News1 August 2013

CMS Research formalises strategic alliance with STR

US — CMS Research has formalised its working relationship with Survey Technology & Research Center ( STR).

News28 June 2013

Broadcasters body threatens withdrawal from Saarf board

SOUTH AFRICA — The National Association of Broadcasters ( NAB) has said it will resign from the South African Advertising Research Foundation ( Saarf) – a move that’s been linked to a row over the accuracy of TV ratings data.

News28 June 2013

Adobe could start vendor war with Neolane buy

US — Adobe’s purchase of cross-channel campaign management vendor Neolane could lead of a vendor showdown according to analysts.

News28 June 2013

Ford and First Direct back AOP study of premium mobile ads

UK — Ford, First Direct and Toni & Guy are backing a study commissioned by the Association of Online Publishers ( AOP) that seeks to prove the value of premium mobile advertising.

News28 June 2013

US marketing research industry stays stubborn

US — The US marketing research industry is stuck in a rut and ‘stubbornly’ refuses to shift according to the latest data from the Marketing Research Associations’ ( MRA) Research Industry Index ( RII).

News28 June 2013

Field Initiatives' Chokshi launches Ardent Fieldwork

UK — Vipul Chokshi, a long-time director of Field Initiatives, has left the company to set up a new venture, Ardent Fieldwork.

News28 June 2013

Holden Research taps Wakoopa app for multi-channel tracking

UK — Holden Research, the new business from Holden Pearmain co-founder David Holden, has partnered with Dutch firm Wakoopa to launch a new service to assess the impact of multi-channel marketing.

News28 June 2013

UK ad spend grows while Europe continues to falter in 2013

UK — The UK advertising market is the only European market expected to see growth this year, according to the latest ad spend forecast from Warc.

News28 June 2013

Gongos gets Hicks and Krause

US — Andrea Hicks and Tom Krause have joined market intelligence and research firm Gongos.

News28 June 2013

Buskirk joins MSG as statistics VP

US — Product, information and services provider to the survey research community Marketing Systems Group ( MSG) has appointed Trent Buskirk a vice-president of statistics and methodology.

News27 June 2013

MRS survey finds UK revenues down 2%

UK — The UK research industry remains fragile but seems to be moving in the right direction, according to the findings of the Market Research Society’s annual survey.

Opinion27 June 2013

What would Google do with market research?

Mike Stevens of Vision Critical considers how research has to change in the Age of Google.

News27 June 2013

Ebiquity Germany MD to lead Media Control GfK

GERMANY — Ebiquity’s Mathias Giloth ( pictured) has been named as the new managing director of Media Control GfK International, replacing Ulrike Altig, who is leaving the company in July “at her own request”, the company says.

News27 June 2013

Thumb merges with Ypulse

US — Instant polling app Thumb has merged with research insights company Ypulse as the company looks to increase its millennials coverage

News27 June 2013

Google adds site satisfaction to survey range

US — Google has expanded its range of consumer survey tools to include website satisfaction questions.

News27 June 2013

APT gets $100m from Goldman Sachs

UK — Cloud-based predictive analytics software company Applied Predictive Technologies ( APT) has received $100m in minority investment from the merchant bank division of Goldman Sachs.

News27 June 2013

Nox4Think to sell Vision Critical's insight tool

BRAZIL — Insight community technologies provider Vision Critical has teamed up with Brazilian research company Nox4Think to sell its insight communities tool to clients and prospects in Brazil.

News27 June 2013

Readership Works' readership survey named Emma

AUSTRALIA — Australian newspapers body The Readership Works’ long-awaited newspaper and magazine readership survey has been named Emma.

News27 June 2013

Top Right's 4C revenues grow by 7.4% in 2012

UK — Business-to-business multiplatform media company Top Right Group’s insight and data business 4C Group saw £71m in revenues in 2012 according to the audited annual results.

News27 June 2013

GfK launches brand experience tracker

GERMANY — GfK has launched a communications tracker that maps the effectiveness and impact of brand touch points.

News26 June 2013

Mobile survey traffic up in Europe but down in US, says Kinesis

US — Mobile survey traffic in Europe was up year-on-year from 4.1% to 9.7% in the first quarter of 2013, according to Kinesis Survey Technologies.

News26 June 2013

Unilever and Mondelez back trials of Nielsen cross-platform ratings

UK — Nielsen has kicked-off trials of its cross-platform campaign ratings ( XCR) service in the UK, with Unilever and Mondelez International among the participating companies.

News26 June 2013

Symphony Teleca launches predictive analytics brand

US — Symphony Teleca has launched a brand to meet demand for operational predictive analytics.

Feature26 June 2013

Ipsos and Synovate: two years on

“If there is a lesson to be learned… it is that a merger like that of Ipsos and Synovate takes time, even if its physical and formal execution is swift,” said global CEO Didier Truchot.

News26 June 2013

Clarabridge teams up with Brandwatch

US — Customer experience management ( CEM) provider Clarabridge and social analytics and monitoring provider Brandwatch have teamed up to link customer analytics with social analytics.

News26 June 2013

TNS BMRB wins £17m UK household research contract

UK — TNS BMRB has won a £17m contract to deliver the next phase of the largest household research study in the world.

News26 June 2013

CRE: Newer viewers less likely to respond to social media about existing shows

US — Social media is unlikely to draw new or infrequent viewers to an existing television show according to a study from the Council for Research Excellence ( CRE).

News26 June 2013

Prophet appoints Mikaili as partner

US — Strategic brand and marketing consultancy Prophet has hired Ramin Mikaili as a partner.

News25 June 2013

McCarron steps down as Cint North America leader

US — Cint’s North America MD Terence McCarron is stepping down, the company announced today.

News25 June 2013

Bass push poll case dismissed in New Hampshire

US — A New Hampshire lawsuit accusing a state congressman’s re-election campaign of engaging in push polling has been dismissed in the Merrimack County Superior Court.

News25 June 2013

Flamingo Mumbai to open in July

LONDON — Insight and brand consultancy Flamingo is to open a sixth office in Mumbai next month.

News25 June 2013

Matta appointed comScore president

US — Digital measurement and analytics company comScore has appointed Serge Matta as president of the company.

News25 June 2013

Toluna appoints director and opens Singapore office

SINGAPORE — Online panel and survey technology provider Toluna has opened a Singapore office and appointed Julie dePontbriand as director, ASEAN.

News25 June 2013

Eki launches smart phone research tool

INDIA — Smartphone software developer Eki Communications has launched a digital market research ‘self-service’ tool.

News25 June 2013

Research shows gamification produces valid data

UK — Soft gamification techniques can produce more valid data than a standard survey according to a study from MMR Research Worldwide.

News25 June 2013

Malone attracted to magnetic collective

US — Research based consultancy the magnetic collective ( tmc) has appointed Gaye Malone as a partner.

News25 June 2013

Kinesis launches latest online survey platform

US — Market research software provider Kinesis Survey Technologies has released the latest version of its online survey platform.

News25 June 2013

Kadence opens Vietnam office

VIETNAM — Insight agency Kadence International has opened its fifth operation in Asia.

News24 June 2013

Businesses coming round to analytics

US — Companies are slowly waking up to the importance of analytics to their business according to a report released by consultants Deloitte.

News24 June 2013

Terapeak launches Amazon analytic tool

US — Analytics firm Terapeak has released its platform for Amazon which aims to provide visibility into the online marketplace.

Opinion24 June 2013

The losing candidate in The Apprentice boardroom

Episode 8 of this year’s The Apprentice poignantly illustrated the distorted and damaging representation of market research currently being broadcast to the public on a weekly basis.

Opinion24 June 2013

The losing candidate in The Apprentice boardroom

Episode 8 of this year’s The Apprentice poignantly illustrated the distorted and damaging representation of market research currently being broadcast to the public on a weekly basis.

News24 June 2013

NatCen Social Research teams up with RTI International

UK — NatCen Social Research has entered into a collaboration with the global, not-for-profit, research institute, RTI International.

News24 June 2013

TA Associates buys stake in Fractal Analytics

US — Private equity firm TA Associates has acquired a minority sake in advanced analytics provider Fractal Analytics.

News24 June 2013

Kimball promotes Nicholson to run business analytics

US — Furniture and electronic manaufaturing services company Kimball International has promoted Lonnie Nicholson to vice-president, business analytics.

News24 June 2013

Hall & Partners Health launches patient experience platform

UK — Healthcare and pharmaceutical research firm Hall & Partners Health has launched a platform to examine patients’ experience around their treatment.

News21 June 2013

Aimia wins Nectar VAT case

UK — Nectar card owner Aimia has won its decade-old battle with the taxman over VAT charges following a ruling in the UK Supreme Court.

News21 June 2013

Analyst Tanney touches down at Chicago Bears

US — American football team the Chicago Bears has appointed Mitch Tanney as director of analytics.

News21 June 2013

Former Beachmint execs launch CampaignEQ

US — Former Beachmint executives have teamed up to launch a cloud-based web and mobile marketing attribution platform for advertisers and affiliate managers.

News21 June 2013

Adeven raises $4.3m in series B funding

GERMANY — Mobile advertising analytics and tracking platform Adeven has raised $4.3m in series B funding.

News21 June 2013

CRE gets four more members

US — The Council for Research Excellence ( CRE), has approved four new members to the professional researchers group, which is dedicated to advancing audience measurement methodology

News21 June 2013

Incite opens New York and Singapore offices

UK — Market research consultancy Incite has opened full service offices in New York and Singapore.

News21 June 2013

Shine America appoints Ivey as research head

US — Television company Shine America has appointed Kevin Ivey to head up a research department.

News20 June 2013

Half of consumers willing to share their data, says survey

FRANCE — Nearly half of consumers are willing to share their digital information with brands in exchange for relevant and useful advertising, according to research from IPG Mediabrands and Microsoft.

Feature20 June 2013

Data exchange

Big Brother Watch’s Nick Pickles discusses the pros and cons of the personal information economy. Interview by Simon Miller.

News20 June 2013

Pursel picks Rentrak for TV metrics

US — Mutli-screen measurer Rentrak had been picked by advertising agency Pursel to provide metrics on TV viewers in Washington.

News20 June 2013

Shazam launches metric for TV ads

US — Shazam has launched a real-time metric to measure the effectiveness of television ad campaigns.

News20 June 2013

CIMM invites digital video data warehouse proposals

US — The Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement ( CIMM) is looking for tech companies to develop a warehouse for video content viewing data.

News20 June 2013

CivicScience software to analyse survey database

US — Polling and data mining company CivicScience has launched a software platform that automates analyses of the company’s database of survey results.

News20 June 2013

Macleod to leave as Echo Research becomes Ebiquity

UK — Echo Research founder Sandra Macleod is to leave the company at the end of the month following its integration into Ebiquity Group.

News20 June 2013

IPA: Marketers should not rely solely on big data

UK — Despite the potential for big data, there is still the need for first party and proprietary data, according to a study from trade body the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising ( IPA).

News20 June 2013

Global confidence in marketing industry remains strong

UK — Global confidence in the marketing industry remained strong this month despite continuing concerns in Europe according the latest figures.

News20 June 2013

Insight Health US appoints Wheeler as CEO of Chicago office

US — Healthcare agency Insight Health US has appointed Angela Wheeler as CEO of its Chicago office.

News19 June 2013

FashionPlaytes and Toluna team up for tween insights

US — FashionPlaytes has teamed up with online research firm Toluna to help give brands greater insight into what makes tween girls tick.

News19 June 2013

FEARnet appoints Greer as research director

US — Multi-platform programming service FEARnet has appointed Elizabeth Greer as director of research.

News19 June 2013

Lightspeed licenses Beacon platform

US — Lightspeed Research has licensed the Beacon market research platform developed by Decipher.

News19 June 2013

Clear Channel taps into UK's young adults

UK — Outdoor media owner Clear Channel has launched an audience insight community aimed at connecting with 18-34 year-olds in eight major UK cities.

Opinion19 June 2013

Always on, always watching

A host of passive behaviour-tracking tools and technologies were on display at the Insights Innovation Exchange conference this week. Jeffrey Henning reports live from Philadelphia.

News19 June 2013

IAB picks Firefish to measure consumer multi-screening

UK — The Internet Advertising Bureau UK ( IAB) has selected Firefish to head up a major research project to examine how consumers move from one device to another to navigate along the purchase journey.

News19 June 2013

Top Right Group picks Sky IQ for consumer insight overhaul

UK — Business-to-business multiplatform media company Top Right Group has picked consumer intelligence specialist Sky IQ, to help overhaul its marketing and customer insight processes.

News19 June 2013

Lunde and Retzer join CMI

US — Customer experience and market insight company CMI has hired research professionals Brian Lunde and Joe Retzer.

News19 June 2013

Retail marketing offered eye-tracking check up

UK — A platform has been launched in the UK that aims to help brand owners and retailers measure the effectiveness of their shopper marketing materials through neuromarketing and a panel made up of marketing experts.

News18 June 2013

Dunnhumby buys Standard Analytics

UK — Customer science firm dunnhumby has acquired sales forecasting analytics company Standard Analytics.

News18 June 2013

US retailers keen to embrace analytics

US — Data and analytics are becoming increasingly valuable for US retailers with half looking at metrics to improve operational excellence.

News18 June 2013

Lumi gets Moody as COO

UK — Mobile technology insight company Lumi Mobile has appointed Patrick Moody as chief operating officer.

Opinion18 June 2013

More than a spoonful of sugar

How behavioural economics helps the medicine go down and improves healthcare adherence, by Crawford Hollingworth.

News18 June 2013

Lorenz launches The Research Academy

UK — An academy, headed up by former associate director of YouthSight Mia Lorenz, has been launched to meet research-specific training needs.

News18 June 2013

Razor appoints Fuller as research manager

UK — Consumer research company Razor Research has appointed Lydia Fuller as a research manager.

News18 June 2013

Tpoll launches online qual research platform

UK — Online research firm Tpoll has launched a global online qualitative research platform.

News18 June 2013

Onex completes Nielsen Expositions acquisition

CANADA — Private equity company Onex Corporation has completed its acquisition of B2B trade show producer Nielsen Expositions from Nielsen Holdings.

News18 June 2013

Pulse picks Over the Shoulder for smartphone research

SINGAPORE — Digital research agency Pulse Group has picked Over the Shoulder’s smartphone-based consumer insight platform for its 3m consumer panelists across 17 Asia-Pacific markets.

News17 June 2013

US research revenue grows 1.7% to $9.5bn

US — The US research market grew 1.7% last year to $9.5bn, according to the latest analysis by Jack Honomichl.

News17 June 2013

Acacia Avenue names first 'researcher in residence'

UK — Qual research agency Acacia Avenue has launched a ‘researcher in residence’ programme as a way to bring people with different skills and backgrounds into the company on a short-term basis.

News17 June 2013

GoodData may look to IPO following $22m in series D funding

US — Big data analysis firm GoodData may look at an initial public offering ( IPO) following a $22m series D funding round according to reports.

News17 June 2013

20|20 Research adds translation tool to QualBoard

US — Qual tools and services provider 20|20 Research has added a new real-time translation tool to its QualBoard platform.

News17 June 2013

Comelec threatens criminal charges against survey firms

PHILIPPINES — The Commission on Elections ( Comelec) in the Philippines has threated criminal charges against survey firms unless they submit their subscriber lists to the authority.

News17 June 2013

MRS launches industry think tank

UK — The Market Research Society ( MRS) has launched a think tank to research and investigate current business and public interest issues.

News17 June 2013

Yahoo APAC to measure digital ad impact with Millward Brown

HONG KONG — Yahoo Asia Pacific and media research company Millward Brown have teamed up to evaluate the brand impact of digital advertising.

News17 June 2013

ICM promotes Wormald to head up service development

UK — Research agency ICM has promoted Tom Wormald to head of service development for the ICM Group.

News14 June 2013

GutCheck bulks up with $4m series B investment

US — On-demand online qual services provider GutCheck has bagged a $4m series B investment from new and existing backers, including Grotech and Crawley Ventures.

News14 June 2013

Netquest opens Bogotá office and appoints new business manager

COLOMBIA — Panel provider Netquest has expanded its Latin America operations with the opening of an office in Bogotá.

News14 June 2013

Twitter analytics available for all – or maybe not?

US — Reports emerged yesterday that Twitter had thrown open its analytics service to all users of the microblogging site.

News14 June 2013

AOL's Be On teams up with Realeyes to measure emotion

UK — AOL’s brand content business Be On has entered into a partnership with emotional testing platform Realeyes to measure reactions to branded video content.

News14 June 2013

Dataminr gets VCs to dig deep for $30m investment

US — Social media analytics firm Dataminr has raised $30m in financing, with the funds earmarked for expanding into new vertical markets.

News14 June 2013

Rentrak on track for 2015 as revenues grow

US — Media measurer Rentrak saw consolidated revenues increase by 16 percent in the final quarter of its financial year.

News14 June 2013

MRSS India appoints Karmakar as advisor

INDIA — MRSS India, a division of market research agency Majestic MRSS, has appointed Kalyan Karmakar as advisor, consumer insights.

News14 June 2013

BARB appoints Kantar as it boosts cross-platform measurement

UK — TV audience measurer BARB has appointed Kantar Media to collect census data for TV viewing through all computer devices, including tablets.

Opinion13 June 2013

Close to the Edge

After the Millennials comes Generation Edge. Ian Pierpoint and Caroline Fletcher consider what this unique group of consumers might mean for brand managers and researchers.

Opinion13 June 2013

Close to the Edge

After the Millennials comes Generation Edge. Ian Pierpoint and Caroline Fletcher consider what this unique group of consumers might mean for brand managers and researchers.

News13 June 2013

ActusMR rebrands as Actus Sales Intelligence

US — Sales management consultancy ActusMR has rebranded itself Actus Sales Intelligence as it adds a professional executive sales recruitment division to its company.

News13 June 2013

AdRoll buys Bitdeli

US — Retargeting platform AdRoll has acquired data analytics start-up Bitdeli.

News13 June 2013

Market Force serves up analytics for zpizza

US — Customer intelligence firm Market Force Information has won a contract from pizza chain zpizza to provide analytics on its customers.

News13 June 2013

DoubleVerify and Brand.net team up to improve viewability

US — Brand.net has incorporated DoubleVerify’s ad viewability program into its decisioning algorithm in a bid to maximise ad campaign impressions.

News13 June 2013

Harte-Hanks appoints Philpott as CEO

US — Digital and targeted marketing company Harte-Hanks has appointed Robert Philpott as president and CEO.

News13 June 2013

Gauvus buys IPDR analyst Pipeline

US — Big data analytics provider to the media and comms industry Guavus has acquired Pipeline, an internet protocol detailed records ( IPDR) analyst for the cable industry.

News13 June 2013

Lumi Mobile buys IML

UK — Mobile technology insight company Lumi Mobile has acquired interactive events technology group Interactive Meetings Limited ( IML).

News13 June 2013

Unilever expands its involvement with eYeka

SINGAPORE — Unilever has increased its interaction with eYeka to tap into the co-creation community’s creative and crowdsourcing platform.

News13 June 2013

SIS International appoints Pan to APAC team

CHINA — Market research and intelligence company SIS International Research has appointed Mandy Pan as manager of business development in the Asia Pacific Region.

News13 June 2013

IAB launches online targeted advertising awareness campaign

UK — The Internet Advertising Bureau UK ( IAB) has launched an awareness campaign aimed at explaining the role of targeted online advertising to consumers and how privacy can be safeguarded.

News13 June 2013

Herbalife hires former Novartis exec as insights VP

US — Nutritional supplements company Herbalife has appointed former Novartis marketing services executive Monica Wood as vice president of consumer and distributor insights.

News12 June 2013

Court of appeals refuses comScore's challenge to class-action suit

US — The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has refused to hear comScore’s challenge to the class-action status granted to a lawsuit accusing the firm of “improperly” obtaining personal information from computers.

News12 June 2013

WPP sees insight gains in North America and UK in first four months of 2013

UK — Communications services group WPP’s consumer insight division saw revenues grow 1.7% in the first four months of the year on a like-for-like basis.

News12 June 2013

Walmart buys predictive analytics platform Inkiru

US — Walmart’s technology arm @WalmartLabs has acquired Inkiru, makers of a predictive analytics platform used by retailers and financial institutions.

News12 June 2013

Creston insights division sees 2013 revenue drop

UK — Insight and communications group Creston saw revenues in its insight division decline by 13% in the financial year ending 31 March 2013.

News12 June 2013

Nielsen's Moult to lead Innerscope – report

US — Bill Moult, Nielsen’s president of knowledge collaborations, is leaving to become chief executive of Innerscope, a biometric measurement firm, according to reports.

News12 June 2013

Ogilvy Australia sets up data practice

AUSTRALIA — Ogilvy Australia has launched data@Olgilvy, a practice aimed at bolstering the data and analysis credentials across the company’s network.

News12 June 2013

Purpose and neuroscientist form neuro-design lab

UK — Brand consultancy Purpose has teamed up with neuroscientist Dr Beau Lotto to created a neuro-design lab.

News12 June 2013

Rentrak restructures theatrical movie measurement management

US — Media measurer Rentrak has restructured its management following the growth of its theatrical movie measurement business.

News12 June 2013

GfK buys Sensemetric and opens Social Media Intelligence Centre

GERMANY — GfK is expanding its social media insights offering following the acquisition of Sensemetric Web & Social Media Mining.

News11 June 2013

Advertisers and agencies back TAM in ratings row

INDIA — Advertisers and media agencies have thrown their support behind TAM Media Research’s TV ratings after several broadcasters announced their withdrawal from the system.

News11 June 2013

InfoReady appoints Forbes as head of marketing intelligence practice

AUSTRALIA — Business intelligence consultancy InfoReady has appointed James Forbes as head of its marketing intelligence division.

Opinion11 June 2013

Crunch time for consumer NPD

Lay’s recently paid $1m to the consumer who came up with its new potato chip flavour. It’s a sign of the times, says Alex Jones. Consumers don’t trust traditional marketing strategies anymore, so businesses are having to get creative.

News11 June 2013

Maritz Research offers mystery shoppers for bank compliance

US — Maritz Research has launched a mystery shopper programme to help financial institutions avoid penalties or fines from non-compliance with regulations.

News11 June 2013

Spinnakr launches with near $1m funding

US — A real-time automated web analytics platform has been launched following a seed round of nearly $1m.

News11 June 2013

Effective Measure joins Founder Institute to promote South East Asian start-ups

SINGAPORE — Global start-up accelerator The Founder Institute has teamed up with Effective Measure to support the growth of the South East Asian entrepreneurial technology sector.

News11 June 2013

Telemundo to measure Hispanic media consumption

US — Spanish-language TV producer Telemundo Media has teamed up with Vision Critical and Symphony Advanced Media to measure Hispanic media consumption across all viewing devices.

News11 June 2013

Umoh joins KeyQuest Health

UK — Medical fieldwork firm KeyQuest Health ( KQH) has appointed Simon Umoh as a project manager.

News11 June 2013

Rentrak wins contract with 210 Digital Media

US — Media measurer Rentrak has won a contract to supply audience viewing metrics for paid video-on-demand content provider 210 Digital Media.

News10 June 2013

Salesforce.com buys EdgeSpring

US — CRM company salesforce.com has bought business intelligence and analytics platform provider EdgeSpring.

Opinion10 June 2013

The real meaning of EFM

Ipsos Loyalty’s John Carroll cuts through the confusion surrounding Enterprise Feedback Management to get to the heart of why it’s different from traditional customer research.

News10 June 2013

Several broadcasters 'withdraw' from TAM ratings in India

INDIA — Several broadcasters have withdrawn from TAM Media Research’s TV ratings service, citing growing concern about the accuracy of the data provided.

News10 June 2013

IMS Health buys Incential Software

US — Healthcare information, technology and services provider IMS Health has bought SaaS company Incential Software.

News10 June 2013

IHS to buy Polk

US — Information, insight and analytics firm IHS is to buy auto-industry data provider R.L. Polk.

News10 June 2013

Tpoll appoints Sultan

UK — Online community specialist agency Tpoll has added two to its payroll with the appointments of Mariam Sultan and George Martin.

News10 June 2013

Emotient and iMotions offer integrated facial recognition tool

US — Facial analysis firm Emotient and eye-tracking and biometric software platform company iMotions have teamed up to offer an integrated facial recognition platform.

News10 June 2013

Ticketmaster offers analytics about gig attendees

UK — Ticketmaster has launched an analytics service that will enable venues, artists and team clients to target their marketing campaigns in Britain.

News7 June 2013

Brand Potential hires Gaunt

UK — Consultants Brand Potential has appointed Susie Gaunt as client director - insight& strategy.

News7 June 2013

Random House sets up readers' panel

UK — The Random House Group has launched an online consumer panel for direct access to readers.

News7 June 2013

WPP and Twitter enter global partnership

UK — Communications services group WPP and Twitter have announced a global strategic partnership.

News7 June 2013

OfficeReports launches market research tool for MS Office

DENMARK — Software provider OfficeReports has released a tool that allows market research data analysis as a menu option inside PowerPoint and Word.

News7 June 2013

Differentology hires James as insight director

UK — Market research and insight company differentology has hired Mark James as director of insight.

News7 June 2013

Firefish hires Seok from Flamingo

UK — Consumer research agency Firefish has hired Liz Seok as group qualitative director and international research expert.

News6 June 2013

Playhaven acquires analytics start-up Staq.io

US — Playhaven, a startup that helps mobile game developers monetise their player bases has acquired analytics program provider Staq.io to beef up its analytics offerings.

News6 June 2013

Over a third of UK market research firms feel the strain

UK — Over a third of British market research companies are running at a loss according to research from financial analyst Plimsoll.

Feature6 June 2013

Byte-sized stories

Ebooks are shaking up the publishing industry as MP3s did for music. Former EMI insight chief David Boyle tells Lucy Fisher how he’s helping HarperCollins get to grips with digital consumers.

News6 June 2013

ShopperTrak founder Shepperd joins Euclid

Retail analytics company Euclid has appointed Tad Shepperd as senior vice-president.

News5 June 2013

New Google Analytics API brings content experiments

US — Google has launched an API for its analytics platform that allows website owners to run content experiments – essentially making Google Analytics “a full-blown A/B testing platform”.

News5 June 2013

Gallup review IDs flaws in 2012 presidential polls

US — Gallup’s review of last year’s presidential election polling has identified four factors that “most likely contributed” to the difference between the company’s estimate and the final vote outcome.

News5 June 2013

FTC workshop to examine the 'internet of things'

US — The Federal Trade Commission ( FTC) is to hold a public workshop in November on the privacy implications of the “internet of things”.

News5 June 2013

Former RTI controller pleads guilty to $3.4m embezzlement

US — Thomas Turey, the former controller of market research and brand strategy firm Rothstein-Tauber Inc ( RTI) has pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud relating to his embezzlement of more than $3.4m.

News5 June 2013

Bogan returns to Kurt Salmon

US — Management consulting firm Kurt Salmon has appointed Michelle Bogan as a partner in its retail and consumer products group.

News5 June 2013

InsightSquared raises $8m in funding

US — Cloud-based sales and marketing analytics provider InsightSquared has raised $8m in series B funding from Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Atlas Venture.

News5 June 2013

uSamp continues expansion with hires

US — Targeted audience provider uSamp has hired four executives as it aims to expand domestically and internationally.

News5 June 2013

Research firm's ethnographies turned into documentary

CANADA — The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation ( CBC) is to premier a documentary about fatherhood based on ethnographies produced by the film division of qualitative anthropological research consultancy The Sound Research.

News5 June 2013

Voxco teams up with Dapresy

CANADA — Survey software company Voxco has teamed up with online analysis and dashboard provider Dapresy to broaden the reach of both companies.

News5 June 2013

ComRes hires former Olympic commercial director

UK — ComRes has appointed former LOCOG commercial director Chris Townsend as a non-executive director.

Opinion4 June 2013

Analytics: the next generation

CMOs and CFOs need to leave behind old, siloed approaches to measuring marketing performance to reach a better understanding of the key drivers of consumer purchase behaviour, says MarketShare’s Hilary Perkins.

News4 June 2013

Ipsos Marketing appoints Goddard to head up Bounty partnership

UK — Ipsos Marketing has appointed Sophie Goddard to lead the strategic partnership with the UK’s largest parenting club Bounty.

News4 June 2013

Forbes Consulting launches customisation of neuro-tool

US — Market research company Forbes Consulting Group has launched a customisation of its neuroscience-based emotional measurement offering.

News4 June 2013

DataXu appoints two directors

UK — DataXu has promoted Martin Brown to UK managing director and appointed Berit Block as marketing director for Europe.

News4 June 2013

Rovi launches predictive analytics program

US — Digital technology firm Rovi has launched a predictive analytics program that enables companies to inform and optimise local ad placements and promotions.

News4 June 2013

Wapor warns against Russian restrictions on research

RUSSIA — International research association Wapor has voiced concerns over Russian restrictions over public opinion research following warnings against the Levada Centre.

News4 June 2013

Millward Brown promotes Gonzalez to replace Rhall

CHINA — Millward Brown has appointed Adrian Gonzalez as CEO of the company’s Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific ( AMAP) region.

News3 June 2013

ShopperTrak buys RapidBlue Solutions

US — Retail foot traffic analyst ShopperTrak has bought European retail data and analytics provider RapidBlue Solutions.

News3 June 2013

Insight Inside appoints Haigh

UK — Market research consultancy Insight Inside has appointed Catherine Haigh as associate director.

News3 June 2013

KanterSport China retains Infront basketball contract

CHINA — International sports marketing company Infront Sports & Media has renewed its research partnership with KantarSport China for the eighth year in a row.

Feature3 June 2013

The meat of the matter

Research and insight play a central role at McDonald’s, helping to keep the company focused on better serving customers. Its insight VP Lauren Cody tells all to Joe Fernandez.

News3 June 2013

ComScore goes multi-platform with digital business analytic

US — Digital measurement and analytics company comScore has gone multi-platform with its latest generation of digital business analytics.

News3 June 2013

Obama's big data team move into consulting

US — Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt is bankrolling an analytics firm borne out of President Obama’s re-election campaign.

News3 June 2013

News Group International rolls out Salience Insight globally

London — News management company News Group International ( NGI) has announced the global launch of media measurement division Salience Insight.