Acquisitions/transactions
Bazaarvoice, a provider of product reviews and user-generated content (UGC) solutions, has acquired Curalate, which provides social, UGC and influencer marketing solutions to brands and retailers.
Technology research and advisory firm Information Services Group has acquired automation solutions provider Neuralify.
Newtown Square, Pa.-based Research America Inc. has merged Natural Marketing Institute into the Research America family of companies.
Advertising services and software company Mediaocean has agreed to acquired 4C Insights Inc., a data science and marketing technology company.
SiriusXM has acquired Simplecast, a podcast management and analytics platform.
Perceptyx, an employee survey and people analytics platform, has acquired Kantar's Employee Insights business.
Data and insights firm Apollo Intelligence Corporation has acquired SurveyHealthcareGlobus, a health care data collection company.
E Source, a research provider for utilities, has acquired AI and machine-learning company StrategyWise.
ChannelAdvisor Corporation, a provider of cloud-based e-commerce solutions, has acquired BlueBoard, an e-commerce analytics company.
Media consultancy MightyHive will be merged with Orca Pacific, a full-service Amazon agency and consultancy.
Alliances/strategic partnerships
Data and insights company Kantar has partnered with loyalty points app UUPON, bringing the respondent count for the Kantar Profiles Network past 100 million.
Consumer insights platform Perksy has partnered with David's Bridal for consumer experience.
Integrated communications agency Beattie has partnered with data and customer insights company Destination 5.0.
Irvine, Calif.-based MFour Mobile Research and programmatic demand-side platform TPS Engage have partnered for ROI tracking in digital out-of-home ads.
Marketing intelligence platform Loop Insights Inc. has partnered with Las Vegas restaurants Señor Frog's and Carlos 'N Charlie's to launch a contact-tracing platform.
Insights in Color, a community for multicultural market research and insights professionals, and Brand Federation, a network of independent consultants, have partnered to "increase awareness around the importance of multicultural perspectives in research and insights, and to provide more visibility and support for researchers of color."
Mattel and family and generations consultancy The Pineapple Lounge have collaborated to create an online resource for parents raising antiracist children.
Association/organization news
In preparation for the continued reopening of facilities, the Market Research Society has released new guidance for face-to-face data collection. The advice includes guidelines for preparing facilities, cleaning, ventilation and managing public areas, as well as how to communicate safety measures to clients, participants and staff. Read more.
With 2020 Census field operations disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Insights Association joined a coalition letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee along with 147 other organizations in support of a $400 million infusion of funds to replenish the Census Bureau's contingency funds. The Senate intends to consider its next round of virus relief funding in late July. Read more.
Market Research Society of India (MRSI) has launched its Professional Standards Committee, which will focus on breaches of the MRSI code of conduct as well as the ICC/ESOMAR code of conduct.
According to the Insights Association, the U.S. Supreme Court has struck down the 2015 government debt calls exception from the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), an action which makes calling cell phones for research purposes legally hazardous, as a content-based restriction on speech.
Audience measurement body BARB announced a year-long extension of its contract tender process for two of its main research contracts: audience measurement panel and data publication, and survey design and methodology. The new contracts will now begin in 2024 and run for an initial period of six years. BARB will also invite tenders for a panel setup recruitment contract, which will be specified in line with the winning bid for the audience measurement panel and data publication contract.
The City Council for Washington, D.C., voted on July 28, 2020, to completely delete the Advertising and Personal Information Tax Amendment Act of 2020 from the District of Columbia's FY21 budget, which would have added a 3% tax on the sale of personal information and on advertising. This definition of personal information would likely have include the sale of any data, not just data traditionally understood to be personally identifiable. Read more.
Awards/rankings
Applications for the Betsy Jane Peterson Award are now being accepted. Two winners will be chosen and each will receive free enrollment for The Principles of Market Research course presented by MRII and the University of Georgia. The winners will be announced at the Insight Association’s Corporate Researchers Conference, to be held virtually in October.
New accounts/projects
Media consultancy MightyHive has been certified as a global sales and service partner for Google Cloud Platform (GCP) with a marketing analytics specialization, which enables MightyHive to provide data advisory services using the GCP platform.
Advertising and brand specialist Phoenix Marketing International has received ISO/IEC 27001:2013 certification, a standard for information security management.
New companies/new/divisions/relocations/expansions
London-based UNLIMITED has launched its behavioral science arm, the Human Understanding Lab.
Data collection and research services company Schlesinger Group has branded its clinical division as Schlesinger Clinical Research.
Susie Ribnik and Linda Hobson have launched Ribnik Research, a marketing research firm serving small- to mid-sized companies.
Digital research agency MetrixLab has opened an office in Zug, Switzerland.
Marketing services company LRW Group is rebranding as Material, bringing together its 10 companies into one.
Insights solutions company Toluna has rebranded, becoming the principal brand and holding company of Harris Interactive and KuRunData. Former principal brand ITWP will sunset from use.
Philadelphia-based Clarivate has expanded to Penang, Malaysia, with the opening of a new Global Business Center.
Saroras Private Capital, the parent company of InCrowd, has launched Apollo Intelligence Corporation, a data and insights firm for research and marketing professionals in the life sciences and health care industries.
Kids Insights, a provider of kids market intelligence, has launched in Canada and Australia.
In a letter to its business partners, Research & Results announced it will cease operations at the end of August, 2020, due to the impact of COVID-19 on events and trade shows. Its flagship Research & Results event has been cancelled for 2020 and it will close its magazine, e-newsletter and website.
Research company earnings/financial news
Consumer intelligence platform Spiketrap has closed a $3 million seed round led by Susa Ventures with participation from 645 Ventures, Pathbreaker Ventures, Oceans Ventures, WndrCo, SV Angel, Anorak Ventures and Harry Stebbings of 20VC, as well as angel investors.
Media measurement company Nielsen will cut 3,500 employees and exit from non-core businesses as part of a cost-saving restructuring plan.
According to TechCrunch, publisher-focused data management platform Permutive has raised $18.5 million in Series B funding.
According to ExploreBit, data analytics company Hublsoft has secured £2 million in funding from Maven Capital Partners.
Customer intelligence platform Zeotap has raised $42 million in a Series C funding round led by Neue Capital, coparion, Kathaka, MathCapital and TTCER Partners.
Marketing researcher Ipsos released half-year financial results, showing revenue of €786 million, down 13% year-on-year. From April to June 2020, Ipsos posted revenue of €357 million, 25.8% lower than in 2019.
Hamburg-headquartered quantilope has raised $28 million in a Series B funding round led by Digital+ Partners with participation from Dawn Capital, Senovo and Surplus. The most recent round brings quantilope's total amount raised to $40 million.
London-based startup Quantexa has raised $64.7 million in a Series C funding round.
Conversation intelligence platform Chorus.ai has closed a $45 million Series C funding round led by Georgian Partners with participation from Emergence Capital, Redpoint Ventures and Sozo Ventures.
Cognitive insights platform Whiz AI has secured $4 million in a seed funding round led by Healthy Ventures, with participation from Bling Capital, Firebolt Ventures and existing investors. This investment brings the total raised by the company to over $6.5 million.