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Rory Sutherland: The value of nothing
Rory Sutherland
Insight & Strategy
Refreshing research: How PepsiCo uses insight
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News29 April 2016
ISBA criticised over demand for contract clarity
Bronwen Morgan
The trade body for advertisers sent out a standard contract in an attempt to improve transparency and 'redefine relationships' between brands and media agencies, but the move has been met with criticism.
Saving beats spending – just
People with a saving mindset just outnumber those with a spend mindset internationally, according to research from GfK.
Survation welcomes new director of research
Marius Mosoreanu has replaced Patrick Briône in the role, following the latter's departure to the Involvement and Participation Association.
Elizabeth Denham appointed as new Information Commissioner
The Culture, Media and Sport select committee has approved Elizabeth Denham as the new Information Commissioner.
Pinterest chooses UK for first ad campaign
The image bookmarking platform is to unveil its first ever advertising campaign in the UK next month.
Basis best agency, Sport England best client in Auras
Basis scooped the Aura Agency of the Year award beating C Space, Illuminas, Quadrangle, TNS and Verve with Sport England winning the client impact award.
Feature28 April 2016
Works of fact and fiction
Jane Simms
Waterstones' James Daunt has started to turn around the fortunes of the book retailer. But while he puts internal data to good use, he has yet to be won over by the business case for market research. By Jane Simms
Opinion28 April 2016
Time to stop nonsensical table top surveys
Customer feedback in the form of surveys delivered by staff at the time of purchase or service are riddled with misleading data and should be ditched by businesses says Roger Perowne.
News28 April 2016
WPP sees 10.5% revenue increase for Q1 2016
WPP reported revenue of £3.1 billion for the first quarter of 2016, an increase of 10.5%, with like-for-like growth at 5.1%.
Dunnhumby invests in Aptaris
Customer science company dunnhumby has taken an equity stake in Aptaris, an enterprise marketing and promotions management technology company.
Ipsos revenue up 1.9% in ‘best Q1’
Independent market research company, Ipsos, reported revenue of €386.9 million for the first quarter of 2016, a 1.9% increase on the same period the previous year.
Profitero appoints King as president and COO
Ecommerce analytics company Profitero has made Daniel King its president and chief operating officer, responsible for its EMEA sales team and global expansion ambitions.
Lightspeed GMI and comScore announce panel partnership
Lightspeed GMI has signed a multi-year contract with comScore to assist in building and maintaining its Total Home Panel.
Hirst takes on CEO role at Carat UK amid management reshuffle
Carat UK has hired former CEO of Dentsu Aegis creative communications agency mcgarrybowen, Rick Hirst, as its first chief executive officer.
News27 April 2016
73% of global consumers rate country of origin as key brand purchase driver
New multi-national research has revealed that on average, consumers consider a brand's country of origin as equally or more important than nine other purchase drivers, including price, function and quality.
Intrusive ads pushing uptake of ad blockers
Jane Bainbridge
Media owners, ad agencies and consumers will all lose out as ad blocking software is increasingly used according to research from KPMG.
Future Thinking hires Gritten as director
Lieberman's Adele Gritten has joined market research consultancy Future Thinking as director of key accounts.
Best reputations in retail banking are for mutual and challenger brands
Nationwide Building Society, Virgin Money and Santander have topped the UK RepTrak® ranking of retail banks’ reputations while the likes of RBS, Lloyds, TSB and Barclays have yet to win back public trust.
Directions Research hires two
Cincinnati-based insight company Directions Research has appointed Mike Herrel as development manager in its Business Intelligence Group and Shannon Goyda as senior research analyst.
Feature27 April 2016
Byron Sharp in seven
Byron Sharp, director of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, University of South Australia, is a champion of evidence-based marketing. His latest book is a follow- up to How Brands Grow: What Marketers Don’t Know entitled How Brands Grow Part 2
News26 April 2016
UK ad spend surpasses £20bn
Last year saw UK advertising expenditure grow at its highest rate since 2010, with an increase of 7.5% to £20.1bn.
React Surveys appoints Spencer as director
Customer service research specialist React Surveys has made Jill Spencer director for its mystery shopping services.
IModerate adds two to client development team
Denver-based insights agency iModerate has appointed Michael Steinberg and Steve Dodge to its client development team.
RED C expands to UK with new joint venture
Dublin-based research agency RED C Research & Marketing has opened a London office in Soho, marking its expansion into the UK market.
Tonic hires two in New York following growth
Tonic has welcomed two new account executives to its New York office following a number of client wins.
Schlesinger launches interactive research wall
Schlesinger Associates has installed The Wall, an interactive stimuli wall, in three US central locations: New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.
News25 April 2016
73% of Brits don't expect to be using cash in five years' time
A new study has revealed that a third of Brits believe cash will be 'extinct' within the next 15 years, with British men more comfortable with the prospect of a cashless society than British women.
Opinion25 April 2016
The danger of client satisfaction
Paul Tredwell
April isn't just the month to assess financial results – it also presents the opportunity to assess client relationships says Paul Tredwell in his latest blog.
On retaining millennials
Betty Adamou
Companies looking to appeal to younger market researchers should apply some rules of gaming engagement, says Betty Adamou
GlobaLexicon rebrands and boosts team
Market research language and translation company GlobaLexicon has launched a new brand and hired 10 new staff to its team.
Nielsen revenues up 2% for Q1 2016
The company's revenues were $1.5bn in Q1 2016, an increase of 2% compared with the same period last year.
IPA TouchPoints adds two researchers
The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising ( IPA) has hired Clare McNally-Luke and Dan Flynn to its cross-media, cross -device survey for media owners, clients and agencies, TouchPoints.
News22 April 2016
IRI adds measurement and tracking to e-commerce offer
IRI has added a measurement and tracking service, E-Market Insights, to its e-commerce offer.
US digital ad revenues hit record high
US digital advertising revenues reached an all-time high of $59.6bn in 2015, marking a 20% increase on 2014 figures, according to the latest IAB report.
Big data worries around the Internet of Things
The volume of data collected with the rise of the Internet of Things ( IoT) is the main concern among consumers according to a report monitoring social media conversations on the subject.
ComScore and Facebook partner on viewability metrics
ComScore has announced that it is partnering with Facebook to report its viewability data directly in its validated Campaign Essentials ( vCE) solution.
Group M’s Harcus made Xaxis MD
Harry Harcus has been appointed UK managing director for WPP’s programmatic digital platform Xaxis, taking over from Nicolas Bidon.
Leger appoints Gauthier as research VP
Sylvain Gauthier has joined market research and polling company Leger as its vice-president research.
Opinion21 April 2016
What Amen Corner tells us about behavioural economics
Richard Smith
Market researchers can learn the lessons from sport and how unconscious processes are affected by extreme stress. By Richard Smith.
Testing significance
Making a proper business decision can often mean trying a 'slightly wrong' option, rather than a 'boringly right' one, argues Rory Sutherland.
News21 April 2016
Millward Brown partners with Kantar Worldpanel
Millward Brown has teamed up with Kantar Worldpanel to provide a new brand tracking offer to determine the impact of digital campaigns on brand measurement and short-term sales.
AMR appoints directors as part of expansion
WPP-owned research consultancy AMR has expanded its qualitative and technology research expertise and hired Dorothy Dudley as qualitative director.
ComScore offers MRC-accredited viewable GRP for video
Cross-platform measurement company comScore has been given Media Rating Council ( MRC) accreditation for its Campaign Essentials Audience Module.
Williams rejoins CMI
Dave Williams has rejoined insights and consulting firm CMI as manager of technology services.
Opinion20 April 2016
Consumer (not customer) experience
Understanding what influences a person buying your products or services needs to start before they ever become an actual customer says Virginia Monk.
Gender diversity in the workforce
Seema Malhotra MP, shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, shares her thoughts on how to overcome inequality in the work environment
News20 April 2016
Seven ways for data and creativity to work in harmony
A panel session at Adweek Europe in London yesterday – 19 April – discussed whether it was data experts or creatives who held the power in advertising.
Brexit fears linked to economic insecurity among British consumers
The latest GfK Consumer Climate Europe study has revealed that Brits' economic expectations fell considerably in the first quarter of 2016.
Microsoft launches digital content rating tool
Video Pulse allows users to react and provide feedback on a recorded video, as well as play back their own and other respondents' feedback.
Ad blocking heading toward mainstream in UK
More than a quarter of UK internet users will block ads by 2017 with concerns of it reaching 'epidemic' levels, according to a report from eMarketer.
TNS takes full ownership of TNS ICAP in Greece
WPP-owned global operating network TNS has acquired all remaining shares in Taylor Nelson Sofres ICAP Market Research in Greece.
News19 April 2016
E-Tabs expands head office with new hire
The data visualisation and automated reporting provider has hired Russ Budden as consultant team manager at its London head office.
Opinion19 April 2016
BE Bites: How to de-bias decision making
Crawford Hollingworth
Knowing that we are prone to making biased decisions doesn't always help us to avoid doing so, says Crawford Hollingworth. But there are strategies to keep us on the straight and narrow.
MFour releases mobile DIY survey app
MFour DIY uses the same panel and smartphone interface as MFour Mobile Research's Surveys on the Go app.
Kadence hires Clayton as UK/ Europe MD
Kadence International has named Greg Clayton as its new managing director for UK/ Europe.
Sorrell talks low growth, Brexit and his £63m pay package
Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP, covered all the big issues at Ad Week Europe in London yesterday – 18 April – from the state of the economy and how that may or may not be affected by Brexit, to the US election and today's media landscape – saving his controversial pay packet to last.
Nielsen in alliance with Profitero
Global information and insight company Nielsen has formed a strategic alliance with ecommerce analytics firm Profitero so manufacturers can correlate digital shelf analytics with actual sales data.
News18 April 2016
JCDecaux links with YouGov Profiles
Outdoor media owner JCDecaux has established a partnership with YouGov to access its Profiles segmentation, which it is launching with a nationwide editorial across its digital screens.
European Parliament approves GDPR
The EU General Data Protection Regulation ( GDPR) has been approved by the European Parliament following four years of work.
Azure Knowledge opens new offices in Brazil and Russia
Global data collection agency Azure Knowledge has expanded with two new offices in Sao Paulo, Brazil and Moscow, Russia.
Viewability of UK online ads up 54%
Online ad viewability hit its highest level for 18 months, with an increase of 54% in the first quarter of 2016.
IGen Insight promotes Maxine Fox to MD
Maxine Fox, previously associate director, has been appointed as the new managing director of youth, kids and family insight specialists, iGen Insight.
Basis Research expands to US
Basis Research has opened its first US office, in Los Angeles, led by Kate Hartzell.
Feature18 April 2016
Preparing for data reform
Michelle Goddard
Data protection reform is happening whether the UK votes to stay in the EU or to leave. Here Dr Michelle Goddard looks at how the changes in regulation will affect you.
News15 April 2016
Ruler Analytics appoints Gregory as non-executive chairman
Richard Gregory, formerly managing director of digital marketing agency Latitude, has joined the marketing analytics and phone call tracking company's leadership team.
Opinion15 April 2016
Applying matchmaking tech to brand emotion
The subconscious strongly influences purchasing decisions, yet traditional emotion-based market research techniques are qualitative and although informative, their scope is too limited to strongly inform marketing strategies says Nelson Tao.
IModerate and Qualtrics form qual and quant partnership
Survey platform Qualtrics has partnered with insight agency iModerate to combine quantitative and qualitative approaches.
Schlesinger hires Mavretish to client development role
Alan Mavretish, former senior director of Research Solutions at Instantly, has joined Schlesinger Interactive as vice president, Client Development.
Market research – what is it, really?
The latest Bellwether Report shows a modest upward revision of marketing budgets for 2016/17. Yet behind this more positive outlook lurks continued uncertainty, prompted by macro-economic, structural and political questions that remain hanging in the air.
Respondi buys House of Common Knowledge
Sample and panel provider Respondi has acquired the French market research, data science and IT company House of Common Knowledge for an undisclosed amount.
Chris Riquier made Foxley board director
Website design company, Foxley, has appointed former TNS Asia Pacific CEO, Chris Riquier, as board director.
News14 April 2016
Facebook's Instant Articles to incorporate Nielsen Digital Content Ratings
Nielsen has announced that Facebook will offer its publishing partners Digital Content Ratings for measurement of its Instant Articles.
MR budgets down in Q1 Bellwether Report
Marketing budget growth was sustained for the 14th successive quarter in the Q1 2016 Bellwether Report but market research budgets fell for the third successive quarter.
Ben Hogg joins Lucid as EMEA managing director
Global audience platform Lucid has appointed former Research Now director Ben Hogg as managing director, EMEA as part of its international growth strategy.
Nepa launches IPO
Market research consultancy Nepa has announced it has filed for an initial public offering of more than 1.5 million shares.
UK digital ad spend sees highest growth since 2008
The annual IAB/ PwC Digital Adspend study revealed that UK digital ad spend grew by 16.4% last year, reaching £8.6bn.
Dunnhumby hires US business development lead
Rob Christian has joined the customer science company as senior vice president of business development.
Feature13 April 2016
The darker side of digital
Digital technology has facilitated communication in an unprecedented way. But, Nichola Kent-Lemon of Northstar asks, is there a dark side to our dependency?
News13 April 2016
Access to evidence 'not enough to encourage research use'
The Alliance for Useful Evidence has released the findings from its project The Science of Using Science, which explores evidence on what works in enabling the use of research by decision-makers.
GfK makes supervisory board changes
Dr Wolfgang C. Berndt, Dr Bernhard Düttmann, Hauke Stars and Hans van Bylen are to leave the supervisory board in May.
Nielsen launches cloud-based data integration tool
Nielsen Marketing Cloud integrates consumer and media data, management tools and analytics applications.
Arbittier named as new SHC Universal CEO
The healthcare survey and data collection company has appointed its former president, Jerry Arbittier, to the chief executive officer role.
News12 April 2016
Measurement masters set up consultancy
The Measurement Practice, a consultancy to help in-house teams and agencies make the most of research, has been launched by five research and communications specialists.
Feature12 April 2016
A land of promise
Market research in Africa holds the key to unlocking many commercial opportunities, but there are a number of logistical issues to bear in mind when planning activities there. By Bronwen Morgan
Clissold-Vasey made COO at TNS
UK – TNS UK has appointed Richard Clissold-Vasey to the new role of chief operating officer, with a place on its board.
UK ad industry exports to rise 54% in five years
UK – The UK advertising business contributed £4.7bn to national exports with a predicted rise of 54% over the next five years according to the Advertising Association.
CMI adds to healthcare and life sciences practice
US – Research and consulting firm CMI has appointed Will Leopold as senior research manager, healthcare and life sciences team.
RealityMine appoints chief revenue officer
UK – Mobile market research technology and analytics company RealityMine has hired Tom O’Sullivan as its chief revenue officer.
Opinion11 April 2016
The strange state of social media in market research
Jess Owens
Social media is part of people's everyday lives and it's time the market research industry recognised this, and used the data it offers to full effect, says Jess Owens.
News11 April 2016
NPD launches product feature evaluation
US – Market information and analytics company The NPD Group has introduced a product feature evaluation service as an alternative to using surveys to predict market behaviour.
Hive partners with DataMentors
UK – Hive Marketing Cloud has announced an alliance with the US-based data company DataMentors which will see the Hive platform providing analytics.
Facebook changes ad policy
US – Brands, publishers and celebrities will be able to share sponsored content on Facebook in a new policy announced by the social network.
Revenue up 27% for Join the Dots
Research company Join the Dots has announced a year-on-year revenue increase of 27%, achieving £7.75 million in 2015.
News8 April 2016
SHC Universal welcomes new director
Rachel Knowles has joined the healthcare panel and survey company's London-based team as director.
Moore joins Voxpopme's North American sales team
Brin Moore, former SVP of market research at MyPoints.com, has joined video research technology company Voxpopme as VP of sales for North America.
Millward Brown launches B2B ad copy test
Millward Brown has launched a version of Link, its advertising copy testing solution, for B2B marketers.
UKOM appoints first director of insight
The industry body for UK online measurement has appointed Julie Forey as its first director of insight.
Feature8 April 2016
The promise and the peril of the digital screen
Any company relying on websites and screen interactions for business should take note of the research that Shlomo Benartzi has done, which he explains in his new book The Smarter Screen
Opinion7 April 2016
Image processing goes mainstream
Frank Hedler
Computer vision algorithms have vastly improved facial and emotional recognition, but market researchers need to create the applications that turn this tech into valuable insight. By Frank Hedler
News7 April 2016
MTV hires Weir to strategic insights role
Laurel Weir has been named MTV's senior vice president of strategic insights and research.
360insights partners with Luck on predictive analytics
360insights, formerly 360incentives, is working with consultant Kristin Luck on leveraging its new predictive analytics platform.
MFour Mobile Research appoints comms director
Former Los Angeles Times reporter Mike Boehm has joined MFour Mobile Research as director of communications.
SurveyMonkey branches out into mobile app insights
The online survey platform has launched SurveyMonkey Intelligence, which offers data and insight on a number of mobile apps and the overall app economy.
Lightspeed GMI expands further in Latin America
Digital data collection company Lightspeed GMI has made new appointments to the Latin American operation it established in 2013.
News6 April 2016
Black Swan tasks Turner with forming insight division
Predictive data analytics and activation company Black Swan has hired former Edelman Berland European COO James Turner as chief insight officer.
WPP appoints Seligman as senior independent director
Former Sony executive Nicole Seligman has been appointed senior independent director at WPP, with immediate effect.
Digital out-of-home advertising predicted to be fastest-growing media channel
Digital out-of-home advertising is considered the number one medium by UK media planners and outdoor specialists, and is predicted to see the most growth over the next five years.
Harrington takes key commercial role at eDigitalResearch
Chris Harrington has joined eDigitalResearch, now part of the Maru Group, as chief sales and commercial director.
Cambiar opens technology and analytics office
Cambiar Consulting has announced the opening of a new technology and analytics office and practice in California, to be led by Richard Scionti, formerly of GfK.
Feature6 April 2016
Energy policy turns to technology and ‘nudge’
How the campaign for smart meter roll-out, Smart Energy GB, has used behavioural science to encourage householders to adopt smart meters as part of their energy use.
News5 April 2016
US MD appointed at Firefish
US – Independent insight consultancy Firefish has hired Beth Broughton as managing director of its New York office.
Facebook and Dunnhumby sign deal to track impact of ads on FMCG sales
Facebook has signed a deal with Dunnhumby enabling FMCG brands to track how ads run on its platform affect offline sales.
STW Group formally agrees WPP AUNZ merger
Australasian marketing content and communications group STW is officially to merge with the Australian and New Zealand businesses of WPP.
Opinion5 April 2016
BE Bites: how to make numbers mean something
Have you ever read a news article which quoted a lot of big numbers, yet you weren't really sure what they meant or how to visualise them? Crawford Hollingworth looks at how to add meaning to numbers.
Maru Group closes Vision Critical deal
Maru Group has closed the transaction to acquire Vision Critical's North American spin off research consulting division, Vision Critical Research and Consulting.
Cint makes Thornton deputy CEO
UK – Richard Thornton, Cint’s chief commercial officer, has been promoted to deputy CEO to drive business development.
Nielsen and DISH Network join forces for set-top box data
US – Nielsen and DISH Network have announced a long-term agreement to integrate DISH’s aggregated set-top box data with Nielsen’s TV ratings service.
News4 April 2016
IBM hires AOL's Lord as chief digital officer
Bob Lord, formerly president at AOL and CEO at Razorfish, has joined IBM as chief digital officer.
Feature4 April 2016
The 90s merger mania
This year the MRS is celebrating 70 years of market research and as part of that, TNS president, Tony Cowling, looks at the structural changes witnessed in the 1990s.
The feeling's mutual
Yorkshire Building Society has changed the way it uses market research to ensure it understands all of its customers, as Bronwen Morgan finds out
Over half of consumers would share smart home data for discounts
54% of consumers around the world say they might be prepared to share personal data collected from smart homes in exchange for money, according to research.
ex-Hall & Partners quartet launch Compton+Dean
UK – A team of four experienced market researchers have founded a qualitative research agency specialising in brand and communications called Compton+Dean.
Warc's Ainsworth becomes Millward Brown CEO
UK – Global brand and media comms research consultancy Millward Brown has appointed Louise Ainsworth as its CEO of Millward Brown in the UK.
News1 April 2016
IAB Australia and Nielsen launch digital ratings tool
AUSTRALIA – The Interactive Advertising Bureau ( IAB) and Nielsen have released Digital Ratings ( Monthly), a new total digital audience measurement currency across all devices.
Happy Thinking People hires two
Anton Kozka and Paul Hoster have both joined the qualitative research and consulting company's Berlin office.
Opinion1 April 2016
Three steps to broaden the insights role
John Kearon
BrainJuicer’s John Kearon digs deeper into the findings of its WFA Future of Insights Project to see what insights needs to do to build its consultancy credentials.
Park joins Affectiva
Alan Park has joined emotion recognition software company Affectiva from Emotient as chief revenue officer.
Transport Focus calls tender for research
UK – Independent transport user watchdog Transport Focus has launched a tender process to refresh its preferred supplier list ( PSL) for research projects.
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