News28 April 2011

Buchanan joins SSI as Asia Pacific leader

AUSTRALIA— Survey Sampling International ( SSI) has hired former Research Now Asia Pacific MD Jason Buchanan to lead its operations in the region.

News28 April 2011

Forrester revenue up 11% in first three months

US— Technology analyst Forrester has reported revenue up 11% to $65.7m in the first three months of the year.

News28 April 2011

Editor's note

A royal wedding and a bank holiday mean another four-day weekend in the UK. As a result, there will be no site updates until 3 May. See you then.

News28 April 2011

Hall & Partners' Cortoos makes a beeline to Pollinate

AUSTRALIA— Research consultancy Pollinate has appointed Tamara Cortoos as an account director in its Sydney office.

News28 April 2011

The Marketing Productivity Group hires Accenture's Friedman

US— Analytics agency The Marketing Productivity Group has added industry veteran Jim Friedman to its management team.

News28 April 2011

Nielsen posts 8.9% growth in first-quarter revenue

US— Nielsen’s first quarter results show revenue up 8.9% to $1.3bn, but with a $181m loss for the period due to $206m of costs related to the company’s initial public offering ( IPO) in January.

News28 April 2011

Consumer insight revenue up 1.9% in first quarter, says WPP

UK— WPP’s consumer insight division has posted a 1.9% increase in revenue for the first quarter of 2011, or 3.4% on a constant currency basis.

Feature27 April 2011

Adapting to a new era for privacy

Data security breaches and fears over web tracking are rarely out of the news, and as a result people are becoming more cautious about sharing their information with companies. How is research adapting? We spoke to GfK’s privacy officer David Stark to find out.

News27 April 2011

Ipsos sees first quarter revenue rise 9.8%

FRANCE— Ipsos has kicked off 2011 with a 9.8% increase in first-quarter revenue, according to results published this afternoon. Revenue for the first three months of the year was €260.1m, with organic growth of 6.2% and positive exchange rate effects of 3.5%.

News27 April 2011

FocusVision unveils mobile streaming technology

US— Focus group video streaming firm FocusVision has launched a mobile streaming service that is compatible with Apple iPads and iPhones.

News27 April 2011

Clear Channel Radio appoints Casey to programme research role

US— Clear Channel Radio has further strengthened its research team with the appointment of Steve Casey as senior vice president of programme research strategy.

News27 April 2011

Annik moves Nadilo to global biz dev role

US— Research outsourcing firm Annik Technology Services has promoted former Greenfield Online CEO Rudy Nadilo to senior vice president of global business development.

News27 April 2011

Trajectory updates Glimpses database with international research

UK— Trajectory Partnership has overhauled the Glimpses trends database it acquired last year, adding a new subscription service that allows comparisons to be drawn between consumers in 20 countries.

News27 April 2011

Esomar and Casro give conditional support to do-not-track proposals

US— Two market research trade associations have expressed their support for recent do-not-track proposals that allow web users to opt out of online behavioural advertising, but have called for legitimate research activities to be excluded.

News26 April 2011

DigitalMR launches US operation

US— Online agency DigitalMR has opened up in North America, and hired Ryan Rutan to lead the new DigitalMR USA subsidiary.

News26 April 2011

Arbitron starts 2011 with revenue and profits increase

US— Radio ratings firm Arbitron has posted a 5.2% rise in revenue to $100.9m for the first three months of 2010.

News26 April 2011

Magnaglobal names Screen Digest's Letang as forecasting lead

US— Magnaglobal, Mediabrands’ insight and forecasting agency, has hired Vincent Letang as executive vice president and director of global forecasting.

News26 April 2011

Synovate promotes Smith to Pan-Africa ops role

KENYA— Darren Smith has been promoted to operations director at Synovate Pan-Africa after seven years with the company.

News26 April 2011

SurveyMonkey acquires web form creator Wufoo

US— DIY research firm SurveyMonkey has acquired Infinity Box, the makers of Wufoo – an application that allows users to create online surveys, contact forms and registrations without the need for specially written code

Feature21 April 2011

Crisis of confidence?

Researchers are feeling unloved and unrespected. They feel that clients don’t appreciate the value of their work, that they put speed of delivery ahead of quality and cannot tell the difference between top-drawer and mediocre market research. At least that’s what a recent survey said. We gathered some reaction to the results.

Opinion21 April 2011

Losing their voice

Scrapping the statutory ‘duty to involve’ is the wrong move at the wrong time, says BritainThinks’ Joe Caluori. Without it, public involvement will slide down local authorities’ to-do lists and citizens risks losing their voice in the debate over public sector cuts.

News21 April 2011

Editor's note

A quick note to wish all our readers a Happy Easter. Public holidays in the UK on Friday and Monday mean no site updates until 26 April. Best wishes from all the team at Research-live.com.

News21 April 2011

Nielsen to measure product placement effectiveness for ITV

UK— Nielsen IAG has won a contract to measure the effectiveness of product placement for ITV.

News21 April 2011

Nunwood sees first-quarter sales growth

UK— Nunwood has posted an 18% rise in like-for-like sales for the first quarter of 2011, driven by increases in North America and the EU.

News21 April 2011

Unilever exits BrainJuicer by selling off £3.9m in shares

UK— Unilever has sold off the last of its shares in online research agency BrainJuicer, bringing to a close an eight-year investment.

News21 April 2011

SPA Future Thinking acquires Munro Group

UK— SPA Future Thinking has acquired Munro Group, the parent company for research agencies FDS International and Maven Research.

News20 April 2011

Walmart agrees to buy social analyser Kosmix

US— Walmart has agreed a deal to acquire social media insight agency Kosmix as it looks to create personalised content for its online customers.

News20 April 2011

Pepsi to track ad performance through IntoNow app

US— Pepsi has struck a deal with the makers of iPhone app IntoNow to track how many consumers try the PepsiMax brand after seeing its new TV commercial.

News20 April 2011

Getting to know the mobile consumer

Smartphone ownership grew 70% between 2009 and 2010, and continues to grow. Simpson Carpenter’s Alan Ellerton looks at the rise of multi-channel retailing.

News20 April 2011

Research industry study finds weakening confidence in value of MR

US— Two-thirds of research suppliers are experiencing or expecting an increase in client spend this year, according to a new research industry trends study – but agencies are riddled with worries about the lack of perceived value in their work, while concerns linger over the quality of online samples.

News20 April 2011

Symphony Technology Group buys majority stake in ImpactRx

US— The parent company of retail research group SymphonyIRI has bought a majority stake in ImpactRx, which maintains panels of physicians to monitor the effect that product promotions have on their prescribing behaviour.

News20 April 2011

Cello promotes research head to joint group management role

UK— Insight Research Group’s Jane Shirley has been promoted to joint group managing director of parent company Cello, reporting to the main board of directors.

News19 April 2011

People on the move

The latest appointments and promotions in the global market research and consumer insight industry. This week: Ask Insight, Experian, ABA, Ipsos Health, ComScore, Consensus, Hill & Knowlton, Quality Online Research, Datalab, Kadence, Rentrak, Nunwood, McCallum Layton, Fast.MAP and GMI.

News19 April 2011

NetBase and GfK Custom strike social media deal

US— GfK Custom Research North America has forged an alliance with social media monitoring firm NetBase that will add the blogwatcher’s online conversation tracking and sentiment analysis capabilities to its research offer.

News19 April 2011

Government set to scrap duty to involve

UK— The duty to involve – a statutory requirement for local authorities to consult residents and interested parties and inform them about the running of local services – is set to be scrapped under proposals put forward by the Department for Communities and Local Government.

News19 April 2011

Gartner extends chief executive's contract

US— Gene Hall has signed a new five-year deal to remain as CEO of IT industry analyst Gartner until at least 2016.

News19 April 2011

TNS beefs up Latin American presence

US— TNS has opened a new office in Miami to serve customers across Latin America, and hired Gustavo Alvarez as regional accounts director for the region.

News19 April 2011

MarketShare and Ticketmaster launch pricing tool

US— Ticketmaster has partnered with cross-media analytics firm MarketShare to develop a suite of pricing tools that will help clients set and adjust ticket prices for their live events.

News18 April 2011

Zokem adds general manager for Europe

FINLAND— Mobile analytics firm Zokem has appointed former M:Metrics man Andreas Piani as its new general manager for Europe.

News18 April 2011

Culture Watch study to shed light on non-native British consumers

UK— A new study looking into the impact of cultural diversity on consumer attitudes has been launched today.

News18 April 2011

Bellwether finds no change – marketing budgets still under pressure

UK— Marketing budgets have remained under pressure in the first quarter of 2011 following a downward revision in the final quarter of last year, according to the latest Bellwether Report from the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising.

News18 April 2011

Populus appoints former Blair adviser to biz dev role

UK— Research consultancy Populus has appointed Jo Gibbons as business development director and Alexia Latham as associate director.

News18 April 2011

Toluna names John Bremer chief research officer

US— Compete’s chief research officer John Bremer has joined Toluna as the online fieldwork firm’s CRO. The company has also hired Peter Shafer as vice president of enterprise solutions.

News18 April 2011

Alterian's woes caused by 'over-reaching' says chairman

UK— Alterian, reeling in the aftermath of a lapsed major contract, the resignation of its CEO and two profit warnings, is guilty of “over-reaching”, according to chairman Keith Hamill.

Opinion18 April 2011

The risks and rewards of recruitment

The recession may be over, but for research recruiters the caution remains. Liz Sutch, senior consultant at Carrot Pharma, looks at how hiring has changed in the healthcare research sector.

News15 April 2011

MPG signs up for Rentrak's TV Essentials

US— Havas’s US media division, MPG, has signed up to receive TV audience figures through Rentrak’s TV Essentials service.

News15 April 2011

UK to implement EU cookie rules, but enforcement is delayed

UK— The government has confirmed that the UK will implement new European Union regulations that restrict the use of cookies by websites – but not by the 25 May deadline.

News15 April 2011

Marktest files competition complaint over Portuguese TAM tender

PORTUGAL— Marktest has filed a complaint with the Portuguese competition authority over the decision by the country’s TV joint industry committee to hire GfK to run the national TV audience measurement panel.

News15 April 2011

Communispace to deliver research for Ad Council campaigns

US— Online customer insight community builder Communispace and non-profit organisation the Ad Council have struck a partnership to gather opinions that will drive public safety ad campaigns.

News15 April 2011

Reckitt Benckiser promotes category development exec to CEO

UK— Household and healthcare goods firm Reckitt Benckisser has promoted Rakesh Kapoor, its executive vice president of global category development, to the role of CEO following the announcement of incumbent Bart Becht’s retirement.

News15 April 2011

EmSense launches in-home neuroscience panel

US— Neuromarketing agency EmSense has launched what it claims is the world’s first in-home neuroscience research panel.

News15 April 2011

MROC Japan and Cross Marketing roll out community offer

JAPAN— A new market research online community service has been launched today by MROC Japan and online research firm Cross Marketing.

News14 April 2011

Elevation ups its investment in MarketShare by $32m

US— Elevation Partners, the private equity investment firm co-founded by U2 singer Bono, has upped its investment in media analytics agency MarketShare Partners with a $32m injection of funding.

Feature14 April 2011

Setting the ground rules

Building trust between advertisers and consumers is a lofty goal – and one that might never be fully attainable. But efforts to establish some ground rules with consumers about what constitutes acceptable practice will improve the relationship. It may also silence the more extreme voices in the online privacy debate.

News14 April 2011

Converseon expands into Nordic countries

DENMARK— US-based social media monitoring and strategy firm Converseon has opened up in Scandinavia with the launch of Converseon Nordics.

News14 April 2011

MEC adds Wayne Ha as analytics director

UK— Media agency MEC has appointed Wayne Ha as director of analytics and insight within its global solutions division.

News14 April 2011

CSA acquires Directpanel

FRANCE— Research agency CSA has acquired Paris-based panel provider Directpanel. Alexandre Sagakian, who founded Directpanel in 2000, becomes vice president of online research at CSA.

News14 April 2011

InsightsNow to work with Rubinson on next-gen innovation

US— InsightsNow has teamed up with former ARF chief research officer Joel Rubinson to “reinvent innovation methods” in the CPG sector.

News14 April 2011

Synovate appoints new Taiwan boss

TAIWAN— Synovate has appointed Matthew Chang as the new head of its Taiwan office. He takes over from the previous country director Jenny Chang, who has relocated to Beijing.

News14 April 2011

Socialdata denies blurring research and marketing

GERMANY— Germany’s research watchdog has criticised research and marketing agency Socialdata for not making clear enough the distinction between the two areas of its work.

Feature14 April 2011

Avoiding the big squeeze

Market researchers and client procurement departments are going to be spending a lot more time together as companies push to get more bang for their buck. But the focus of the relationship shouldn’t just be on money, says Value Engineers’ joint MD Katy Mousinho.

News13 April 2011

uSamp and Ask Your Target Market strike sample deal

US— Online sample supplier uSamp and DIY researcher Ask Your Target Market ( AYTM) have struck a deal that will see AYTM customer gain access to uSamp’s panel of more than 1.7m respondents.

News13 April 2011

NM Incite partners with Clarabridge for data integration

US— NM Incite, the Nielsen and McKinsey social media research joint venture, has forged a data integration alliance with sentiment and text analytics firm Clarabridge.

News13 April 2011

Manning Gottlieb data scientist joins The Futures Company

UK— The Futures Company has hired David Teague from Manning Gottlieb OMD to lead its quantitative research team as a director.

News13 April 2011

Alterian issues more bad news on financial results

UK— Alterian has issued a new profits alert, warning investors that its results for the most recent financial year are going to be even worse than expected.

Feature13 April 2011

A fresh look at the Hispanic market

Market research needs to rethink how it deals with Hispanics, according to online communities firm Communispace. We spoke to Manila Austin, co-author of the company’s new study on Hispanic identity in the US, about the mistakes that marketers and researchers can make when working with this fast-growing section of the population.

News13 April 2011

Senate privacy bill of rights promotes opt-out over 'do not track'

US— Kerry-McCain bill would require companies to provide consumers greater notice of what information is collected about them and allow them to opt-out.

News13 April 2011

The Lounge Group to build pan-Euro panel for Coke's Burn

UK— Burn, the Coca-Cola energy drink brand, has contracted The Lounge Group to build a qualitative insight panel across eight European markets.

News12 April 2011

Research executive arrested on child pornography charges

US— Market research executive Kevin Hill has been arrested on child pornography charges in his hometown of Westport, Connecticut.

News12 April 2011

InSites Consulting plans US expansion

US— Belgian research agency InSites Consulting is to open an office in New York next year as it looks to expand beyond Europe.

News12 April 2011

Kerry–McCain privacy bill to be introduced in Senate

US— Senators John Kerry ( pictured) and John McCain are set to introduce their commercial privacy bill today, which sets out to address concerns over the use of consumer data by companies and advertisers, particularly in the online environment.

News12 April 2011

InterMedia hires Synovate's Marles to lead Africa expansion

KENYA— Research consultancy InterMedia has appointed Steadman founder Vivien Marles to head its new Kenyan operation, which has headquarters in Nairobi.

News12 April 2011

ITV lands Channel 4's Radcliffe for marketing and research

UK— Channel 4 marketing controller Rufus Radcliffe is defecting to rival broadcaster ITV to take up the position of group marketing and research director.

News12 April 2011

GfK issues €200m in bonds

GERMANY— GfK has issued €200million-worth of bonds, with the funds raised to be used primarily to replace existing short-term liabilities.

News12 April 2011

Nielsen's Guzman given Scarborough role

US— Scarborough Research, the joint venture between Nielsen and Arbitron, has hired Gerardo Guzman to fill the newly created role of vice president of product management.

News11 April 2011

Outdoor Channel promotes research and marketing boss

US— Outdoor Channel has promoted Denise Conroy-Galley to executive vice president for marketing and research.

News11 April 2011

Symphony launches ad measurement business and buys FactorTG

US— Symphony Technology Group, the owner of retail and CPG researcher SymphonyIRI, has launched an ad performance measurement business along with the acquisition of San Francisco’s Factor Technology Group.

News11 April 2011

Villain to lead merged Ipsos OTX media and tech division

US— Ipsos OTX MediaCT has merged its media and telecoms teams into one division and appointed Eric Villain to lead it as president.

News11 April 2011

MarketShare Partners raises $10m through equity offering

US— Marketing analytics firm MarketShare Partners has secured $10m in funding through a new equity offer, according to documents filed with the Securites and Exchange Commission.

Feature11 April 2011

A rough guide to... research in Macedonia

GfK recently bought 100% of its Macedonian subsidiary GfK Skopje, which works with companies such as Coca-Cola, Heineken and Nestle. The agency’s managing director Vesna Kuzmanovic provides a general overview of this market of two million people, and the MR industry’s place in it.

News11 April 2011

Clear Channel Radio appoints Arbitron's Marince

US— Former Arbitron executive Gary Marince has been appointed as senior vice president of research and development at broadcaster Clear Channel Radio.

News11 April 2011

Cello continues healthcare push with Red Kite aquisition

UK— Cello is continuing its push deeper into the healthcare services business with the acquisition of Red Kite Consulting Group which advises pharmaceutical companies on marketing strategy and market access issues.

News8 April 2011

People on the move

The latest appointments and promotions in the global market research and consumer insight industry. This week: MMR Research, Simpson Carpenter, Vision Critical, Razor Research, Toluna, Arnold & Bolingbroke, Polaris, Marketing Science, Gleanster, Purdie Pascoe, Synovate and Critical Research.

News8 April 2011

Market Probe names MD for Asia Pacific

US— Customer research agency Market Probe has promoted Saji Kumar to the position of managing director for the Asia Pacific region.

News8 April 2011

Kenyan vice president blames pollsters for election violence

KENYA— Kenyan vice president Kalonzo Musyoka has hit out at the country’s opinion pollsters, accusing them of contributing to the violence following the country’s general election in 2007, when more than 1,000 people were killed.

News8 April 2011

Stats Authority calls for re-think of Citizenship Survey cuts

UK— The watchdog body that oversees the UK government’s statistical output is calling on the Department of Communities and Local Government to reconsider its decision to axe the annual Citizenship Survey.

News8 April 2011

IAG Research founder joins Harris board

US— Harris Interactive has appointed Alan Gould to its board of directors, where he will chair a new committee on product innovation.

Opinion8 April 2011

Narrating the changes in local government research

Local governments are being battered by public spending cuts, and their researchers are sharing the pain. But battle-weary though they might be, Westminster City Council’s Neil Wholey finds an esprit de corp remains, and with it a willingness among researchers to reinvent themselves.

News8 April 2011

Research Panel Asia resumes surveys in disaster-hit regions

JAPAN— Online sample supplier Research Panel Asia ( RPA) has resumed sending survey invites to respondents living in the Tohoku region of Japan following the earthquake and tsunami last month.

News8 April 2011

Knowledge marketplace Mancx launches

SWEDEN— If knowledge is power, why are people so willing to share it for free online? Mancx, a Swedish startup, believes in the value of information and has created a transactional knowledge market where people can trade what they know for a price.

News7 April 2011

Radian6 incorporates OpenAmplify, Klout and OpenCalais analysis

US/CANADA— Radian6 has partnered with a group of text and semantic analysis firms to add information on people’s feelings and intentions to its social media monitoring tool.

News7 April 2011

Twitter promises brands new insight into followers

US— Twitter is ramping up its analytics capabilities with a new ‘Follower Dashboard’ that promises to help brands understand their audiences better.

News7 April 2011

GfK Audimetrie to run Belgian radio survey to 2013

BELGIUM— The joint industry committee for radio measurement in Belgium has renewed its contract with GfK Audimetrie for a survey of radio listening habits.

News7 April 2011

Media Contacts looks to Socialyse for social media campaigns

UK— Digital agency Media Contacts has put together a new unit to craft social media campaigns, with consumer insight, analytics and measurement central to its offer.

News7 April 2011

Text message crowdsourcing startup TxtEagle raises $8.5m

US— TxtEagle, which uses text messaging to gather information for research and crowdsourcing services in developing countries, has raised $8.5m in funding.

News7 April 2011

Prudential picks Opinion Leader for brand tracker

UK— Financial services firm Prudential has awarded Opinion Leader the contract to run its brand tracking survey.

News7 April 2011

New ID system to track respondent behaviour across multiple panels

US— Technology firm Imperium has developed a way for research companies to understand respondent behaviour not just within their own panels, but within rival panels too.

News6 April 2011

Social media monitor Overtone bought by CRM firm Kana

US— Social media monitoring firm Overtone has been bought by Kana Software, which will integrate Overtone’s technology into its CRM tools.

News6 April 2011

ComScore brings AdEffx Campaign Essentials tool to Europe

UK— Online audience researcher ComScore has launched its AdEffx Campaign Essentials tool for clients in Europe.

Feature6 April 2011

Giving ain't easy

It’s been a fairly slow start for Pause to Support a Cause, the CMO Council initiative to drive charitable giving through surveys. It launched with much fanfare 18 months ago – but is only now in a position to start fielding its first surveys. We speak to vice president Liz Miller.

News6 April 2011

Facts chairman Lamb sells stake to parent company Chime

UK— Facts International chairman Nick Lamb is selling his 25% stake in the research business to majority shareholder and parent company Chime Communications for £1.7m.

News6 April 2011

Communispace and Starcom MediaVest launch Hispanic community

US— Communispace and Starcom MediaVest’s multicultural division have teamed up to launch a Hispanic research community. The community is made up of 300 US residents aged 25-54 and will be managed by a bilingual team at Communispace with input from SMG.

News6 April 2011

Leapfrog hires GSK marketing director as MD

UK— Research agency Leapfrog has hired Tim Brooks, former marketing director at GlaxoSmithKline’s consumer healthcare division, as managing director.

News6 April 2011

Grand jury investigating data sharing in smartphone apps

US— A federal grand jury is looking into data sharing practices in the smartphone app market to see whether phone owners are being properly informed about the type of information collected and who gets access to it.

News5 April 2011

Ipsos to acquire TMG Custom Research

FRANCE— Ipsos has struck a deal to acquire the custom research division of TMG – The Marketing Group – based in Central America.

News5 April 2011

Mobilocity taps Kinesis for mobile research platform

UK— Research agency HPI’s mobile arm, Mobilocity, is licensing Kinesis Survey Technologies’ mobile research platform to survey members of its ‘Our Voice’ panel.

Feature5 April 2011

Shakespeare's American dream

US growth has been the top priority of YouGov’s co-founder Stephan Shakespeare since he returned to the helm of the business last year. It’s now the company’s largest market by revenue – and time, Shakespeare says, to make a name for itself.

News5 April 2011

Techlightenment and Adknowledge launch Facebook tool

UK— Experian-owned social media marketing agency Techlightenment has teamed up with advertising marketplace Adknowledge to launch a new Facebook-based research platform offering a mix of surveys and consumer data.

News5 April 2011

Vision Critical appoints European sales boss

UK— Online researcher Vision Critical has appointed Kris Hartvigsen to lead sales and business development in Europe.

News5 April 2011

Consulting firms sign up to Indian Readership Survey

INDIA— Nine consulting firms have signed up as subscribers to the Indian Readership Survey ( IRS), as the survey’s publisher persuades casual users of its data to pay for full access.

News5 April 2011

Data firm Epsilon has email system hacked, names exposed

US— Database marketing and analytics firm Epsilon has reported a data breach that exposed the names and email addresses of an unspecified number of consumers.

News5 April 2011

ForeSee Results handed House of Fraser website work

UK— Fashion, homeware and electronics retailer House of Fraser has hired ForeSee Results to measure customer satisfaction across its website.

News4 April 2011

M-Metrics founder takes Zokem board role

FINLAND— Mobile analytics firm Zokem has appointed M-Metrics co-founder Seamus McAteer to its board of directors.

News4 April 2011

Visible Measures branches out with ad network

US— Online video measurement firm Visible Measures has created its own ad network, where advertisers can buy into a choice-based system that allows web users to pick which ads they want to watch.

News4 April 2011

GfK completes takeover of Macedonian firm Skopje

MACEDONIA— GfK has bought the remainder of GfK Skopje, a custom research agency that works with companies such as Coca-Cola, Heineken, Imperial Tobacco and Nestle.

News4 April 2011

Evolve or face extinction, Forrester tells market insight providers

US— Evolution is usually a long, slow process – but companies offering market insight services need to make the jump from market insight habilis to market insight sapiens swiftly to avoid being left behind by changes in the business climate, says Richard Evensen, the author of Forrester Research’s latest Global Value of Market Insights Work online survey.

Feature4 April 2011

Research power-up?

Gamification Q&A, part two: after the games designer comes the research professional. Kantar’s Tom Ewing discuss the pros and cons of introducing gameplay mechanics to the survey process.

Feature4 April 2011

Research power-up?

Gamification Q&A, part two: after the games designer comes the research professional. Kantar’s Tom Ewing discuss the pros and cons of introducing gameplay mechanics to the survey process.

News4 April 2011

Truchot: Rivals must collaborate for future of MR

UK— Ipsos CEO Didier Truchot believes the big beasts of the research world need to find ways to collaborate with one another in order to safeguard the future of the market research industry.

Feature4 April 2011

Didier Truchot on reinventing research

Robert Bain speaks to Ipsos CEO Didier Truchot about why the research industry needs to redefine its position in a changing world.

News4 April 2011

YouGov makes US acquisition as first-half revenue grows

US— YouGov has acquired Oregon-based market research consultancy Definitive Insights in a deal that could eventually be worth £3m.

News4 April 2011

Deltek buys research and analysis firm Washington Management Group

US— Deltek, a project management software firm, has bought the Washington Management Group, whose FedSources and FedSources Consulting businesses provide research, analysis and advice on federal government contracts and spending.

News4 April 2011

Worton to lead Synovate's UK healthcare custom team

UK— Synovate has appointed Hilary Worton as head of healthcare custom in the UK. She joins from Aequus Research where she was commercial director.

News4 April 2011

Alterian CEO steps down following 'disappointing' year

UK— The chief executive of marketing analytics software maker Alterian has stepped down, as the company issues a profit warning.

News1 April 2011

DoH cuts contribution to British Social Attitudes Survey

UK— The Department of Health has cut its funding of the British Social Attitudes Survey, according to the National Centre for Social Research ( NatCen) which has run the study for nearly 30 years.

News1 April 2011

NPD finalises acquisition of In-Stat

US— The NPD Group has finalised its acquisition of mobile and digital entertainment industry analyst In-Stat. The deal was announced in January.

News1 April 2011

Visible gets another $6m from investors after Radian6 sale

US— Backers of the social media monitoring firm Visible Technologies have invested a further $6m in the business to help boost sales capabilities and the company’s international presence.

Opinion1 April 2011

Cut savvy

Government departments are having to take tough decisions on ways to reduce spending. Some surveys have inevitably been abolished as a result. NatCen CEO Penny Young argues for a more strategic and co-ordinated approach in deciding what social research to cut.

Feature1 April 2011

A change of mind

Neuroscience has provided a bevy of new ways to get inside consumers’ heads. Robert Bain spoke to Graham Page, head of Millward Brown’s neuroscience practice, about how researchers are coming round to neuro.

Feature1 April 2011

An extra life for online surveys

Research is a serious business – but that’s no reason respondents shouldn’t have fun when taking part. Brian Tarran looks at how gamification could create more entertaining and rewarding surveys.

Feature1 April 2011

Off to a good start

Baby food brand Ella’s Kitchen owes its success to consumer insight, says founder Paul Lindley. He told Robert Bain why startups must be encouraged to get close to their customers.

Feature1 April 2011

Tell us something we don't know

There’s no need to keep boring respondents and wasting clients’ money with repetitive surveys, writes Tim Britton. As research finds its feet in the digital world, ad hoc as we know it will be a thing of the past.

Feature1 April 2011

Food for thought

Clare Fuller, managing director of Promise Corporation, on how customers and employees helped Kraft Foods to set out a new corporate vision.

Feature1 April 2011

Ups and downs – Tim Knight

Remember the big picture – but forget the Big Society, says Tim Knight, chief commercial officer at Nunwood.

Feature1 April 2011

Hear me out: Let's get respondents to moderate groups

Ever had an idea that you know is genius, but everybody else thinks is crazy? This month, Dave Stenton of Voodoo Research suggests turning group discussions on their head.

Opinion1 April 2011

Hello and goodbye

Feature1 April 2011

Diary: Singing, surgery and survey research

A round-up of things that caught our eye in and around the research industry this month.