand.

News28 October 2010

GfK names North as chief marketing officer for media research

UK— GfK has appointed Nick North ( pictured) as chief marketing officer of its media research business, a role he will hold alongside his existing responsibilities as joint head of GfK NOP Media in the UK.

News28 October 2010

Forrester upbeat despite dip in third-quarter profits

US— Forrester Research boss George Colony said the firm delivered a “strong operating performance” during the third quarter of the year despite a drop in net income for the period.

News28 October 2010

Powell Tate and Crimson Hexagon launch social media summary tool

US— Communications agency Powell Tate has partnered with social media monitoring firm Crimson Hexagon on a data visualisation tool that provides a daily graphic summary of the topics driving online conversations.

News28 October 2010

Nielsen reports Q3 revenue up 5% in aftermath of power cut

US— A severe power outage at Nielsen’s Florida Data Centre knocked out a host of research and software services this week, however third-quarter results published today show there is still plenty of juice left in the business with revenue up 5% to $1.29bn.

News28 October 2010

Kantar Videolytics goes live in public beta mode

US— Kantar Video has launched the public beta version of its Videolytics online video tracking, syndication and optimisation tool.

News28 October 2010

The long, slow evolution of advertising research

UK— Evolving advertising research requires an understanding of consumer emotions, the creation of new listening techniques, the fusion of different types of data and the integration of engagement metrics. But will the industry ever get there?

News28 October 2010

Wright man for Ipsos OTX corporate development job

US— OTX Europe boss Ian Wright has been appointed executive vice president of corporate development for Ipsos OTX MediaCT in the US.

News28 October 2010

Médiamétrie unveils new mobile web measurement system

FRANCE— Media research firm Médiamétrie has launched a mobile web audience measurement system, which has been developed in conjunction with mobile operators and advertisers.

News27 October 2010

'Robust' market helps Ipsos to double-digit organic growth in Q3

FRANCE— Ipsos has reported third quarter revenue up 27.9% year-on-year to €283.6m, with organic growth in double digits for the fist time since the first quarter of 2007.

Opinion27 October 2010

What if David and Goliath worked together?

There are many advantages to choosing either a large or small company to run a research project. But the two types of firm are not just different, they are complementary. Simon Kendrick of Essential Research asks, why not employ both to work together?

News27 October 2010

PepsiCo man says ad research can hit the creative nail on the head

UK— Pre-testing adverts is like taking a hammer to an idea, according to PepsiCo UK & Ireland’s group insights manager Tim McEntaggart – but the type of hammer you use determines whether you create or destroy.

News27 October 2010

South Korea moves census online for $14m savings

SOUTH KOREA— Korean citizens can complete this year’s census online for the first time in the survey’s 85-year history.

News27 October 2010

STB data 'years away' from becoming national TV currency

US— Set-top box data has plenty going for it when it comes to measuring local TV audiences – but it’s at least two or three years away from being suitable as a national measurement currency, according to the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement ( CIMM).

News27 October 2010

Publishing house Caxton launches research division

SOUTH AFRICA— Caxton Publishers has launched an independent research and marketing division that will gather and house information about the advertising and retail industries.

News27 October 2010

MRUK boss Jim Law to go as part of agency downsizing

UK— Jim Law, the managing director of Cello Group’s public sector research agency MRUK is to leave the company next year as part of a downsizing of the business in the wake of government spending cuts.

News27 October 2010

David Alterman on realising that 'business people have feelings too'

From the Advertising Research conference, David Alterman of the Nursery speaks about understanding the role of emotion in b2b decision-making.

Opinion27 October 2010

Access and connection

Panoramix Global co-founder Mary Meehan looks at how TV, mobile and the internet are fuelling global growth and creating new consumer markets in this final part of our series on trends shaping the world.

News26 October 2010

Richard Day Research taps Confirmit for CATI capabilities

US— Richard Day Research ( RDR) has expanded its software deal with Confirmit to add CATI capabilities to its web interviewing and reporting platform.

News26 October 2010

Gallup establishes Abu Dhabi research centre

ABU DHABI— Opinion pollster Gallup has partnered with The Crown Prince Court of Abu Dhabi to launch of a social research and analysis centre that aims to serve as a knowledge hub on Muslim societies.

News26 October 2010

German associations urge public to 'say yes' to market research

GERMANY— Germany’s research associations have launched a poster and radio advertising campaign encouraging people to “say yes” to market research.

News26 October 2010

Tpoll adds MindMover sample to Cint Panel Exchange

UK— Online research agency and panel owner Tpoll has struck a deal to add its 50,000-strong UK consumer panel to the Cint Panel Exchange, which gives third parties around the world access to online sample.

News26 October 2010

ORC's Resnick named chair-elect of Casro board

US— Opinion Research Corporation’s global managing director Jeffrey Resnick has been voted in as chair-elect of the Council of American Survey Research Organisations ( Casro).

News26 October 2010

TNS-BMRB sheds five staff amid public sector spending cuts

UK— Public and social research agency TNS-BMRB has cut five jobs as the company and country prepare for vastly reduced public sector spending.

Feature26 October 2010

Dispatches from the frontline

The industry likes to talk about how much market research matters. When you’re testing opinions in countries like Iraq or Somalia, it can be a matter of life and death. Richard Young reports.

News26 October 2010

BPI taps collective consumer insight to boost digital music sales

UK— The UK music industry may have been slow to catch on to the profit potential of a legal digital music market, but the BPI is hoping to step up development by tapping the collective consumer insight, marketing and digital know-how of music industry executives.

News26 October 2010

Sundance and Nielsen collaborate on new ad effectiveness metric

US— The Sundance Channel has joined forces with Nielsen to develop a metric that measures advertising across multiple TV networks.

News26 October 2010

Arbitron profits slide as 'cautious' radio clients stay on the sidelines

US— Arbitron has posted a 17.4% drop in profits for the third quarter of the year in the face of what president and CEO William Kerr called a “cautious” radio marketplace.

News26 October 2010

Synovate adds practice leaders in US and China

US/CHINA— Synovate has hired Will Gordon to lead its brand and communications practice in North America and added Huey Lam as commercial director of its retail performance business in China.

News26 October 2010

Omnicom forms Annalect for digital data and analytics

US— Omnicom has put together a new digital data and analytics company called Annalect Group that aims to deliver “better consumer insights, more precise audience targeting and more effective media investment strategies”.

Feature26 October 2010

TNS development chief talks digital innovation and insight

Digital media has a ‘wild west’ feel to it, says TNS chief development officer Matthew Froggatt, and he sees gold in ‘them thar hills’. The man tasked with mapping the agency’s path to success gives us a glimpse of the route he’s taking.

News25 October 2010

People on the move

The latest appointments and promotions in the global market research and consumer insight industry. This week: The Myers Group, VMS, River Research, Satmetrix and McCallum Layton.

News25 October 2010

PepsiCo man Megginson named Millward Brown Canada president

CANADA— PepsiCo director of category management Scott Megginson has left the food and drink firm to take up the role of president at Millward Brown Canada.

Feature25 October 2010

When surveys go weird

We’ve done quite a few online surveys of late, so we thought we’d share with readers a few examples of when they refuse to behave.

News25 October 2010

FocusVision invests $2m in HD focus group video streaming

US— Fancy watching focus groups in high definition? FocusVision is upgrading its videostreaming technology to enable HD transmission of audio and video feeds.

Opinion25 October 2010

Beyond bog standard surveys

Yvonne Taylor, director of research agency Product Perceptions, says we must work harder to make surveys enjoyable for respondents – even if they’re about toilet paper.

News25 October 2010

Imperium adds Western Wats as Verity user

US— Software developer Imperium has signed up data collection firm Western Wats as a new client of its Verity respondent validation tool.

News25 October 2010

Mitchell shareholders vote in favour of Aegis takeover

AUSTRALIA— Shareholders in Mitchell Communication Group have voted in favour of a proposal to sell the business to media services and market research group Aegis.

News22 October 2010

DigitalMR announces advisory board

UK— Web-based research and customer listening agency DigitalMR has formed an advisory board to provide governance and oversee the growth of the company.

News22 October 2010

Voxco and MARSC combine data collection and panel management software

UK— Voxco and MARSC have signed a partnership agreement to offer an integrated package of software combining the latter’s panel management software with the former’s data collection tools.

News22 October 2010

Attensity adds Twitter Firehose to social media tools

US— Text analytics firm Attensity has added the Twitter Firehose feed to its range of social media monitoring tools, giving users the opportunity to analyse the 90 million Tweets generated each day.

News22 October 2010

TNS warns of mystery shopping phishing scam in UK

UK— TNS put out a warning today of an apparent phishing scam that purports to be recruiting people for mystery shopping assignments.

News22 October 2010

Vision Critical adds operations SVP in Toronto

CANADA— Online research agency Vision Critical has appointed Ashira Gobrin as senior vice president of its central operations group.

News22 October 2010

Consumer Contact launches in the US

US— Canada-based customer loyalty measurement and data collection firm Consumer Contact has launched a company to handle its work in the US.

News22 October 2010

Austria's Promoters Consulting launches qual division

AUSTRIA— Vienna-based Promoters Consulting has set up a qualitative market research division, IFQM, which will specialise in motivational research.

News22 October 2010

Ci Research names Auton as MD and Font as chairman

UK— Ci Research has named Colin Auton as managing director, taking over from Ian Font who moves to the position of chairman.

News22 October 2010

Training specialist TTi Global acquires Lorien Customer Focus

US— Michigan-based training and staffing firm TTi Global has acquired UK market research and customer satisfaction measurement agency Lorien Customer Focus.

Feature21 October 2010

Will first cuts be the deepest?

Public sector and social research leaders have their say on the possible effects of the UK government’s Spending Review.

News21 October 2010

TNS adds In Store Factor to shopper research practice

UK— Shopper research agency In Store Factor has been taken over by TNS and merged into the global agency’s retail and shopper research division.

News21 October 2010

Max-Philipp Deitmer joins MediaCom as EMEA digital analytics head

UK— WPP’s MediaCom has appointed Max-Philipp Deitmer as head of digital analytics for Europe, Middle East and Africa.

News21 October 2010

QSR rolls out NVivo 9, adds live collaboration feature

AUSTRALIA— Software developer QSR International today launched an upgraded version of its NVivo qualitative data analysis software, adding a live team collaboration feature via a new server pack.

News21 October 2010

CRE puts out call for review of new video-media research

US— The Council for Research Excellence ( CRE), a collective of researchers from within media owners, agencies and advertisers, has issued a request for proposals for a study of available research regarding new video-media usage.

News21 October 2010

CMI and JD Power sign up with blog watcher NetBase

US— Research agency CMI and marketing information firm JD Power & Associates have struck deals with social media monitor NetBase to offer the latter’s range of services to their clients.

News21 October 2010

PizzaExpress customers to test new products at the Living Lab

UK— PizzaExpress has transformed its Richmond restaurant into the ‘Living Lab’, a place where customers can test and review new items on the menu, as well as give feedback on matters such as possible new opening hours.

News21 October 2010

ComScore adds consultant for Australian web measurement bid

AUSTRALIA— ComScore has recruited Jonathan Jephcott as a consultant to work on its bid to win the IAB Australia’s web measurement tender.

News21 October 2010

STW takes slice of customer loyalty firm Feedback ASAP

AUSTRALIA— Marketing group STW Communications has taken a 40% stake in customer satisfaction and loyalty measurement firm Feedback ASAP.

News20 October 2010

Intersperience launches online research community

UK— Research consultancy Intersperience has launched an online insight community that will be available to clients on an ad hoc basis.

News20 October 2010

Royal Mail escapes fine over rigged customer service research

UK— Royal Mail will not face a financial penalty after staff members were found to be rigging research to ensure members of a service performance measurement panel received their post on time, the postal regulator has ruled.

News20 October 2010

Facebook user sues app developer over data leak allegations

US— Zynga, the developer of popular Facebook game Farmville, is being sued for allegedly sending personal information about users of the social networking site to advertisers.

News20 October 2010

Sundance adds new project director Leeat Racs

UK— Leeat Racs has joined brand development agency Sundance as a project director within the firm’s London-based research team.

News20 October 2010

Lindner returns to Arbitron as chief research officer

US— Arbitron has appointed Gregg Lindner to fill the newly created role of chief research officer and executive vice president of service innovation.

Opinion20 October 2010

Navigating the social media data minefield

Recent weeks have seen outraged headlines about web scraping and apps on phones and Facebook leaking user information to advertisers. So it was good timing that saw Esomar’s Online Research Conference hold a session on the issue of data privacy and the implications for research. Andrew Needham, CEO of co-creation agency Face, listened in.

News20 October 2010

Peter Luff named managing director at Synovate Retail Performance

UK— Synovate has appointed Peter Luff as managing director of its Retail Performance division, while in the US Xavier Quenaudon has joined the firm as senior vice president of customer experience.

News20 October 2010

Toluna integrates social media features into PanelPortal

US— Toluna has added new features to its PanelPortal online community to allow users to access their Facebook and Twitter accounts and share content from within the community.

News19 October 2010

Qureshi leaves Market Strategies to set up own agency

UK— Bob Qureshi has left Market Strategies International to set up his own agency, with his old employer as one of its first clients.

News19 October 2010

Paul Villa named Synovate Healthcare VP

US— Synovate Healthcare has appointed Paul Villa as senior vice president of payer and market access research.

News19 October 2010

MarketTools quality council publishes online research guidelines

US— MarketTools’ TrueSample Quality Council, which aims to improve the firm’s online quality assurance services, has published a set of guidelines for buyers and sellers of web-based work.

News19 October 2010

ComRes to run weekly spending cuts poll for ITV

UK— ComRes is to run a weekly poll for ITV News on the impact of the government’s public spending cuts.

News19 October 2010

CRM firm StayinFront partners with Morion in Eastern Europe

UKRAINE— CRM provider StayinFront has entered a partnership with Ukraine-based pharmaceutical marketing services business Morion to provide sales and market research data in eastern Europe and Russia.

News19 October 2010

CIMM seeks cross-platform content tracking standard

US — The Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement is to investigate the feasibility of creating an open standard for tracking entertainment content and advertisements across traditional and digital media.

Opinion19 October 2010

Young researchers are the recovery’s green shoots

The recession has had a bright side in creating opportunities for young market researchers, but will the benefits last?

News19 October 2010

New tool offers 'collaborative' survey creation

US— A new online tool from Vision Critical promises to allow researchers to work together to build online surveys at the same time.

News19 October 2010

Gridsum Technology secures Steamboat Ventures investment

CHINA— Web, video and search analytics firm Gridsum Technology has completed a round of funding led by venture capitalists Steamboat Ventures.

News19 October 2010

Ex-BBC designer Max Gadney joins Hall & Partners

UK— Hall & Partners has appointed Max Gadney, the former head of design and audience insight at BBC News, as its chief creative officer.

News18 October 2010

Millward Brown adds marketability score to celebrity study

UK— Millward Brown has added a new metric to its celebrity and brand research study to help marketers and media agencies find suitable famous figures to form partnerships with.

News18 October 2010

Strongpoint picks up Marketing Intelligence business

US— The duo behind failed Arizona-based research agency Marketing Intelligence have resurrected the firm, in a manner of speaking, after merging with public relations agency Strongpoint to form a new company.

News18 October 2010

Mountain West Research Centre fined $20,000 over push polling

US— Mountain West Research Centre has agreed to pay $20,000 to settle a dispute with New Hampshire attorney general Michael Delaney over push polling activities.

News18 October 2010

Microsoft Advertising signs up for Kantar's DirecTView data

US— Microsoft Advertising has signed up to use set-top box data from Kantar Media’s DirecTView panel to boost the data assets of its Admira media-buying platform.

News18 October 2010

Avery Dennison hires Leith man Appleton for Euro insights role

GERMANY— Stationery firm Avery Dennison has hired Edward Appleton as European consumer insights manager, responsible for all qualitative and quantitative research in the region.

News18 October 2010

Malaysian MR expecting growth after 'tremendous' first half

MALAYSIA— The new president of the Marketing Research Society of Malaysia, Yazid Jamian, has forecast growth of 5%–7% for the country’s MR industry this year.

News18 October 2010

Another leak: Facebook apps found sharing user IDs

US— The list of leaky applications keeps growing. After Android and iPhone apps, now Facebook has admitted that some of the most popular applications on the site have been sharing user IDs ( UIDs) with third-party companies.

News18 October 2010

NICE review for new Body Volume Index

UK— A new measure of ‘body volume’, developed from research into children’s clothing sizes, is to be reviewed by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence ( NICE) for potential use within the National Health Service.

News18 October 2010

ARF launches Research Quality Super Council

US— The Advertising Research Foundation ( ARF) has launched a Research Quality Super Council to provide “leadership and member intellectual capital” for its research quality initiatives and the wider industry.

Feature18 October 2010

Using fusion power to shed light on digital consumers

Compete’s chief research officer John Bremer says he’s enthused by the possibilities of fusing web behavioural data to other sources of information on media use and product consumption, as well as survey data, as a means to greater consumer understanding.

News18 October 2010

Bellwether points to budgets stability amid mounting pessimism

UK— Stability in marketing budgets is the most positive takeaway from the latest Bellwether Report from the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising ( IPA) and accountancy firm BDO.

News15 October 2010

Saha rejoins Toluna in client services role

UK— Anshuman Saha has rejoined online panel and technology provider Toluna as European client services director to lead teams in Romania, Germany, France and the UK.

News15 October 2010

Agency launches to answer government's Big Society call

UK— With all the talk in British politics about the ‘Big Society’, a new research agency has launched that claims to put the concept into practice.

News15 October 2010

Social media firm Involver secures $8m Series C funding

US— Social media management and monitoring firm Involver has secured $8m in Series C private equity funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners with support from existing investors Western Technology Investment and Cervin Ventures.

News15 October 2010

Engage Research doubles annual sales to £2.5m

UK— FMCG and media research specialist Engage Research has doubled its sales for the financial year ending 31 March, with turnover up from £1.2m to £2.5m.

News15 October 2010

Vice chair Susan Whiting handed Nielsen diversity task

US— Nielsen vice chair Susan Whiting has been given additional responsibilities as the firm’s chief diversity officer.

News15 October 2010

Edelman launches Millennials community

US— PR firm Edelman has launched a new online market research community made up of people born between 1980 and 1995.

News14 October 2010

Future of COI still 'under consideration' says UK government

UK— The Central Office of Information ( COI), the UK government’s marketing arm, escaped today’s “bonfire of the quangos” – the mass cull of arm’s-length government-funded bodies – but its future is still under consideration.

News14 October 2010

Seventeen firms partner with Kantar for Videolytics

US— A group of 17 media publishers, marketers, agencies and advertising networks have signed up to use Kantar Video’s new Videolytics online video tracking, syndication and optimisation service.

News14 October 2010

Australian government department signs up for Mouse Eye Tracking

AUSTRALIA— The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry ( DAFF) has signed up to use PicNet’s Mouse Eye Tracking software to better understand the behaviour of its website visitors.

News14 October 2010

Landline-only surveys favour Republicans, says Pew

US— Voting intention polls that exclude cellphone samples are favouring Republican candidates over Democrats when compared with surveys using a combined landline and cellphone sample, according to new analysis from the Pew Research Center.

News14 October 2010

People on the move

The latest appointments and promotions in the global market research and consumer insight industry. This week: Opinion Leader, LogicLab, Gusto Research, Synovate Healthcare, Insight Inside, Visual IQ, Hitchcock Fleming & Associates, HSBC, Buyology and The Brand Union.

News14 October 2010

Vision Critical appoints panel recruitment VP

CANADA— Online research agency Vision Critical has hired Van Guerra as vice president of global panel recruitment.

News14 October 2010

Aviva's Nigel Spencer on researching the pensions gap

Nigel Spencer presents a case study on ‘the pensions gap’ and explains how Aviva’s pan-European customer attitudes survey helped it cut down from thousands of products to just a handful.

News14 October 2010

Arbitron appoints William McKenna to develop new PPM opportunities

US— William McKenna has rejoined Arbitron in the newly created role of senior vice president of new media ventures where he will be responsible for seeking out new business opportunities for the firm’s portable people meter ( PPM) technology.

News13 October 2010

Canoe Ventures and ANA embark on TV advertising research project

US— Cable TV advertising body Canoe Ventures has teamed up with the Association of National Advertisers in an effort to validate and refine some of the digital TV advertising options currently on the market and create new offerings.

News13 October 2010

ComScore signs up for TrueSample panel cleaning technology

US— ComScore has signed up to use MarketTools’ TrueSample online panel cleaning technology in cases where clients request the service.

News13 October 2010

Kadence moves Kieron Mathews to North America

US— Kadence UK managing director Kieron Mathews has been relocated to the firm’s US office and given the role of joint CEO for Europe and North America.

News13 October 2010

Want US Census Bureau data? There's an app for that

US— An iPhone app has been launched by research agency Rincon & Associates which gives access to demographic data collected by the US Census Bureau.

News13 October 2010

Verve staffs up with former Seven Seas and Synovate execs

UK— Former Seven Seas research manager Vicki Arman has joined online brand community builder Verve as a client services director.

News13 October 2010

Greenberg Quinlan Rosner opens European HQ

UK— US-based pollster Greenberg Quinlan Rosner has opened an office in London to act as its European headquarters.

News13 October 2010

Investors feed DIY tool GutCheck $2m as go-live approaches

US— DIY online qualitative research service GutCheck has closed a $2m funding round as it prepares to go from closed beta to live mode.

News13 October 2010

BBC axes marketing and audiences as standalone division

UK— The BBC has axed marketing, communications and audiences ( MC&A) as a standalone division, costing the job of former Microsoft executive Sharon Baylay.

Opinion12 October 2010

Do it yourself if you must, just make sure you do it properly

Jonathan Pickup of McCallum Layton offers some tips on how companies can put DIY research tools into practice effectively.

News12 October 2010

JD Power taps uSamp for online panel management

US— Marketing information firm JD Power and Associates has signed up to use online sample supplier uSamp’s panel management system for a new panel, which is set to launch later this year.

News12 October 2010

Starch to measure Spanish-language magazine ads

US— Print advert effectiveness measurement agency Starch Advertising Research, which is owned by GfK MRI, is to begin tracking readership of ads in US Spanish-language publications.

News12 October 2010

Gone fishing – Authentic Response adds river sample method

US— Online panel firm Authentic Response is rolling out an intercept sampling method – also known as ‘river’ sampling – to recruit non-panellists to take part in surveys.

News12 October 2010

Australian firms create Potentiate and form Japanese joint venture

AUSTRALIA— A trio of research and technology firms have teamed up to launch a new company that will offer a range of data analysis, information gathering and consultancy services, called Potentiate.

News12 October 2010

Pulse Group delivers maiden profit

MALAYSIA— Research process outsourcing firm Pulse Group has turned a profit for the first time, according to results for the year ending 31 May.

News12 October 2010

Effective Measure wins Malaysian web measurement task

MALAYSIA— Effective Measure has been tapped by the Malaysian Digital Association ( MDA) to provide the country’s official internet measurement currency.

News12 October 2010

Ipsos Loyalty US promotes Peterson to new COO role

US— Ken Peterson has been promoted to the newly created role of chief operating officer at Ipsos Loyalty in the US where he will be responsible for streamlining costs and exploring new technologies.

News12 October 2010

Millward Brown's neuroscience arm opens in Australia

AUSTRALIA— Millward Brown has launched its neuroscience services in Australia and carried out a survey into the recent federal election campaign to showcase the technology.

Feature12 October 2010

Consumer researcher Suzanne Walker reflects on a life down under

Suzanne Walker left the UK for Australia five years ago after starting her career with Research International. Following a spell with the same agency, she moved to Hall & Partners | Open Mind earlier this month as an associate director. In this Spotlight interview she reflects on some of her consumer research work and dispels a popular myth about the Australian lifestyle.

News12 October 2010

RDA Group names former Harris man Forkin as partner

US— Ex-Harris Interactive and Domino’s Pizza executive Frank Forkin has become a partner in RDA Group of Michigan, which carries out product research, customer satisfaction and quality tracking studies for auto, financial services, healthcare and utilities companies.

News11 October 2010

Ringleader introduces certification scheme for 'mobile cookie'

US— Ringleader Digital is introducing a certification scheme for publishers who want to use its Media Stamp ‘mobile cookie’ – one requirement of which is for publishers to share privacy and opt-out information with their website visitors.

News11 October 2010

Facebook gives users more power over data-sharing

US— Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg has unveiled a new set of privacy settings on the social media site that allow members to pick and choose which applications have access to their data.

News11 October 2010

Research Now hands Italian job to Robinson Leoni

ITALY— Online sampling and data collection agency Research Now has opened an office in Milan to provide Italian customers with a dedicated client service operation.

News11 October 2010

Positivity shines through Research Industry Trends study

US— Researchers are confident they’ve seen the back of the recession, with 60% telling the latest Research Industry Trends Study that the worst is well and truly over.

News11 October 2010

Opinion Leader names Scott-Malden as research director

UK— Dominic Scott-Malden has been appointed the new research director at Opinion Leader.

News11 October 2010

Twenty-one firms line up for IAB Australia web measurement tender

AUSTRALIA— Twenty-one companies, including those from Australia, Canada, India, Israel and the UK, are competing to be crowned IAB Australia’s “preferred supplier” of online audience measurement services.

News11 October 2010

Hansa's Stewart moves to Synovate Hong Kong

HONG KONG— Jeff Stewart has been named as executive director for Synovate Hong Kong to steer business development and oversee key accounts.

News11 October 2010

IAB Europe warns against 'illegal' cookie respawning

BELGIUM— Online advertising trade group IAB Europe has warned business off cookie ‘respawning’ – a practice it describes as “illegal” as it allows publishers and advertisers to continue tracking web users’ online behaviour against their wishes.

News11 October 2010

All claims dismissed in Luck's court fight with OTX

US— A district court judge has signed off on a dismissal of all legal claims and counterclaims brought by and against Kristin Luck and her former employer OTX.

News11 October 2010

YouGov 'confident' despite £9.6m pre-tax loss

UK— YouGov has posted a pre-tax annual loss of £9.6m following a write-down in the value of its German business – but the firm said it had otherwise performed “in line with expectations” for the year ending 31 July.

News8 October 2010

OnePoll appoints consumer trendspotter William Higham managing director

UK— Online pollster OnePoll is looking to open up new sectors after recruiting consumer trends specialist William Higham.

News8 October 2010

E-Rewards completes Peanut Labs acquisition

US— E-Rewards has completed its acquisition of social media sample supplier Peanut Labs, which has become a subsidiary of the online fieldwork agency with immediate effect.

News8 October 2010

Neuromarketing standards aim to bring much-needed 'credibility'

Duane Varan, project lead for the ARF’s NeuroStandards initiative, tells Research why the independent peer review process is important to the growing neuromarketing industry.

Feature8 October 2010

Duane Varan on standards for neuromarketing

The project leader of the ARF’s neuromarketing standards initiative tells us about what he hopes it will achieve.

News8 October 2010

Purple goes Green with new service

UK— Purple MR has launched Green Choices, a research service aimed at those involved in carbon reduction.

News8 October 2010

Rugby club London Irish tries out IBM analytics programme

UK— Professional sportsman are used to performing in the spotlight, but players at rugby team London Irish will go into tomorrow’s Heineken Cup clash with Munster having had their every move analysed by a specially designed analytics programme.

News8 October 2010

Cognicient gets backing from pharma research investor

UK— PharmaGems, a business set up earlier this year to invest in entrepreneurs in healthcare market research, has partnered with Cognicient, which produces software to help companies link data from different sources.

News8 October 2010

Third release of VisTracks makes its debut

US—The third release of position and movement analytics platform Vistracks has launched.

News8 October 2010

Lotame sets up shop in UK

UK— Lotame, the developer behind audience data management platform Crowd Control, has named Chris Stark as the man to lead it into the UK and EU markets.

News8 October 2010

People on the move

The latest round-up of personnel changes in the research and insight business. Companies announcing staff changes this week include The Pert Group, Visual IQ, Ipsos MediaCT and ICM

News8 October 2010

Anametrix and iPost join forces for email campaign measurement

US— Business analytics technology firm Anametrix has teamed up with email marketer iPost to offer digital marketers a new measurement service that links email campaigns with offline sales.

News7 October 2010

First Android, now iPhone apps have sprung a data leak

US— iPhone apps have been discovered sharing unique device identifiers ( UDIDs) with remote servers, sometimes with an iPhone user’s name attached in breach of Apple’s developer rules.

News7 October 2010

Research Panel Asia plants roots in Los Angeles

JAPAN— Research Panel Asia has opened an office in Los Angeles – its first in the US and its first outside the Asia Pacific region.

News7 October 2010

Majestic MRSS opens Singapore qual centre

SINGAPORE— Full service agency Majestic MRSS has opened a qualitative research facility in Singapore equipped with online video streaming technology supplied by Focus Vision.

News7 October 2010

Insitas appoints former Wells Fargo research head

UK— Former Wells Fargo researcher Susan Prendergast has been appointed associate director at consumer research agency Insitas.

News7 October 2010

Agency reflects on UK's 'biggest ever' product testing project

UK— Cambridge Market Research has shed light on some of the work it has carried out for Asda after being selected to run consumer research for the retailer’s Chosen By You scheme.

Opinion7 October 2010

Taking in a view of the future of market research

On the first floor of the Eiffel Tower, researchers gathered yesterday to consider the future of the market research industry. Brian Tarran listened in. His conclusion: not only will agencies need to justify themselves as valued partners to corporations, they’ll need to win over technology-empowered consumers.

News7 October 2010

IBM completes $480m acquisition of Unica

US— IBM has completed its $480m takeover of web analytics and marketing software firm Unica after tabling a $21-a-share bid for the company in August.

News7 October 2010

GfK MRI magazine study to cover print and digital platforms

US— GfK MRI is changing the way it surveys consumers about their magazine reading habits and will ask them about both print and digital consumption on the same questionnaire from next year.

News7 October 2010

SPA and Future Thinking open in France

FRANCE— Newly-merged agencies SPA and Future Thinking have opened an office in Paris which will be led by Adeline Baret as head of European FMCG research.

News7 October 2010

Nunwood appoints Anna Thomas to lead new Sydney office

AUSTRALIA— Nunwood has opened an office in Sydney, its first in Australia, and appointed Anna Thomas to lead it as joint managing director of the Asia Pacific region.

News6 October 2010

New regional roles add to Synovate's global leadership

UK— Synovate has promoted Peter Huijboom to head up its activities in Europe and Latin America, and rehired Michael Spedding to take charge of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific excluding Greater China.

News6 October 2010

Itracks launches video focus groups

CANADA — Online focus group firm Itracks has launched a video focus group service.

News6 October 2010

Ipsos Vantis appoints Randy Giusto for innovation research

US— Product development agency Ipsos Vantis has appointed Randy Giusto as senior vice president within its technology business.

News6 October 2010

Scripps Television joins Rentrak client list

US— Scripps Television has signed up to use Rentrak’s local TV ratings service, StationView Essentials, to count audience figures in the Detroit area.

News6 October 2010

Hispanic broadcaster Adelante signs up with Arbitron

US— Hispanic radio station owner Adelante Media Group has signed up to use Arbitron’s portable people meter ( PPM) and traditional diary ratings across all its broadcast markets.

News6 October 2010

Pollster Jérôme Sainte-Marie joins CSA

FRANCE— Jérôme Sainte-Marie has merged his polling agency Isama into research agency CSA, becoming head of the firm’s political research department.

News6 October 2010

O2 picks Globalpark for internal feedback

UK— Mobile phone and broadband network O2 has signed up to use Globalpark’s survey platform for employee feedback.

News5 October 2010

MR community firm Passenger nets $7.5m funding, names new CEO

US— Tech industry veteran Bahram Nour-Omid has led a $7.5m investment round in online research community firm Passenger, and taken over as the company’s CEO.

News5 October 2010

Annik, Buzzback and Cint shortlisted for Technology Award

UK— Annik, Buzzback and Cint have been shortlisted for the Association of Survey Computing ( ASC) and Market Research Society’s joint Technology Award.

News5 October 2010

ComScore and FilmOn.com team up for online TV analytics

US— Online cable TV broadcaster FilmOn.com has struck a deal with ComScore to offer its advertisers information into viewer behaviour.

News5 October 2010

Ethnography research app to get barcode scanner upgrade

BELGIUM— EverydayLives is upgrading its ethnographic research app for iPhone and BlackBerry with a barcode scanner to trigger research projects automatically.

News5 October 2010

People on the move

The latest appointments and promotions in the global market research and consumer insight industry. This week: Hall & Partners, Alterian, Portrait Software, Insight Research Group, ABI Research, RDSi and Visible Measures.

News5 October 2010

TNS splits Asia Pacific and Middle East & Africa structure

UK— TNS has split its Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa ( APMEA) operations into two separate regions prompting a senior management reshuffle.

News5 October 2010

Harris Interactive names new chief financial officer

US— Harris Interactive has appointed Pavan Bhalla as executive vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer, almost a year after the departure of former CFO Robert Cox.

News5 October 2010

New Look adds CRM responsibilities to Lucas's insight remit

UK— Fashion retail chain New Look has promoted Oliver Lucas to head of insight and customer relationship management.

News5 October 2010

Ex-Moët director joins Added Value France

FRANCE— Marketing insight consultancy Added Value France has appointed former Moët Hennessy researcher Mark Whiting as a director.

News5 October 2010

QuestBack buys Finnish feedback software rival Digium

NORWAY— QuestBack, a developer of online survey and feedback management tools, has acquired Finnish rival Digium in a move that is expected to grow annual turnover to more than €22m.

News4 October 2010

ARF hires P&G's Ted McConnell in digital 'coup'

US— The Advertising Research Foundation has appointed former Procter & Gamble digital innovation leader Ted McConnell as executive vice president of digital.

News4 October 2010

New managing partners for JRA Research

UK— JRA Research has reshuffled its senior ranks, promoting Matt Coggan and Andy Grout to joint managing partners, with former MD Paul Summers moving up to chairman.

News4 October 2010

Populus hires Diamond, ex-ICM, for data solutions venture

UK— Patrick Diamond, the former managing director of ICM Direct, has joined opinion polling and research firm Populus, Research has learned.

News4 October 2010

Qualvu opens Ireland office

IRELAND— Qualvu, a provider of online video-based qual research, has opened an office in Dublin to serve its European clients with Anne-Marie O’Sullivan at the helm.

News4 October 2010

Ad bodies put online behavioural advertising principles into practice

US— American advertising associations are setting out to prove self-regulation can work with an initiative to inform consumers about online behavioural advertising, how it works and how they can opt out of it.

News4 October 2010

SymphonyIRI names interim UK MD as Ruelens quits

UK— SymphonyIRI’s UK managing director Blair Ruelens has resigned citing “family issues” and the company has drafted in Dan Finke as interim MD.

News4 October 2010

Froggatt to lead new TNS corporate development division

UK— TNS has folded several of its research and marketing strategy operations into a new corporate development division led by Matthew Froggatt as chief development officer.

News4 October 2010

Water firm United Utilities taps McCallum Layton for c-sat survey

UK— Water services company United Utilities has appointed McCallum Layton to carry out a three-year customer satisfaction tracking programme.

News4 October 2010

Maritz buys media analysis firm Evolve24

US/GERMANY— Maritz Research has acquired US-based Evolve24, which analyses what is being said in traditional and social media.

News4 October 2010

Sands set to debut neuromarketing omnibus services

US— Neuromarketing research agency Sands Research is set to launch two omnibus services at this week’s Shopper Marketing Expo in Chicago.

News1 October 2010

Nielsen plans $750m debt sale

US— Nielsen is looking to refinance its borrowings by selling off $750m of 7.75% senior loan notes due in 2018 to help pay down $869m of 10% senior notes which mature in 2014.

News1 October 2010

WorldOne buys Field Facts UK focus group facility

UK— Healthcare research and data collection firm WorldOne has bought the London viewing facility of Field Facts UK, which will now trade as WorldOne Studios.

News1 October 2010

Peanut Labs and Civic Science tap the 'Wisdom of the Web'

US— Sample provider Peanut Labs and software maker CivicScience have created a system that embeds short-form polls in news and social media sites and tracks individual respondents’ answers as they accumulate.

News1 October 2010

Unilever nets £4m from sale of BrainJuicer shares

UK— Consumer goods giant Unilever has sold nearly half its shares in online research agency BrainJuicer for about £4m.

News1 October 2010

GfK MRI gets granular with new marketing mix modelling data portal

US— GfK MRI has released its new Granularity data portal from beta testing, promising “more precise” weekly and local magazine readership data for use in marketing mix modelling.

News1 October 2010

Researchers uncover leaky apps spilling private data

US— Smartphone apps have been found leaking potentially sensitive device and location data in a study carried out by researchers from Intel Labs and Duke and Pennsylvania State universities.

News1 October 2010

eBay man named web research director at Virtual Surveys

UK— James Lang, former head of user experience and search for eBay Australia and New Zealand, is to become web research chief at Virtual Surveys.

News1 October 2010

Ex-JD Power president invests in Outsell

US— Information industry research and analysis firm Outsell has a new minority investor – former JD Power president Stephen Goodall.

Feature1 October 2010

About face

Dr Paul Ekman specialises in analysing facial expressions to read emotions, and is the real-life inspiration for the investigator played by Tim Roth in the TV drama Lie To Me. Robert Bain plucked up the courage to meet him face to face.

Feature1 October 2010

Is bigger better?

While large research agencies gobble up those around them in efforts to increase their strength and reach in the global market, others make a virtue of their more modest size. two agency bosses debate whether bigger is really better.

Feature1 October 2010

Hear me out: Let's ban boring surveys

Ever had an idea that you know is genius, but everybody else thinks is crazy? Here is your chance to share it with the world of research. This month, Annie Pettit of Conversition Strategies calls for a ban on dull surveys.

Feature1 October 2010

Ups and downs – Liz Landy

Ipsos MediaCT managing director Liz Landy on better PR for MR, BlackBerry addiction and killing jargon.

Opinion1 October 2010

A journey into the known

Within minutes of the publication of Tony Blair’s memoirs, you could hear the stampede of trade magazine editors rushing for their copies to discover whether the ex-PM had made significant mention of anything related to their industry. While the editor of Rubber Tubing Gazette may have been disappointed, the editor of Research was not.