News notes
New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hassan signed a bill into law in late April that eliminates New Hampshire’s restrictions on legitimate research, making the state safe once again for political polling. The law redefines push polling as telephone calls designed to appear as a survey but which are actually not for opinion research.
The law is the first statute in U.S. law defining bona fide survey and opinion research and is designed to protect companies conducting research. The Marketing Research Association, Washington, D.C., consulted in the development of the statute.
Acquisitions/transactions
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Washington, D.C., has approved an application by New York researcher The Nielsen Company and Nielsen Audio Inc. to sell its LinkMeter cross-platform audience measuring services to Reston, Va., research company comScore Inc., and to enter other arrangements supporting the divestiture.
The divesture is required under the FTC order settling charges that Nielsen’s acquisition of Arbitron Inc. would lessen competition in cross-platform audience measurement services.
Kantar Media, a London research company, has acquired Barcelona, Spain, research agency The Data Republic, giving Kantar access to The Data Republic’s proprietary technology, including Tuitele, which is designed to collect, measure, analyze and create visualizations of social media conversations around TV shows and TV advertising.
London research company dunnhumby Ltd. has acquired Berlin, Germany, advertising technology company Sociomantic Labs GmbH.
Clarabridge, a Reston, Va., software company, has acquired Market Metrix, a Larkspur, Calif., enterprise feedback management platform in the leisure and hospitality industries.
Geneva research company Digital Luxury Group has acquired Luxury Society, a Paris-based online community of luxury-industry professionals in 150 countries.
Predictive analytics software firm FICO, San Jose, Calif., has acquired big data technology company Karmasphere, Cupertino, Calif.
J.D. Power and Associates, a Westlake Village., Calif., research company, has acquired Orlando, Fla., software company Korrelate Inc.
Concord, Mass., research company Zettics has acquired Velocent Systems, Chicago.
Berkeley, Calif., crowdsourcing software company IdeaScale has acquired Ideavibes, an Ottawa, Canada, crowdsourcing platform provider.
London research company Kantar Retail has acquired XTEL, a Bologna, Italy, software firm, whose software supports sales strategies, including trade promotion management, retail execution and advanced pricing.
Austin, Texas, research company Bazaarvoice Inc. has acquired FeedMagnet, an Austin social media curation company, for $9 million.
Alliances/strategic partnerships
Research companies IRI, Chicago, Chicago, and GuestMetrics, Leesburg, Va., have formed an alliance, allowing IRI clients to access data on consumer purchases made on-premise. This data will be integrated with the existing IRI off-premise purchase information for food and beverage products purchased at grocery stores, mass merchandisers and other retailers, and consumed at home. IRI is also taking an equity position in the company.
New York researcher The Nielsen Company and Integral Ad Science, a New York advertising technology company, have expanded their partnership so that Integral Ad Science will power viewability measurement within Nielsen Online Campaign Ratings.
Additionally, Nielsen has partnered with Port Washington, N.Y., research company The NPD Group to jointly produce the quarterly U.S. Beauty Cross Channel Monitor.
New York research company Kantar and Twitter, Palo Alto, Calif., have collaborated on a five-year program called Data of Now, which will include new research products in the areas of advertising effectiveness, consumer insights, brand equity, customer satisfaction and media measurement. Additionally, the companies have agreed to expand the connections between select Kantar and Twitter data assets.
MRSS India, a Mumbai, India, research company, and Frankfurt, Germany, research company Scent Analysis have partnered to launch SA#M, a joint venture designed to provide a multi-sensorial research platform for product and concept development.
InSites Consulting, a Ghent, Belgium, research company, has partnered with Sydney, Australia, research company Direction First to further its Global Community Moderator Network in Asia-Pacific.
Reston, Va., research company comScore Inc. and Yahoo!, Sunnyvale, Calif., have integrated comScore’s validated Campaign Essentials software with Yahoo’s ad serving and reporting tools. The modified software is designed to measure audience reach within the Yahoo platform, then report back the data in real time to allow adjustment of the ad campaign.
Awards/rankings
The Association of National Advertisers (ANA), New York, is accepting entries for the Marketing Analytics Leadership Award. The award recognizes excellence in the application of analytics to drive more effective and efficient marketing. The $100,000 prize pool will award $50,000 to the winner’s charity of choice and $25,000 to charity for each of the two runners-up.
The deadline for submissions is July 15. Finalists will be announced in early September and the winner will be announced on stage at the ANA Masters of Marketing Annual Conference in Orlando in mid-October. For more information visit www.analyticsaward.com.
Tucker, Ga., research company StandPoint won the American Marketer of the Year Award for Marketer of the Year in the Market Research Innovation category from the American Marketing Association, Chicago, for its SCORE (scope, consult, originate, refine and evaluate) concept development approach and the company’s TeamBuilder online assessment.
Innerscope Research Inc., Boston, received a Great Mind Award from the Advertising Research Foundation, New York, for its paper, “Leveraging synergy and emotion in a multi-platform world: a neuroscience informed model of engagement.”
New accounts/projects
Rentrak Corp., a Portland, Ore., research company, has expanded its contract with Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Irving, Texas, to provide TV measurement services to 39 Nexstar stations in 21 local markets.
Rentrak has also signed an agreement with Hill Holliday, a Boston advertising agency. Hill Holliday will adopt Rentrak’s television ratings service and targeting tools. Rentrak has also signed a long-term, group-wide, local TV ratings expansion with Bonten Media, New York, across its 13 stations in eight markets.
Additionally, WOW Factor Marketing Group, a Coral Gables, Fla., advertising agency has adopted Rentrak’s StationView Essentials local TV ratings currency, including its automotive information.
Finally, Rentrak has been selected by Civis Analytics, Chicago, to provide insights into corporate and political advertising campaigns by integrating Civis’ predictive targeting with Rentrak’s local television viewing ratings.
Paris research company Ipsos has selected Realeyes, London, as its provider for facial coding and body gesture response metrics.
One Kings Lane, a New York-based online destination for home decor, has selected Surrey, U.K., research company EasyInsites to build and manage its custom panel in the U.S.
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, media technology company Syncbak has chosen New York researcher The Nielsen Company's software development kit for Syncbak’s portfolio of client applications, allowing Syncbak clients in local markets to measure audiences across mobile platforms and, later this year, include that viewing in their television ratings when streaming the same program and same advertising as the live television program.
DJS Research Ltd., Stockport, U.K., has been named as an approved supplier for Hybu Cig Cymru, the body responsible for developing, promoting and marketing red meat in Wales.
Westport, Conn., research company Toluna has adopted London research company The BrainJuicer Group PLC's emotion measure FaceTrace into its global survey platform. This aims to allow clients to gauge emotional reactions to stimuli such as products, Web sites, packaging and ads.
Cross-Tab, a Mumbai, India, research company, has adopted the Beacon research and reporting platform from Decipher Inc., a Fresno, Calif., research company. Perspective Research Services, London, has also selected the Beacon platform from Decrypt, the London branch of Decipher.
Delhi, India, research company iData Insights has partnered with Market Publishers Ltd., Birmingham, U.K., allowing Market Publishers to distribute and sell iData’s research reports.
Encino, Calif., research company uSamp has announced a 42 percent increase in European projects in the first quarter of 2014 and also announced enhancements to its Adaptive Profiling system, designed to increase survey completion rates, and its SampleCORE technology.
Additionally, uSamp has collaborated with Crowd Computing Systems (CCS), a New York software company, to integrate uSamp’s global audiences into those of CCS’s WorkFusion platform.
Research company Evolve Media, Los Angeles, has begun including New York researcher The Nielsen Company's online campaign ratings in social video campaigns. The combination will allow Evolve Media’s video platform, SpringBoard Video, to report ratings results.
Roadchef, a U.K. motorway service company, has appointed eDigitalResearch, Hampshire, U.K., to conduct a nationwide customer experience feedback program.
New companies/new divisions/relocations/expansions
Platt Retail Institute, Chicago, has opened an office in Düsseldorf, Germany. Frank Rehme will lead the operation.
Focus Pointe Global, a Philadelphia research company, has expanded its online division, Focus Pointe Online, to offer all clients its full suite of online research solutions.
Berkeley Research Group, Emeryville, Calif., has launched a predictive analytics division. John P. Kelly will lead the practice.
Research and media companies IRI, Chicago; Latinum Network, Bethesda, Md.; Univision, New York; Telemundo Media, Hialeah, Fla.; UM, New York; and Rentrak Corp., Portland, Ore., have partnered to conduct a cross-industry study to drive thought leadership in marketing to Hispanics.
Audiokite Research, a New York startup offering song-specific research reports to independent musicians and labels, has opened its doors to the public. The company is online at www.audiokite.com.
Toronto research company AskingCanadians has launched AskingAmericans, an online data collection firm. The company is online at www.askingamericans.com.
SurveyMonkey, Palo Alto, Calif., has announced plans to open an office in Dublin.
U.K. research company The Pineapple Lounge has opened an office in New York. Cheryl A. Gotthelf will lead the operation.
Mumbai, India, research company MRSS India has relocated its team members to an office separate from its parent company, Majestic MRSS, also of Mumbai.
AOC Marketing Research, Charlotte, N.C., has expanded its focus group facility to include four private client suites, each with a multipurpose testing room, lounge, office, restroom, entrance, exit and HVAC controls.
San Jose, Calif., research company infoAnalytica has opened two operation centers in Ahmedabad, India.
Research company TV Eyes has moved its U.S. headquarters to Fairfield, Conn.
Software company Turn, Redwood City, Calif., will open an Innovation Center on the campus of the University of Illinois, Champaign, Ill., for research in data-driven marketing technologies. Turn will collaborate with faculty in research and development projects. The center is the company’s first satellite location.
New York research company Ipsos Healthcare has relaunched its specialist fieldwork operations division, Fieldwork International, in Japan.
Ben Werzinger has launched MoveMR, a Rochester, N.Y., research company specializing in mobile qualitative approaches. The company is online at www.movemr.com.
Researcher Mark George has launched Quirk, an insights consultancy in Melbourne, Australia. The company is online at www.quirkresearch.com.
Research company earnings/financial news
Research Solutions Inc., Encino, Calif., has applied to list its common shares on NASDAQ.
ComScore Inc., Reston, Va., has reported that its first-quarter revenue increased 14 percent to $76.9 million, with the firm’s net loss falling to ($782,000).
Predictive marketing firm AgilOne, Mountain View, Calif., secured $25 million in funding through a Series C investment round.
Ipsos, Paris, reported first-quarter revenues of 343.3 million euros, a decrease of 4.5 percent from the previous year. The decrease was attributed to currency fluctuations. Revenue increased 1.5 percent when measured on an organic basis.
The Nielsen Company, New York, announced financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2014. Revenue increased 12.9 percent to $1,489 million.
Breyer Capital, Greenwich, Conn., has made a significant investment in Westminster, Colo., research company Datalogix.
IMS Health, Danbury, Conn., announced pricing of $20 per share for its initial public offering of 65,000,000 shares of its common stock.