News30 April 2020

Lockdown skills bursaries launched by the MRBA

The Market Research Benevolent Association ( MRBA) has launched special skills lockdown bursaries for researchers looking to take the MRS Advance Certificate in Market and Social Research.

Feature30 April 2020

Learning lessons on suicide prevention

Paul Vittles

More than five years ago, specific actions took place in Australia to help reduce suicide rates. Paul Vittles writes about what was done and what other countries can learn from it.

News30 April 2020

Vision Critical launches insights app

Customer insights solution provider Vision Critical has launched an application to help brands engage with broader customer bases.

News30 April 2020

Amazon remains the most valuable retail brand

Liam Kay-McClean

Online retailer Amazon has retained its position as the most valuable brand globally in 2020, according to the BrandZ top 75 most valuable global retail brands ranking.

News30 April 2020

Reach launches tool to mitigate keyword blocking

News publisher Reach is working with tech firm IBM and advertising company Xandr to address the issue of blocklists preventing ads from appearing next to articles related to Covid-19.

News30 April 2020

Ad spend forecast to drop 16.7% this year

Katie McQuater

Advertising spend in the UK is forecast to fall by 16.7% in 2020 as a result of Covid-19 effects, according to the latest Advertising Association/Warc Expenditure Report.

News29 April 2020

Kantar expands team in Japan

Kantar has appointed Justin He as business development director, leading the company’s Profiles division in Japan.

Opinion29 April 2020

Helping brands to help people to help the climate

Conversation on the climate emergency must be followed by action, and the insights industry is well placed to put its understanding of people to good use.

News29 April 2020

Small business loans may not be enough to support industry, says MRS

The Market Research Society's chief executive has welcomed the introduction of 'bounce back loans' for small businesses but says the move may not be enough to mitigate the challenges faced by the research industry as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

News29 April 2020

BBC researching emotional reaction to news

BBC Global News, the commercial news division of the BBC, has partnered with tech insights business Maru/Matchbox on implicit association testing to obtain insight on audiences’ reactions to Covid-19 news coverage.

News29 April 2020

WPP Q1 revenue down

WPP’s revenue was down 7.9% in March as the company felt the effects of Covid-19, and it has introduced further cost-saving measures, according to a first quarter trading update.

News29 April 2020

New CEO at the Royal Statistical Society

The Royal Statistical Society ( RSS) has appointed Stian Westlake as its new chief executive, effective from July.

Opinion28 April 2020

The limit of reading facial movements

Crawford Hollingworth

Crawford Hollingworth, co-founder of The Behavioural Architects, looks at the pitfalls of researching facial response. 

News28 April 2020

System1 warns of lower profit

Market research agency System1 Group has said that it expects its profit for 2019/2020 to be down on the previous financial year.

News28 April 2020

Userneeds and RealityMine partner on Nordic insights

Nordic market research company Userneeds and research tech company RealityMine have joined forces to combine consumers’ digital behavioural data with validated surveys.

News28 April 2020

Basis launches in Chicago

Insight consultancy Basis has launched an office in Chicago, appointing Katie Buckley as managing director.

News28 April 2020

FlexMR adds video focus groups

Market research technology agency FlexMR has updated its insight platform to include video focus groups in response to increased demand for online qualitative services.

News28 April 2020

Eyeota and YouGov expand audience agreement

Research data and analytics group YouGov and audience technology platform Eyeota have expanded their data partnership to several new markets in Asia-Pacific and Europe.

News27 April 2020

Maru/Matchbox develops concept testing tool

Tech-based insights business Maru/Matchbox has launched a concept testing tool combining System 1 and 2 approaches. 

Opinion27 April 2020

Fraud alert: ghost completes

Redirect link fraud persists across the market research ecosystem.

News27 April 2020

Cint and P2Sample platforms combined  

Market research technology company Cint has completed its integration with programmatic sample firm P2Sample following its acquisition in 2019.

News27 April 2020

MRS calls for better SME and self-employed support

Katie McQuater

The Market Research Society ( MRS) has joined several other membership organisations to call for government support for small to medium-sized businesses ( SMEs) and self-employed members during the Covid-19 pandemic.

News27 April 2020

YouGov reports half-year revenue growth

YouGov increased its revenue by 16% in the six months to the end of January, and said it has not yet seen a ‘material impact’ from Covid-19 for 2020.

News27 April 2020

The Big Picture expands quant team

Design insight agency The Big Picture has appointed Giulia Berna as associate director.

News24 April 2020

Mopinion and Contentsquare partner on customer experience

SaaS and online feedback business Mopinion has partnered with data analytics platform Contentsquare to integrate their software.

News24 April 2020

US market research agencies see pipelines dry up

The majority of research agencies are facing a decline in their sales pipeline, suggests research from industry body the Insights Association.

News24 April 2020

GlobaLexicon hires Williams as commercial director

Market research and healthcare translation service GlobaLexicon has appointed Paul Williams as its commercial director.

News24 April 2020

Ipsos posts slight Q1 revenue increase

Ipsos has posted revenue of €428.7m for the first quarter of 2020, up 1.6% on the same period last year, but profitability is down due to the impact of Covid-19 on business.

News24 April 2020

UK consumer confidence stagnates

Katie McQuater

Consumer confidence has remained at the same low level in April after dropping to -34, with no guarantee that the fall has ended, according to the GfK’s Consumer Confidence Index.

News23 April 2020

Phebi launches audio processing technology

Voice tech firm Phebi has launched a tool to help speed up the processing of audio files collected during phone or online market research.

News23 April 2020

Government and ONS launch Covid-19 infection study

The government has launched a 12-month study with the Office for National Statistics ( ONS) to track the spread of the Covid-19 virus.

News23 April 2020

IAB UK appoints head of ad tech

The Internet Advertising Bureau ( IAB UK) has appointed Tina Lakhani as its first head of ad tech.

News23 April 2020

Strat7 launches risk analysis tool

Strategy group Strat7's analytics agency Bonamy Finch has launched a tool that aims to reduce the risks of strategic decision-making.

News23 April 2020

Merkle names Dempster global CEO

Data and analytics business Merkle, part of Dentsu Aegis Network, has promoted Craig Dempster to global chief executive, effective from 1st June.

Opinion22 April 2020

Are you a hoarder or a chucker?

With people spending a lot more time at home, the Archive of Market and Social Research ( AMSR) is asking researchers to clear out and donate their historical papers.

News22 April 2020

Royal Statistical Society launches pandemic task force

The Royal Statistical Society ( RSS) has set up a group to promote the role of the statistical community during the Covid-19 pandemic.

News22 April 2020

Periscopix brand retired by Merkle

Merkle has retired its media agency brand Periscopix and incorporated it into the company’s overall brand identity.

News22 April 2020

New online community launched for furloughed staff

Liam Kay-McClean

The independent agencies association Marketing Agencies Action Group ( MAAG) has created an online community for employees who have been furloughed during the Covid-19 pandemic

News22 April 2020

Market research spend hit hardest during Covid-19 cuts

Katie McQuater

Market research has taken the biggest hit amid the fastest decline in overall marketing spend since the financial crisis, the quarterly Bellwether Report has found.

Opinion22 April 2020

Time to think ethically about AI

Camilla Ravazzolo

Camilla Ravazzolo, data and privacy counsel at the MRS, writes about reframing the discussion around artificial intelligence.

News22 April 2020

Ebiquity appoints Nick Waters as CEO

Katie McQuater

Media and marketing consultancy Ebiquity has appointed Nick Waters, formerly executive chairman of UK & Ireland at Dentsu Aegis Network, as group chief executive officer.

News21 April 2020

Facebook to warn users over Covid-19 misinformation

Facebook users who have responded to a piece of 'harmful' misinformation about Covid-19 are to be shown a message directing them to a World Health Organisation ( WHO) page debunking myths about the virus.

News21 April 2020

WFA launches diversity initiative

The World Federation of Advertisers ( WFA) has published a report on diversity and inclusion and appointed Belinda Smith and Jerry Daykin to lead a diversity task force.

News21 April 2020

No evidence to support digital contract tracing

Katie McQuater

Digital contact tracing will not be effective in tackling Covid-19 unless the government first addresses its technical limitations and social impacts, according to a review published by the Ada Lovelace Institute.

News21 April 2020

Schlesinger Group buys 20|20 Research

Katie McQuater

Data collection and research services company Schlesinger Group has acquired qualitative research and tech business 20|20 Research.

News21 April 2020

Cint appoints sales and customer success VP

Insights technology business Cint has promoted Jessica Murdoch to vice-president of sales and customer success for Australia and New Zealand.

News20 April 2020

Veriglif adds board members

Personal data supply chain network Veriglif has appointed Scott Miller and Tiffany Johnson to its board of directors and board of advisors, respectively, as it prepares to formally launch.

News20 April 2020

UserTesting updates insights platform

Insight platform UserTesting has launched a marketing insight tool as part of a series of updates.

News20 April 2020

Ad industry backs government keyword blocking call

Katie McQuater

Advertising industry bodies IAB UK, IPA and ISBA have backed the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s call to brands to review the use of keyword blocking during Covid-19.

Opinion20 April 2020

When commerce and academia collaborate

James Oates

James Oates, UK analytics director at Nielsen and Impact columnist, discusses the power of working with the academic community.

News20 April 2020

Rolls-Royce sets up Covid-19 data initiative

Rolls-Royce has launched Emer2gent, a data analytics alliance with members including IBM and Google Cloud.

News17 April 2020

Obituary: Angus Webb

Angus Webb, founder and managing director of online research supplier Panelbase, died of Covid-19 on 8th April. He was 45 years old.

News17 April 2020

Commercial radio boosted by home working

Over a third of commercial radio listeners surveyed by industry body Radiocentre are spending an additional hour and 45 minutes listening a day.

News17 April 2020

GRBN & MRS partner on Covid-19 trust research

The Global Research Business Network ( GRBN) is working with the Market Research Society and nine other national research associations to update the GRBN Global Trust Survey.

News17 April 2020

BritainThinks hires McNaughton Nicholls

Insight and strategy consultancy BritainThinks has appointed Carol McNaughton Nicholls as associate partner.

News17 April 2020

IAB Europe launches digital ad effectiveness measurement framework

Digital advertising and marketing industry association IAB Europe has developed an effectiveness framework for those buying digital media research.

News16 April 2020

UK retail sales see ‘historic drop’

Retail sales decreased by 4.3% in March as a result of Covid-19 measures, according to the Retail Sales Monitor produced by the British Retail Consortium and KPMG.

Opinion16 April 2020

Alone together: Online qual with vulnerable people

Marie-Claude Gervais

Research with vulnerable or seldom-heard groups is even more important during Covid-19, and researchers can take some steps to ensure online research is inclusive.

News16 April 2020

EyeSee secures €3m investment

Behavioural research company EyeSee has raised €3m in private equity financing led by Belgian investment firms ING Corporate Investments and Smartfin Capital.

News16 April 2020

Dentsu Group takes 100% ownership of Merkle

Dentsu Aegis Network has brought forward its full purchase of data and analytics business Merkle following its acquisition in 2016.

News16 April 2020

New WIRe advisory board members

Non-profit market research diversity organisation Women in Research ( WIRe) has added three new members to its advisory board.

News15 April 2020

Comscore and CoxReps partner on local TV measurement

Cross-platform media measurement company Comscore has partnered with CoxReps, a subsidiary of Cox Media Group.

News15 April 2020

IAPP conducts pandemic privacy research

The International Association of Privacy Professionals ( IAPP) has launched a member survey on how privacy programmes are affected by Covid-19.

News15 April 2020

Twycross-Lewis joins PHD as head of insight

Omnicom Media Group agency PHD has appointed Louise Twycross-Lewis to lead insight within the agency’s specialist data, insight and marketing science team, Discovery.

News15 April 2020

Facebook launches Covid-19 survey

Facebook has partnered with Carnegie Mellon University ( CMU) to launch a survey aimed at monitoring the spread of the Covid-19 virus.

News15 April 2020

Quantilope offers free use of insights platform

Insights platform quantilope is making its platform freely accessible to selected client-side research departments in response to the Covid-19 outbreak.

News14 April 2020

April issue of Impact magazine available online

With most of the industry working from home due to social distancing restrictions, the Market Research Society has made the latest issue of Impact available as a digital magazine.

News14 April 2020

Most HCPs still willing to take part in online research

The majority of healthcare professionals surveyed by EphMRA are willing to participate in online surveys during the Covid-19 outbreak.

News14 April 2020

Toluna tracking online behaviour in China

Intelligence platform Toluna has launched a tracking app to analyse consumer behaviour in China.

News14 April 2020

CNG partners with Panintelligence on data analytics

Business intelligence and data analytics software developer Panintelligence has partnered with energy supplier CNG to supply its analytics software.

Opinion14 April 2020

Navigating a crisis with cultural relevance

Culture has changed drastically in the last few weeks, but there is an opportunity for researchers to become indispensible in helping clients navigate.

News14 April 2020

Esomar names Canadian representatives

Data, research and insights association Esomar has appointed Jean-Marc Léger and Rob Berger as its Canadian representatives. 

News9 April 2020

New CEO at Adform

Adtech company Adform has appointed Troels Philip Jensen as chief executive.

News9 April 2020

Survey explores home working for researchers

Around 85% of market researchers surveyed by NewMR are now working from home, according to research conducted to explore the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the industry.

Opinion9 April 2020

Embracing business un-usual

The industry needs to pull together and allow ourselves to be human to get through the current situation.

News9 April 2020

Covid-19 misinformation seen by half of adults

Katie McQuater

Almost half ( 46%) of UK online adults came across false or misleading information about Covid-19 in the first week of the UK's lockdown, according to Ofcom research.

News9 April 2020

Zoom forms security council

Video conferencing software Zoom has launched a security council and formed an advisory board as it looks to address privacy issues.

News9 April 2020

Illuminera launches behavioural marketing division

Marketing strategy consulting firm The Illuminera Group has launched a specialist marketing and behaviour change unit, Behave!

News8 April 2020

Medallia launches video insight toolkit

Experience management company Medallia has launched a set of insight tools to gather consumer feedback through video, audio or images within online surveys.

News8 April 2020

Purdie Pascoe expands leadership team

Healthcare market research consultancy Purdie Pascoe has appointed Stephen Potts as a director.

Feature8 April 2020

Seeing differently

Lumen Research won the 2019 Research Live award for best innovation for its integration with Mirriad to combine eye-tracking with editable videos to test point-of-sale advertising. We caught up with managing director Mike Follett.

News8 April 2020

Ipsos introduces cost savings; expects Q1 results to be hit

Ipsos has indicated its first quarter results will be lower than expected as it announces various measures – including a recruitment freeze – to protect its margins as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak.

News8 April 2020

Rise in people seeking connection from media

Media consumption has continued to rise during the Covid-19 outbreak, with a Havas Media Group study suggesting a greater need for connection as well as information. 

News8 April 2020

Insights businesses asked to drop non-compete agreements

Market research trade body the Insights Association has called on companies to suspend non-compete agreements for staff who have been laid off without compensation as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak.

Opinion7 April 2020

Moving past the panic

Research from Opinium suggests that people still want to hear from brands during the Coronavirus outbreak, but it’s about proximity, not brand purpose.

News7 April 2020

Wendy Clark named global CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network

Dentsu Aegis Network has appointed DDB Worldwide’s Wendy Clark as global chief executive.

News7 April 2020

CIM updates Chartered status

The Chartered Institute of Marketing ( CIM) has changed its Chartered status to make it more accessible for younger marketers to become eligible for accreditation.

News7 April 2020

Esomar calls on leaders to use evidence to tackle Covid-19

Data and insights trade association Esomar has called on businesses and political leaders to maintain their investment in research to help address the pandemic crisis management and recovery.

News7 April 2020

Kantar launches audience segments tool

Kantar is making audience segments from datasets including Target Group Index ( TGI) and Worldpanel available to brands through the launch of Kantar Audiences in Europe.

News6 April 2020

MRS pens second letter to chancellor

The Market Research Society’s chief executive Jane Frost has written a second letter to the chancellor of the exchequer, Rishi Sunak, urging the UK government to support and provide clarity to the sector.

News6 April 2020

UK consumer confidence sees record fall

Katie McQuater

Consumer confidence decreased sharply by 25 points to -34 between the first and last two weeks of March, with people concerned over their personal finances and the economy due to Covid-19, according to GfK’s Consumer Confidence Index.

Feature6 April 2020

The changing retail landscape

Jane Bainbridge

Physical and online retail have been going through significant changes for a while, and now with the rapid closure of so many stores, retailers must boost their ecommerce. 

Advertisement feature6 April 2020

Londoners on London: How Insight Sparks Important Conversations

According to Londoners, there is no other place in the world quite like London. It’s a vibrant, fun, diverse and stimulating place to live and work. Londoners don’t just recognise its diversity; they value it, celebrate it and believe in it. It’s how they identify with the city. The insight is that it’s the people, not the place, buildings or history that makes London, well, London.

News6 April 2020

Accenture buys Yesler

Accenture has acquired Seattle-headquartered business-to-business marketing services agency Yesler for an undisclosed sum.

News6 April 2020

Cooper named System1 chief people officer

Emma Cooper, managing director of group operations at System1 Group, has been promoted to chief people officer.

News3 April 2020

Katie McQuater announced as new editor of Impact and Research LIve

Katie McQuater has been appointed as the next editor of Research-live.com and the award-winning quarterly magazine Impact – both published by the Market Research Society ( MRS).

News3 April 2020

Mark Ritson on Covid-19: “A tactical challenge but a strategic opportunity”

Maintaining or even increasing advertising spend could be the best defence for brands during the expected forthcoming recession, according to brand consultant Mark Ritson.

News3 April 2020

CMR appoints head of insights

Medical device market research company Creative Medical Research ( CMR) has hired Dr Matt Higgs to the newly created role of head of insights.

News3 April 2020

Eva Tsai joins Voxpopme board

Video feedback firm, Voxpopme, has appointed executive director of Google Cloud Marketing, Eva Tsai, to its board.

News3 April 2020

Pulse raises $6.5m in Series A funding

Social research platform Pulse has raised $6.5m in a Series A funding round led by AV8 Ventures, bringing its total funding to $10.5m.

News3 April 2020

HighTech Development partners with whereby.com

Live video streaming technology specialists HighTech Development has joined forces with online video meeting software firm, whereby.com for online focus group tools.

Opinion2 April 2020

How the collective Covid-19 'stop & think' might benefit your business

The uncertain and unusual situation offers an opportunity to review and rethink our insight activity.

News2 April 2020

Third of US qual agencies shift to online

Katie McQuater

Almost a third of agencies focusing on qualitative research moved the majority of their face-to-face work online in response to Covid-19 social distancing restrictions, according to research from the Insights Association.

News2 April 2020

Sales key KPI for advertisers, finds ARF survey

The majority of US advertisers view sales as the most important key performance indicator for evaluating advertising return on investment, according to a study from the Advertising Research Foundation ( ARF).

News2 April 2020

Impact adds partnerships senior role

Global partnership automation firm, Impact, has appointed Michael Head to the newly created role of chief partnerships officer.

News2 April 2020

Kin + Carta instigates cost reductions amid Covid-19 crisis

Digital transformation company Kin + Carta has announced a cost reduction programme, including redundancies and furloughs, as well as voluntary pay reductions for execs and staff to weather the coronavirus epidemic.

News1 April 2020

Anagog raises $10m funding

On-device artificial intelligence firm, Anagog, has raised an initial $10m in Series-C funding.

News1 April 2020

MRQSA extends ISO 20252 transition

The Market Research Quality Standards Advisory ( MRQSA) Board has agreed that the transitional period to move to the updated ISO 20252: 2019 standard will be extended by 12 months to February 2023.

News1 April 2020

Sigma wins £1.5m DfE contract

Macclesfield-based user experience and development agency, Sigma, has been appointed by the Department for Education ( DfE) as its user experience ( UX) and design partner in Manchester and the North of England.

News1 April 2020

UK newspapers call on advertisers to remove blocklists

Newspaper publishers have joined forces to call on advertisers to support UK journalism, as the industry fears losing £50m from advertising blocklists despite increased readership.

News1 April 2020

SurveyMonkey introduces testing tools

Global survey software company, SurveyMonkey, has released Expert Solutions, a suite of market research tools for customers to test product and marketing concepts with a global audience.