Acquisitions/transactions
Gaming analytics firm deltaDNA has been acquired by Unity Technologies, a video game software development company.
Research consultancy Grail Insights acquired ConStat, a research firm specializing in business technology.
App Annie, a mobile market data and analytics firm, has acquired mobile analytics company Libring.
Marketing services company LRW Group has acquired Salt Branding, a Bay Area brand consultancy, which will operate under LRW Group’s action division.
LiiV, a research company based in New York, has acquired media insights company Telmar.
Information technology company Accenture has agreed to acquire French digital consulting firm Sutter Mills.
SurveyHealthcare has acquired OMR Globus, an independent panel of health care professionals. SurveyHealthcare will integrate OMR Globus’ team of 15 project managers into its existing operations. OMR Globus’ founding partner, Damir Fazlic, will remain with the firm.
Research firm Populus has acquired Decidedly, an insights consultancy based in London.
TV Time, which offers user-reported data about TV and movie engagement, has acquired computer software company Mediamorph.
Information tech company Accenture has acquired Happen, a management consultancy headquartered in London.
Alliances/strategic partnerships
Nielsen announced that Audioboom has subscribed to Nielsen’s Podcast Listener Buying Power Service, which allows clients to profile shows using program titles collected from subscribers in order to connect specific types of listeners with particular advertisers and program-level insights.
Marketing software company Mobivity Holdings Corp. announced that drive-thru restaurant chain Checkers & Rally’s has selected Mobivity to power its mobile customer engagement programs at its U.S. locations. The programs will utilize Mobivity’s Reach to send mobile offers to Checkers & Rally’s customers via text messaging.
Nielsen and the University of Oxford are collaborating to use artificial intelligence to identify and classify consumer packaged goods products on shelves in retail stores.
GfK and insight firm BrandTotal have partnered to track “dark” marketing, targeted campaigns not visible to the general public. The partnership is intended to allow marketers to track social campaigns like dark marketing, benchmark target activities, compare interactions and effectiveness and address sentiment changes to campaigns.
Location data and insights company PlaceIQ announced results of a partnership with response marketing agency Media Horizons and brand researcher Colangelo. The partnership, which was designed to help CPG client Filippo Berio deliver targeted ads to visitors at Walmart locations that carry Filippo Berio products, delivered a 4.09x lift over the control group.
AURA, a U.K.-based community of client-side insight professionals, and Quirk’s Media have entered into a partnership under which AURA will curate sessions for the 2020 Quirk’s Event in London. Additionally, AURA’s membership of more than 740 client-side researchers will be attending the London gathering, to be held on February 11-12 at the InterContinental O2.
Nielsen and CBD company Charlotte’s Web Holdings Inc. have announced an analytic relationship intended to provide insight into trends, highlighting segments, brands and products that are resonating with consumers in the CBD market. This alliance will also explore consumer attitudes, product preferences, use occasions and future intent tied to consumer interaction points within CPG categories.
Location marketing company Gimbal and TapClicks, a San Jose, Calif.-based marketing tech company, announced a partnership that introduces metrics such as impressions, clicks and campaign flight overviews.
CCam focus, a unit of Civicom Marketing Research Services, has entered into a partnership with Raleigh, N.C.-based L&E Research to enable users of L&E Research facilities to use CCam technology.
Service Management Group, a patient and employee experience management company, has announced a new customer experience management program with the Fresh Market.
Market intelligence company Public Democracy and San Francisco-based LiveRamp have announced a partnership that brings Public Democracy’s Values Data to market via the LiveRamp Data Store. The partnership underscores LiveRamp’s “Data for Good” initiative, which helps to address humanitarian issues like poverty, health, education and the environment.
Data-driven marketing platform LAVA has launched, announcing its partnership with STAPLES Center, Microsoft Theater and L.A. LIVE to use real-time fan experience and analytics in order to improve guest experience.
Association/organization news
The QRCA has chosen three finalists for its QRCA Award for Excellence in Qualitative Research – the Qually Award. These finalists will face off with live 15-minute presentations on Jan. 30 at the QRCA 2020 annual conference. The Qually Award honors qualitative research consultants who best demonstrate creative problem-solving.
The ESOMAR Foundation, in cooperation with non-profit Women in Research and Unilever, funded a scholarship benefiting a student entering into a market research-related field of study in Sri Lanka. The scholarship has been awarded to recipient Chamari Jeewanthi, a third-year student of the B.Sc. Marketing Management degree offered by the Department of Marketing Management Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce, University of Sri Jayewardenepura.
The Canadian Research Insights Council has partnered with PROLINK to offer insurance solutions to its members.
Awards/rankings
Data firm Dremio has been recognized in the fourth annual Datanami Readers’ and Editors’ Choice Awards with the honor of Editors’ Choice: Best Big Data Startup. The awards recognize the companies, products and projects that have made a difference in the big data community this year.
New accounts/projects
SproutLoud, a company in the through-channel marketing automation industry, was awarded a patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for its distributed marketing platform, which enables local marketers to use an online portal to access marketing resources of one or more major brands.
Sydney-based Conjoint.ly has launched an ecological initiative to offset carbon emissions with every automated service provided to its clients. Clients receive a carbon offsetting confirmation on the Conjoint.ly platform. Carbon offsetting is actioned through the purchase of renewable energy certificates (RECs) issued by wind farms and other offset producers. The details of RECs will be available to clients through a confirmation e-mail.
Behavioral research firm InsightsNow released its report on the clean-label movement exploring perceptions of ingredients, claims and brands in the plant-based meat patty category. The Clean Label Research Community Behavior Report covers ingredients to include and avoid in formulations for plant-based burgers.
Claritas, PRX and Market Enginuity have released a whitepaper titled The Podcast Listener, which is centered around understanding the podcasting audience.
Following the acquisition of Direction First by InSites Consulting in November 2017, the Australian research alliance has rebranded to InSites Consulting Australia.
New companies/new division/relocations/expansions
Marketing software and services company UE.co has moved to a new San Diego headquarters location.
Information technology company Accenture has opened an office in Mumbai.
Qualtrics has announced Qualtrics Tower, a downtown Seattle office tower that will house the new Qualtrics co-headquarters beginning summer 2020.
David Butler, former Service Management Group VP of health care, has launched Birch Healthcare Insights, a health care research consultancy based out of Brentwood, Tenn.
Market researcher Adept Field Solutions has established its new translation agency, Language Pharmacy, which specializes in health care marketing research translations, transcriptions and interpreting.
MetrixLab, a market researcher headquartered in the Netherlands, has opened an office in Sydney, Australia.
Market research firm B2B International has opened its new office in downtown Boston.
Research company earnings/financial news
Comscore Inc. has finalized a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, resolving an investigation into financial accounting and disclosure practices between February 2014 and February 2016. The terms of the settlement include paying a civil monetary penalty of $5 million. As a result of the investigation, Serge Matta, the company’s former CEO, has agreed to pay a clawback to Comscore of $2.1 million.
Language understanding platform Relative Insight has completed its Series A, securing a $5 million investment from Maven Capital Partners, a private equity and alternative asset manager in the U.K. With the funding, Relative Insight will open its first U.S. office in New York.