Kantar TNS

Lightspeed Research and TNS 6th Dimension merge to create on-line panels leader

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:00:00 +0100

Kantar announces that from today it will begin the process of merging the online panel businesses of Lightspeed Research and TNS 6th Dimension. The merged business will operate under the Lightspeed Research company name. David Day has been named Global CEO of the merged business, while continuing as interim CEO for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Day will be supported by Chris Urinyi, CEO for The Americas and Terry Wiley, CEO for Asia Pacific. A new global role of Chief Operating Officer will be filled by Efrain Ribeiro, who joins from Ipsos. Ribeiro takes up the new position from July 6th. Kantar CEO Eric Salama commented: "The decision to merge our online panels business is the result of detailed conversations with clients about their present and future needs and an extensive cross-company analysis of our capabilities, strengths and market opportunities. "We believe that on completion of the merger with TNS 6th Dimension, Lightspeed will be the pre-eminent global online panel provider and will be able to offer a significantly strengthened service to our clients. "By merging our existing businesses, we have the opportunity to offer unparalleled global sample reach and scale, best-in-class panel management and sampling expertise and state-of-the-art sample management technology."

Millward Brown Optimor embraces iPhone technology to share BrandZ study results

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 09:24:00 +0100

The BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2009, published annually by Millward Brown Optimor, is available as a free application on the iPhone. This is the first time that a major research study has been available in this format. The iPhone app, created by iconmobile, makes the information easily accessible and fun to use. As well as the standard listings for the Top 100 and 17 categories, the app contains all the information from the main report. By shaking the iPhone, the user is presented with a brand cluster for a particular category, which they can then drill down into for further detail. Joanna Seddon, Global CEO of Millward Brown Optimor said: "The BrandZ Top 100 study is an essential benchmark for business leaders about the value of their brands. I'm delighted that by partnering with iconmobile, we are able to put our research into people's pockets in this new and innovative format." Steve Griffiths, UK Managing Director of iconmobile said: "The iPhone is a phenomenon for the mobile industry and much attention has been given to application development. However, there has been less focus on the B2B sector, and what I think this application shows is that there is great scope to create useful tools for the business sector. We believe that this app creates a new benchmark for the industry." Plans are now in place to develop the application for other platforms including BlackBerry. The iPhone app can be found by searching "BrandZ Top 100" on the iPhone/iTouch, or by visiting the iTunes app store.

Millward Brown restructures in Europe

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 01:00:00 +0100

Millward Brown has announced the launch of a new structure for its Europe business which will merge the UK/Ireland and Continental Europe regions. The new region will be managed by a team of partners who will work together to meet the needs of the Millward Brown's European clients. While each partner will have accountability for a specific practice area, they will share overall responsibility for Millward Brown's European business. The goals of this reorganization are to put everyone, including senior management, closer to clients, to build stronger local businesses and to create a more adaptable organization. This model follows the form adopted by many other professional services partnerships. The following appointments to the European Board will take immediate effect: Cath Booth - European Director and Client Officer Elizabeth Brownhill - European Director and Chief Financial Officer Juan Ferrer-Vidal - European Director and Managing Director, Southern Europe Krzysztof Kruszewski - European Director and Managing Director, Central and Eastern Europe Janet Ogundele - European Director and Talent Officer Jan Oostveen - European Director and Managing Director, North Western Europe Tim Wragg - European Director and Managing Director, UK and Ireland Commenting on the re-organization, Eileen Campbell, Chief Executive Officer of Millward Brown, stated: "I am very excited about our new approach to the European business. It strikes the right balance between building teams that are locally responsive to our clients' needs, while also delivering access for all to the many resources housed throughout our European businesses. It means that our business structure is more closely aligned with that of our clients."

Kantar announces senior management changes at Lightspeed Research

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 12:01:00 +0100

Kantar has today announced that David Day will be taking over from Anne Hedde as global CEO of Lightspeed Research, effective immediately. Hedde is leaving the company to pursue a different role at a competitor business and will hand over her responsibilities over the next few weeks. Day - who will report directly to Kantar chairman and CEO Eric Salama - will continue in his role as European CEO for an interim period. Commenting on the changes, Salama said: "I am delighted that we are able to promote from within and to have David as the new CEO. He has built a successful, thriving European business since joining us in 2006 and I have no doubt that he is the right leader for the worldwide business. "I would like to thank Anne for all her work in helping to build Lightspeed into the business it is and for her role in industry discussions around data quality issues, and wish her well."

Asia storms ahead of Europe and US in mass uptake of mobile multi-media

Fri, 22 May 2009 11:08:00 +0100

Developed Asian markets such as Japan and Korea have stormed ahead of Europe and North America in mass uptake of mobile multimedia, according to the latest TNS' Global Telecoms Insights (GTI) study. Investments in infrastructure, improving network speeds, a focus on innovation and affordable flat-rate data plans have made the Developed Asia region the world's most advanced in mobile technology adoption. The number of consumers using mobile TV features in Japan and Korea has more than doubled in the last year, rising from 14% to 32%. Similar rapid growth is observed in Hong Kong (18% to 32%). Contrastingly, mobile TV growth in Europe was considerably slower over the past year, rising from 6% to just 8%. While the UK is ahead of the European average, rising to 13% from 8% last year, mobile TV penetration still far lags behind developed Asia. In the US, although the number of mobile TV users have doubled in the last year, mobile TV uptake remains relatively low at 11%. The growth of mobile TV has had such an impact on Asia's consumers that it is now a critical driver in determining which handsets they want to purchase. In Korea mobile TV functions are now the single biggest driver of device choice in that market, considered important by 33% of Korean consumers in the device that they choose to purchase, well ahead of MP3 and camera. Desire for mobile TV is also beginning to emerge in developing Asian markets: 25% of users in Thailand and 22% in Vietnam say that being able to access mobile TV is a key driver of purchase. Yet looking at Western markets, in the US and the UK only 2% and 5% of users prioritise mobile TV when purchasing handsets. The latest TNS Global Telecoms Insights study also reveals that developed Asian markets lead the way in terms of other advanced mobile services. For example, in Korea and in Singapore 15% of users regularly upload video and images, compared with 9% in the US and only 6% across Europe, with the UK lagging further behind at 4%. Stephen Yap, Group Director at TNS Technology, commented: "A number of reasons underpin the significantly higher adoption of advanced mobile technologies in Asia. Technology tends to be more aspirational for Asian consumers, who tend to be earlier adopters as a result. Early and significant investment in mobile infrastructure by industry players, and in some cases governments, have led to network capabilities that today surpass those of Europe and North America. Moreover, relatively affordable, flat-rate data plans are better established in Asia, while in Europe and the US flat-rate plans are still priced relatively highly and incremental charging for data consumption is still commonplace."

Kantar partners with Omniture to launch integrated measurement platform

Fri, 15 May 2009 13:28:00 +0100

Kantar and Omniture, Inc., a leading provider of online business optimization software, today announced a partnership that will bring together business critical online analytics and strategic research intelligence under a single marketing platform for integrated reporting and management. Through this ongoing partnership, clients can gain a more holistic view of how their online and offline initiatives and branding efforts affect one another. The platform is designed to yield insights that advertisers, agencies and media organizations can use to execute more relevant, personalized marketing campaigns, quickly innovate and successfully bring to market the products and services their customers want. Omniture will integrate several Kantar offerings including: online advertising effectiveness and brand measurement from Dynamic Logic; competitive intelligence, audience demographics and behavioral profiling from TNS Media Compete; and attitudinal and lifestyle insights from Kantar's consumer panels, the world's largest online/offline panel collective. These new offers will be delivered to clients through Omniture Genesis, a solution that integrates complementary third-party applications and data with the Omniture Online Marketing Suite. Other new client benefits include: A more robust, comprehensive measurement of their brand impact, online and offline; Real-time adjustment of the research agenda to help ensure that the market and custom research spend is more effectively utilized; Broader view of audience for more targeted and relevant segmentation; Convenient benchmarking of key performance metrics against competitors' metrics. "Brands and media companies have only scratched the surface when it comes to using online consumer behavior data to create consumer insights and measure marketing effectiveness versus competitors," said Dean DeBiase, CEO, TNS Media. "By combining Compete's competitive web analytics, search analytics and behaviorally-based visitor profiling with the optimization capabilities of the Omniture marketing platform, marketers will now be able to deliver marketing messages with greater speed and precision, and as a result, improve their ROI." "Teaming up with Kantar is another step in the strategic relationship between Omniture and WPP as our joint solutions are being brought into the executive suite at Fortune 500 companies," said Josh James, CEO and co-founder, Omniture. "This initiative leverages the powerful analytics and online marketing capabilities of Omniture with the vast reservoirs of research, data and intelligence services from Kantar."

Dedeker to join Kantar in new role as Chair, Americas

Wed, 06 May 2009 11:59:00 +0100

Kim Dedeker will be joining Kantar this month in a new role as Chair, Americas. She recently retired from Procter and Gamble after spending 29 years in a variety of senior roles, most recently as VP, Consumer and Market Knowledge External Capability, where she was instrumental in leading a variety of industry body initiatives around data quality and industry transformation. Prior to that, she served as VP, Global Consumer and Market Knowledge for seven years. Dedeker will report to Kantar CEO, Eric Salama, and be based in Kantar's Cincinnati office. In her new role she will focus on three areas: - Leading Kantar's global initiatives with respect to research quality and industry transformation. - Helping shape the company's offer and go-to-market strategy based on an understanding of clients' existing and future needs. This will include piloting a new approach to the supply chain designed to deliver greater added value (capabilities and services), higher impact and improved speed. - Having direct oversight of US based Kantar HQ staff functions including Kantar client, business development and privacy roles. Salama said: "In the industry debate around 'change or more of the same', I'm firmly in the camp of needing to change. We do great and wonderful things but we need to do them more consistently for all clients everywhere. "I've long admired Kim's vision and the way that she and colleagues at P&G have led the industry in so many ways. I'm thrilled that she is joining us and believe that we can harness her passion, leadership around data quality issues and desire to increase the value that agencies add to their clients to help Kantar achieve its goal. We don't just want to be the biggest. We want to inspire our clients to act on the insights we develop for them and Kim can be a big catalyst in accelerating our progress." Dedeker said: "I've said in many forums that this is a pivotal time for our industry and that transformation is imperative. In my view, Kantar is proving itself to be a role model for the collaborative spirit and commitment required. I have great respect for the capabilities and talent at Kantar. Simply said, I am honoured to join the Kantar team."

Millward Brown unveils fourth annual BrandZ ranking of most valuable global brands

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 01:00:00 +0100

The fourth annual BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands ranking published today by Millward Brown Optimor reveals that brands sustain their value, despite the tough economic environment. The BrandZ Top 100 ranking identifies the dollar value of brands. It does this by combining financial data with research on consumers and business-to-business users from BrandZ, the world's largest brand equity study. The value of the top 100 brands has held its value at $1.95 tn (a marginal increase of 1.7 percent). Google is number one with a value of $100 bn, Microsoft is number two at $76.2 bn, and Coca-Cola enters the top three for the first time at $67.6 bn. "In the current environment, where the value of many businesses has fallen, brand has become even more important because it can help to sustain companies in tough times," said Joanna Seddon, CEO Millward Brown Optimor. "Those who continue to invest in their brand will be better positioned for business growth as the economic situation starts to improve than those who have cut spend." There are 15 new brands entering the ranking this year. Pampers is the highest entrant at no. 31, followed by Nintendo (no.32) and VISA (no.36). Trends identified from this year's rankings are: Value Brands that represent good value for money have done well, this is about quality as much as price, for example Wal-Mart (+19 percent), ALDI (+49 percent) and Auchan (+48 percent). H&M (+8 percent) is now the number one apparel brand. Vice People still reward themselves with little treats when money is tight. Brands such as McDonald's (+34 percent), Marlboro (+33 percent) and Budweiser (+23 percent) have all done well. At Home Brands that can be experienced at home have shown strong growth. This includes home shopping: Amazon (+85 percent) and eBay (+16 percent); Coffee that can be prepared at home: Nespresso (+27 percent) and Nescafe (+23 percent); and gaming Nintendo jumped into the ranking for the first time at no. 32. Wireless The increased popularity of using the internet on the move through devices such as the iPhone and BlackBerry has led to huge increases for the mobile operators category as a whole, driven by demand for data services. Vodafone enters the top 10 for the first time this year (+45 percent). Commenting on the ranking, Eileen Campbell, Global CEO of Millward Brown said: "It is a fantastic achievement to be one of the most valuable brands in the world, and we congratulate all brands that are featured in this ranking. At a time when marketing spend is under greater scrutiny than ever, this ranking is a way for marketers to identify the value that their brand is creating for the business." For full information about this year's survey, click here.

Lightspeed CEO to co-chair major industry initiative on data quality

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:08:00 +0100

Lightspeed Research president and global CEO Anne Hedde is one of three senior figures heading an industry-wide drive for better on-line data quality. In a move initiated by the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) in the US, Hedde and others will look at developing a 'behavioural index' to define good and bad respondents, and explore ways for sample suppliers to cooperate to avoid duplication of responses in studies that involve multiple panels. The study represents the second phase of the ARF's Foundations of Quality research-on-research initiative that was launched in June last year. The committee said in a statement: "We can now get down to the work of sorting out the issues and non-issues that will help shape our direction as we move forward. Based on the Foundations of Quality analysis, we have the ability to evaluate key components of online data quality that will help us create recommendations, standards and best practices to ensure that suppliers and clients have access to information, processes and tools that ensure quality." Hedde's co-chairs in the initiative are Mark Berry, EVP of business and consumer insights at Synovate, and Tomas Emmers, consumer and marketing insights director of Unilever. The ARF will release the complete report from the Foundations of Quality project before the year-end.

Mattson Jack hires ex-Procter marketer to boost development expertise

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 01:00:00 +0100

The Mattson Jack Group, Inc., a division of Kantar Healthcare and a recognized leader in business analytics and strategic decision support for the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, has announced the appointment of Gary Sullivan as Vice-President. Prior to joining MattsonJack, Sullivan held a variety of leadership positions with Procter and Gamble. In his most recent role as Director of Global Market Development, he targeted and negotiated contracts with major Japanese pharmaceutical companies, including Takeda, Eisai, Ajinomoto, and Tanabe. Sullivan is a "globalist" who has led efforts to build a framework for entering China with Procter's pharmaceutical technologies as well as the development of a cardiac market entry strategy for Brazil. "Gary is a senior-level business development executive who brings years of experience in providing solutions to complex international and domestic business challenges," says Jerry Fields, President of MattsonJack. "His client-side experience in pharmaceutical deal-making will be tremendously valuable to our clients and significantly enhances our corporate development offerings, which include identification and prioritization of products and partnership possibilities, assessment and validation of licensing and acquisition candidates, conducting commercial and scientific due diligence, and helping formulate optimal market-entry strategies, deal structures, and corporate development plans."

Compete provides marketers with industry's first crowd-sourced digital analytics

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 12:00:00 +0100

Compete, a TNS Media company, today introduced the new Compete PRO, providing marketers with the industry's first crowd-sourced digital analytics (social tags), dynamic graphing capability and an intuitive new reporting interface. Since no single company can accurately classify all of the dynamic content across the constantly expanding universe of websites, Compete introduces a community-based approach that taps millions of Compete.com users for their digital insights. Compete's new social tagging feature delivers actionable results for marketers who rely on Compete PRO for identifying the best sites for advertising and strategic partnerships, building effective search campaigns and tracking competitors' online marketing activity. "In addition to adding new features and improving the interface, we're continuing to change the game with a digital analytics platform that is evolving alongside today's most innovative marketers," said Gregg Poulin, General Manager at Compete. "With social tagging, we're tapping the collective power of our user base. Combine that with dynamic graphs and a streamlined design, and we're saying to the marketplace, 'you asked for speed, ease and more powerful metrics - here they are.'" Compete PRO is a web-based online measurement service that combines site, search and referral analytics for the top one million websites in a single solution. The new Compete PRO is easier to use, faster and more intuitive, reflecting the ongoing feedback from the more than two million monthly unique visitors to Compete.com, 130,000 registered MyCompete members and more than 1,000 Compete PRO customers representing the world's most iconic brands. "After using Compete PRO, it was clear it could be our online marketing operating system, giving us on-demand access to competitive metrics and insights into search behavior and visitor engagement," said Brian Harniman, EVP Marketing at Kayak.com. "Now we'll be able to see where we stand in the eyes of online prospects and uncover the strategies of our competitors."

TNS Political and Social beats three to secure 65m euros Eurobarometer business

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 11:39:00 +0100

TNS, the global market insight and information group, has announced today that it has successfully - and for the second time - won its frame-work contract with the European Commission and European Parliament to produce its Standard Eurobarometer studies. This agreement will be one of the largest market research contracts ever commissioned and is valued at 65 million euros over four years. TNS won the contract through a competitive pitch against IPSOS, Gallup and Synovate, only four months after it was also awarded the Eurobarometer Qualitative Studies worth 15 million euros over four years. The Eurobarometer will be co-ordinated within TNS' highly established Political and Social sector, by TNS Opinion, who interview approximately 200,000 citizens every year in more than 34 countries across Europe: the 27 Member States of the European Union (EU), the three candidate countries (Turkey, Croatia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia); Norway, Iceland and Switzerland, and the Turkish Cypriot Community (located in the area not controlled by the Government of the Republic of Cyprus). All interviews are conducted face to face, in 44 different languages, by 9,200 dedicated TNS interviewers. The Eurobarometer is the most significant and regular measure of public opinion in Europe and covers a number of important issues facing the EU, including globalisation, unemployment, the protection of the environment, immigration, poverty and international affairs, many of which can be tracked over several years. TNS has worked for the European Institutions since 1974 when it first won the contract for the quantitative Standard Eurobarometer studies. Leendert de Voogd, Global Head of TNS Political and Social sector, said: "TNS is extremely proud to have been rewarded with this very prestigious contract again, and to have been chosen to run what is known as the biggest Political and Social research contract ever commissioned. It is a testament to TNS' professionalism and capability to run extremely large studies using our strong European face to face field force. We have a fantastic team at TNS who have being running this study proficiently for four years and are the reason we are seen as a trusted partner for major global research projects such as this. The contract also underpins the strength of our Political and Social sector and gives us a platform for growth and innovation in many areas. The combination of both qualitative and quantitative Eurobarometer contracts will enable us to provide European elites with the most exhaustive sources of information and help them in their decision-making process and the drafting of European-wide public policies."

TNS appoints Neuhaus as global head of finance research practice

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 11:41:00 +0100

TNS today announces the appointment of Bob Neuhaus as Global Head of the TNS Finance Sector, which he will take on alongside his current role of Executive Vice President of TNS' North American Financial Services division. The appointment will see Bob take responsibility for all aspects of TNS' Finance research practice, including custom research, business development, new product development and profitability. In his new global role, Bob will be reporting to Pedro Ros, CEO of TNS, and will be based in Stamford, USA. Bob has been heading up the North American Finance division at TNS since 2006; prior to this he has held senior roles in global financial organisations including JP Morgan, M & T Bank and Greenwich Associates. One of Bob's main objectives in his new role will be to ensure that TNS is well positioned to give clients guidance on where the opportunities are in today's market and how they can respond effectively to the global financial crisis. Bob will be empowering TNS' clients, using the expertise within the Global Finance Sector, to help financial companies restore trust, rebuild brands and redefine their customer relationships. Pedro Ros, CEO, said: "It is great that Bob is stepping into this new role and leading the global finance sector during this challenging time in the global economy. We want to help our clients respond effectively to the crisis and TNS is hugely committed to offering actionable insights that will help them build up their businesses. As well as having a huge amount of experience working in this sector, Bob understands TNS' clients' business issues and challenges in the financial playing field. This and our ability to provide well-positioned solutions to these issues, is what makes TNS the provider of choice for many banking, insurance and investment organisations. I look forward to seeing Bob build upon this success."

Google and WPP Marketing Research Awards Programme bestows 11 grants

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 01:00:00 +0000

Eleven research awards have been granted to universities under the auspices of the Google and WPP Marketing Research Awards Programme, which was announced by both companies in the fall of 2008. An impressive field comprising of more than 120 entries were received by the deadline for proposals. The programme is overseen by Professor John Quelch, senior associate dean of Harvard Business School and a non-executive director of WPP; Dr. Hal Varian, Google's Chief Economist; and Professor Glen Urban, former dean of the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This committee made final decisions on the proposals to be funded and will guide the project implementation process for the winning submissions. The supported projects represent the first round of awards in the three-year programme that will see WPP and Google commit up to $4.6 million to support research into how online media influences consumer behavior, attitudes and decision making. Funding for the supported projects will be released in this month. "I was very impressed with the volume and quality of the submissions. I think we have an exciting set of grants that are truly innovative, academically rigorous, and relevant to practice of Digital Marketing" said Professor Urban. "The winning projects offer convincing designs to explore how online and offline marketing influence consumer attitudes, decisions and purchase behavior. As marketing continues to become more digital and more measurable, the results of these studies would also advance our understanding of how advertising investment should be allocated among media channels" said Dr. Varian. "These awards promise to focus some of the best minds in the marketing academy on the marketing impacts of the digital revolution," added Professor Quelch. For full details of the Research Awards, click here.

TNS announces senior global management team

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 09:05:00 +0000

Following the recent merger of TNS with Research International, TNS, the world's largest custom research business, has today announced its new Senior Global Management Team. The Global Management Team will be responsible for overseeing the development and success of the newly merged business alongside Bob Meyers as Chairman and Pedro Ros as CEO, who will have day-to-day management of the combined business. Supporting Pedro in this task is Mike Gettle, who previously held the role of CFO for Millward Brown, and will be taking up his new role as CFO/COO for TNS. Mike will also continue to be part of the integration committee responsible for TNS' merger into the larger Kantar group. Supporting Mike is David Errington in his new role as Global Commercial Director for TNS. Jamie Hall will head up the ALM region as CEO Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa (ALM). Jamie will be closely supported by Heather Payne as TNS Regional Director for Korea, Japan, China and Taiwan. Heather will also take responsibility for the company's International Research Centre and the combined operations of Hong Kong and Singapore. In the US, David Kieselstein will be CEO North America. David will be working with Bridget Armstrong who will become Executive Vice President US Consumer Sector Head. In Europe, Judith Passingham retains her role as CEO Europe and Denis Delmas is Deputy Managing Director Europe. Denis will also have responsibility for Global Marketing Communications Reviewing and developing TNS' overall client offer will be the responsibility of Kirk Ward who moves across from his position as Global Product Development Director at Research International to become Offer Development and Integration Director at TNS. Also taking positions on TNS' Senior Global Management Team is Stephen Factor who retains his role as the Global Head of the Consumer Sector and will be responsible for the TNS Global Account Programme. Also Jordi Ferrer becomes Strategy and Corporate Development Director. Furthermore, Research International's former Group Human Resources Director Catherine Connolly will now become Global Head of Human Resources for the merged business. Pedro Ros, CEO of TNS said: "I am very excited by the combined wealth of talent we have within the merged business. Both Research International and TNS bring different strengths to the table in terms of their solutions and research insight, and this is reflected in the level of knowledge and experience within the Senior Global Management Team. Over the coming months it is the team's responsibility to ensure that our combined offer reflects our position as the world's largest custom business, as we begin to shape the future of the research industry."

Emerging markets by-pass fixed line services as mobile gains global dominance

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 15:07:00 +0000

Seventy-four per cent of all messages globally are now sent through a mobile device, according to a new study by TNS. This is a huge increase on 12 months ago where this figure was only 59%. This trend is even higher in emerging markets where nine out ten messages now go out via mobiles. "As mobile devices slowly take away usage share from fixed services in developed markets, in emerging markets consumers are more likely to by-pass fixed communications altogether and go straight to mobiles," said Sam Curtis, Sector Development Manager at TNS Technology. The study reveals that in India, for example, consumers are twice more likely to have a mobile phone than a fixed line telephone. Although emailing from a PC is still the most popular form of messaging in the developed world, there are signs that this too is changing. In Japan for instance, 40 out of 100 emails sent are from a mobile device and in North America, 69% of those using email on their mobile phone use it daily, compared to only 43% globally. This trend looks set to continue, not least because of the rise in Smartphones entering the market. Mobile Instant Messaging (MIM) is another communication technology experiencing strong growth. 13% of mobile users now use this feature globally, compared to only 8% in the previous year. The growth amongst Smartphone users is even more dramatic with an increase from 13% to 41% this year. But once again, it is in the emerging markets that MIM has the most opportunities. In China for example, a significant 16% of mobile phone owners use MIM, which accounts for 27 out of every 100 messages sent across all technologies. When we compare this to the US, MIM penetration sits above China at 17%, but only accounts for 5 out of every 100 messages sent. Sam Curtis continues: "This is another example of the emerging market consumer leap-frogging right to the most suitable technology. We have also seen very similar trends emerging in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. MIM's low cost and less formal tone is ideally suited to consumers who can communicate without boundaries for the first time. The way that consumers communicate is changing and diversifying and not one brand or service provider can claim to have effectively captured these trends and delivered the complete consumer communication experience. With stats like these, this won't be the case for much longer. "

Deep discounting damages brands, reveals new study from Yankelovich

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 09:27:00 +0000

Discounting prices deeply during a recession is a mistake, according to a new Yankelovich study, and can damage brands in the long run. Although price is a starting point - products and services must fit into consumers' budgets - consumers have negative reactions when brands discount their products and services in response to the recession, according to the Dollars & Consumer Sense 2009 study, conducted in January 2009. When asked what they assume when a brand lowers its prices during economic times like these, 70 percent of consumers responded, "The brand is normally overpriced," and 62 percent said they assumed that "the product is old, about to expire or about to be updated, and the company is trying to get rid of it to make room for the new stuff." In contrast, when consumers were asked what they assume when a brand does not lower its prices during economic times like these, 64 percent reported that they assume that "the product is extremely popular," and 64 percent assume that "the product is already a good value." "Lowering prices during a recession clearly raises suspicions among consumers," explains J. Walker Smith, Ph.D., president of the Yankelovich MONITOR(r) and Executive Vice Chairman of The Futures Company. "Drastic price cuts like those seen during the past holiday season create a double-barreled risk for brands. First, such price cuts generally fail to generate enough business to pay for themselves, although clearing inventory is of some value. Second, they create long-term difficulties in terms of consumer expectations." Those "deflationary expectations" cause consumers to postpone purchases because, when they see that a price is reduced, they anticipate that prices will come down even further. "These expectations of deflation are difficult to break and can keep a category mired in unreasonably low prices for years," Smith notes. About half to 60 percent of the study respondents think that when companies lower prices, it means that prices will go down further if they wait long enough. And roughly 50 to 70 percent think that brands that do not lower prices will have to do so eventually. Now, it's more important than ever for companies to deliver the right incentives to the right consumers because they're not all motivated by the same attributes. To help companies do that, Smith and his research team developed the ASSAY model as part of Dollars & Consumer Sense 2009. The model makes the connection between brand incentives and consumer budgeting strategies. For further information please visit www.yankelovich.com

Coca-Cola, Nike and Adidas top brands for teens globally, TRU study finds

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 12:01:00 +0000

Teens from around the globe may agree on relatively few things, but there's broad consensus about the importance of a few key global brands. In fact, three powerhouse names - Coca-Cola, Nike, and Adidas - have already vanquished most of their competition to become the three most-beloved brands among teens globally. But, because they've achieved something akin to parity, the brands will likely find dispatching their remaining rivals all the more challenging. The just-released TRU Global Teen Study asked nearly 16,000 teens in 15 countries to name their favorite brands. Teens in 11 countries named Coca-Cola and Nike as among their top-three, while teens in 10 countries similarly honored Adidas. According to Riz Badr, TRU's Global Director, this finding shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that teens around the world are not simply willing to accept global brandsthey actively embrace them. "The findings from the TRU Global Teen Study show that a strong and well-supported global presence pays huge dividends to brands," Badr said. "Ask yourself this: What do Brazil, China, Greece, Italy, South Korea, Spain, the U.K. have in common? The answer: Nike. Teens in each country name a nominally American - but genuinely global - brand as their favorite." Badr is quick to point out, however, that competitive threats to the established brand hierarchy may come from rather unexpected places. For instance, home-grown brands in several markets are adopting the same branding techniques that have made the dominant global brands successful. "Nike may be the prohibitive favorite brand in China," Badr said, "but Li-Ning, a Chinese athletic footwear brand, takes third place." Likewise, Indian shoe brand Bata is the second-favorite brand among that country's teens, while Norwegian teens name Tine, a dairy-products brand, as their second choice. TRU is a part of TNS Global, the world's largest custom-research firm and a subsidiary of Kantar, the information, insight and consultancy arm of WPP.

Added Value appoints McGowan as CMO with global brand development brief

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 09:40:00 +0000

Global branding group Added Value, part of the Kantar Group, has appointed Paul McGowan as its first Chief Marketing Officer. The move is designed to ensure the company continues to lead the market in brand development, innovation and marketing insight. In his new role, McGowan will lead an investment in brand development and innovation approaches by the group across its 24 international offices in 14 countries. Paul McGowan, who was previously CEO Global Clients, has forged many of the group's relationships with iconic global brands including Levi's, Pepsi, Pernod Ricard and Nestle. "This recession is far deeper and wide-reaching than downturns experienced in most marketers' lifetimes. Consumers are demanding more tangible propositions across every category, which are placing brands under tremendous pressure to deliver real value, faster and better than the competition. "Our continued commitment to invest in developing strategic tools and expert teams will enable us to deliver stronger, more robust answers to our client's toughest marketing challenges," says McGowan. As evidence of this commitment, Added Value will launch a major digital innovation and research platform in the summer to better capture conversations, views, opinions and experiences from communities of experts and consumers, as well as encourage dynamic interaction and idea generation. "There are plenty of agencies conducting on-line research, but our platform will enable clients to conduct entire innovation processes on-line, leveraging all the associated benefits of speed, interaction and diversity making fewer, better, faster ideas, a reality," adds McGowan. The investment in new innovation tools follows the appointment of Nina Jenkins and Izzy Pugh as its first UK Creative Directors in Autumn 2008. This signalled Added Value's commitment to using creative expression, strategy and design to further its world renowned brand development and marketing insight pedigree for the benefit of its clients.

Kantar Group announces major re-organisation to streamline client offering

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 11:56:00 +0000

The Kantar Group has today announced a major re-organisation to strengthen its position as the world's leading information, insight and consultancy business and streamline its offer for clients. The re-organisation will simplify the Group's overall offering through a series of structural changes, building on the acquisition of TNS in October 2008. Commenting on the changes, Eric Salama, CEO of The Kantar Group, said: "This re-organisation is far-reaching and is all about clients. It's about how we help clients access the best talents and capabilities we have, when and where they need it. And it's about a structure which enables us to innovate and roll out offers which are relevant to contemporary client needs. We are keeping a multi-brand structure which encourages the development of best-in-class specialists while dealing with a key client demand to see offers which are more joined-up. We will know that we will have been successful when we see clients getting the best of Kantar everyday, everywhere." The re-organisation will see the consolidation of a number of the existing business units into a new streamlined structure, with re-branding to take place over time. Key features are: The TNS Custom business and Research International will merge. The new global company will be known as TNS and will be led by Bob Meyers as Chairman and Pedro Ros as CEO. The Research International name will be retained in some markets where the business will be known as TNS Research International. In some markets TNS will maintain its heritage brands. This new business will retain a unique approach to structuring around clients' industry sectors with a formidable line-up of custom and syndicated offers. A key feature of the new business will be its local market strength across the world. CEO of TNS Pedro Ros said: "At TNS our clients are at the forefront of everything we do and it is our mission not only to deliver the best service possible, but to challenge and innovate around their evolving business needs. By combining strengths and resources with Research International, we are in an even greater position to do this and we can look to a bright future." The social research team from BMRB will join a network of social and polling teams within TNS to form the strongest network of social, governmental, polling capabilities in the world. In the UK the business will be branded as TNS-BMRB. The establishment of four dedicated vertical sector operating units - Kantar Media, Kantar Healthcare, Kantar Retail and Kantar Worldpanel. - Kantar Media brings together the specialist media capabilities of TNS Media Intelligence, TNS Media Research, KMR and TGI. The business will be organised into four key operations: Kantar Media Intelligence, Kantar Audience Measurement (formerly Media Research), TGI Global (including other single source services) and an integrated company covering all disciplines in the US market. The identity for the new company will be Kantar Media, but it will reference TNS in its branding in acknowledgment of the strength of the TNS brand in the media world. The enlarged unit will have a leading worldwide position in areas such as audience measurement, advertising expenditure tracking, software and news monitoring. It will also be the home for the increased focus on behavioural data from new technologies, return path data and mobile and for developing the infrastructure for addressable advertising. Kantar Media CEO Jean-Michel Portier said: "It is my belief that our deep level of media expertise and client oriented spirit will allow us to meet our clients' needs even better in a very challenging environment." - Kantar Healthcare combines the existing TNS Healthcare, Ziment Group, Consumer Health Services, imap, MattsonJack businesses, creating the world's leading healthcare research, insight and consulting specialist. The new business will have a global footprint, strong local capability and an offer which meets the needs of a sector going through radical change in the way that patients and physicians interact, and the role played by digital technologies. - Kantar Retail consolidates the expertise of Glendinning, Cannondale, Management Ventures Inc, Retail Forward and recently acquired Red Dot. The focus of the business will be on deepening and rolling out digitally delivered intelligence on retailers, extending shopper insights and consulting capability. Two important additions are the consulting capability for retailers provided by Retail Forward and the technologically driven virtual reality platforms developed by Red Dot. - Worldpanel will be re-branded to Kantar Worldpanel to reflect the business's ability to work with clients across the Group and will continue to be a stand-alone organisation within the Group. IMRB's panel in India will also be linked into Worldpanel with the business being the market leader in key emerging markets such as China, India, Mexico, and Brazil. It is a unique business of critical importance in helping clients understand the impact of economic and other changes on consumer in-store purchase patterns.

Pay rises and work/life balance still bigger concerns than redundancy, shows TNS study

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 14:04:00 +0000

Most of the UK's working population is refusing to let the recession change their boom-time attitude to their career, according to new findings by TNS. Instead of facing the reality of salary cuts and potential redundancy, workers are still demanding higher pay and seeking a better work-life balance - priorities much better suited to the good times. Despite the constant flow of news headlines highlighting the toll that the recession is taking on UK employment, recent TNS research has uncovered a surprising contradiction in employees' attitudes to work. Although on the surface, people are showing concerns about what the recession means for them, this is not yet translating into a change in priorities and subsequent behaviour in the workplace. TNS' study into UK workers' priorities for 2009 reveals that employees are more bothered about reducing their stress levels at work and improving their work-life balance than hanging on to their jobs. Only 25% cite 'avoiding redundancy' as one of their priorities for 2009, compared to 29% focusing on reducing stress. Generally, Brits seem more concerned with easing their work load and increasing their pay than actively working to avoid the inevitable repercussions of a recession. The study also shows that only 15% expect a cut in salary this year. Supporting this finding is the fact that only 9% of employees feel they need to make more of an effort to be noticed by senior management, indicating that people are still expecting the same promotions and pay rises that they got during the boom years, ignoring the obvious impact of the ailing economy. But far from just wanting to improve the time they spend at work, more than a fifth (21%) of Brits also plan to proactively look for a better paid job this year, a surprising figure given the rising unemployment rate and country-wide threat of redundancies. The figures point to a workforce completely out of touch with reality that is expecting job offers and salary increases more appropriate to a growing economy than one in serious decline. This is enforced by the fact that despite the undeniably gloomy job market, almost half (44%) of Brits have not changed their priorities at work from last year, with only 18% indicating that they have changed their work attitude in response to the recession. This figure was even higher among 55-64 year olds, with 63% saying that they have not changed their priorities for 2009 in the slightest - despite the fact that this is a high-risk group in terms of redundancies. Gemma McIntosh, Head of TNS Stakeholder Management, comments: "Although we know that 2009 will be a difficult year for businesses across the UK, employees' priorities do not seem to have shifted in line with the changing economy. We would expect to see workers staying put in their jobs and working toward job security. Instead, they are looking for better paid jobs or gunning for promotions - not behaviour one would expect to see during a recession. "There seems to be an attitude of 'it'll never happen to me' among the UK's workforce, and many are continuing on as they always have been. But as more businesses are starting to cut back, it might be a good time for people to look at re-aligning their priorities. This will be a tough year, and although optimism should not be discouraged, we should adjust our expectations accordingly."

TNS Compete forms alliance with on-line automotive research specialist

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 09:47:00 +0000

TNS Compete - part of TNS Media - has formed an aggreement with J.D. Power and Associates to jointly develop valuable products based on market intelligence gathered on the online automotive shopping and buying process. The J.D. Power and Associates/Compete products will be designed to offer auto marketers and their agencies and publishers never-before-seen intelligence about consumers and their automotive shopping habits. Data will be collected on actual vehicle buyers, rather than online automotive shoppers or Web site visitors who may not make a purchase. In particular, the jointly developed products are intended to assist marketers with understanding the shopping funnel and to help them to plan media buys and to target and intercept key prospects. "In today's challenging economy, understanding the behavior of automotive buyers is not just nice to haveit is business critical," said Skip Streets, executive director of sales, automotive, at TNS Compete. "This new Compete alliance with J.D. Power and Associates empowers marketers to put the right message in front of the right audience at the right time." The first product arising from the collaborationthe Online Media Behavior Studywill be released on Tuesday, March 3. The Online Media Behavior Study is a media planning tool that identifies which Web sites are visited by prospective new vehicle buyers during the previous month. It provides media planners with near real-time reporting on automotive buyer online visitation across thousands of Web sites. This tool will allow media planners to find Web sites with the greatest reach among actual new-vehicle prospective buyers, analyzed by competitive vehicle segment, which is information no other media planning tool has ever been able to offer. Other metrics for engagement such as average time spent per visit/visitor and bounce rate will also be included. Plans are for the Online Media Behavior Study to be updated monthly and to be delivered within five weeks after the close of a month.

Kantar Group acquires Red Dot Square, a leading virtual reality company

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:15:00 +0000

The Kantar Group has acquired Red Dot Square Solutions, the leading provider of interactive retail environments in virtual reality. Red Dot Square's 'Smart' interactive retail worlds enables retailers & manufacturers to collaborate to generate fast and actionable shopper insights. The use of intelligent, real-time store simulation technologies to conduct market research and achieve other mission critical business objectives is becoming common practice among consumer product manufacturers and retailers. Red Dot Square counts retailers such as Safeway, Walgreens, Tesco and Wal-Mart among its key clients, working in collaboration with leading global marketers including General Mills, Kimberly-Clark, Kraft, MillerCoors, Sara Lee and Unilever. Founder & President Mark Edwards said: "We are very excited about the opportunity to co-develop a world-class shopper marketing capability within Kantar and WPP. Our technology has broad application across a range of customer needs and the alliance with WPP/Kantar adds scale, expertise, flexibility, speed and superior delivery to our offer. For example, there are times when virtual store tests are a more accurate representation of at-shelf product selection and other shopping behaviors than traditional methods of consumer research and a faster, more cost-efficient alternative to in-store field tests." Reflecting on the acquisition, Kantar Group CEO Eric Salama commented: "In-store elements of the marketing mix are critical to clients. Red Dot Square is already renowned for its creative and innovative work in virtual reality. By combining their expertise with the broader shopper, retail and consumer research and consulting capabilities across Kantar and WPP we can deliver market leading solutions." Red Dot Square's existing senior leadership team, led by CEO Keith Dickens and President Mark Edwards, will continue in their current roles. The company is headquartered in Milton Keynes in the UK with the US office in Chicago, Illinois.

TNS Media Research partners with DIRECTV to launch cutting-edge measurement system

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 09:42:00 +0000

TNS Media Research today announced the launch of the DIRECTView Service, an advanced TV ratings analytics tool that is the largest national audience measurement service in the U.S. DIRECTView, which leverages Return Path Data (RPD) from the digital set-top boxes of 100,000 DIRECTV satellite television subscribers, enables measurement of the entire spectrum of live and time-shifted (DVR) audience viewing behaviors at a second-by-second level across more than 350 channels. The data is projectable to DIRECTV's entire 17.3 million customer base. "This is the type of transparent audience ratings data that advertisers, TV networks and agencies have been seeking - research that truly reflects the programming and advertising services consumed by viewers," says Dean DeBiase, CEO, TNS Media. Leading U.S. advertising agencies and programmers have already signed on to use DIRECTView's live and time-shifted audience ratings at a second-by-second interval to help navigate the complexities of the digital TV landscape. "With the level of granular insights available from the DIRECTView Service, clients can better understand why programs and commercials are watched or not, and gain greater confidence in their marketing decision-making," says George Shababb, President, TNS Media Research North America.

"Strategic consumer insight" the way forward for WPP, says CEO Sir Martin Sorrell

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 09:34:00 +0000

http://www.mrweb.com/drno/news9451.htm

Kantar Group's new chief privacy officer discusses the challenges facing the industry

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 11:12:00 +0000

The Kantar Group recently appointed George Pappachen as chief privacy officer, the first such appointment by a leading research, insight and consultancy business (see story, 12th January 2009). Pappachen will develop and implement a privacy and data protection policy across the Group and will work directly with clients on these issues. Following his apointment, Pappachen spoke exclusively with Research magazine about the broad challenges faced by the industry to allay consumer concerns about the information they reveal to research companies and the threat of more regulatory controls. Read the interview here.

Sandberg steps up to global CFO role at Millward Brown

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 12:03:00 +0000

Millward Brown has promoted Dave Sandberg, an eleven-year veteran of the company, to the post of Global CFO, based in the company's Naperville, Illinois office. He succeeds Mike Gettle who recently moved to parent company The Kantar Group to head the team responsible for integrating TNS into the group. Sandberg served as CFO of Millward Brown North America for the past 11 years, prior to which he spent six years as a manager at accountancy giant Arthur Andersen. He has a BS in Accounting and Finance from Illinois State University. "For over a decade, Dave has played a crucial role in the growth of our North American business," stated Millward Brown Global CEO Eileen Campbell. "His financial and strategic vision has always been global in scope so his move to the Group CFO position is a perfect fit." Millward Brown has 76 offices in 48 countries. Its additional practices include its Media Practice (media effectiveness unit), Millward Brown Optimor (dedicated to brand strategy and marketing investment), Millward Brown Precis (PR measurement practice), Dynamic Logic (digital marketing effectiveness measurement), and BMRB (public sector, media and market research).

Majority of consumers fear a global recession, says new TNS "Financial Crisis" study

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 14:23:00 +0000

TNS, the global market insight and information group, has just released the results of its Financial Crisis study, showing that the majority of consumers across four countries expect a global depression. The study looks at how the global financial crisis is affecting customers in four key countries; the UK, France, Germany and the US. It has specifically investigated how people are changing their behaviors and attitudes towards financial institutions and financial decisions. One of the most significant findings of the new report confirms that a majority of respondents across all countries believe that the crisis will continue for at least another one or two years, this figure is 59 percent for the UK, 57 percent in the US, 49 percent for Germany and 56 percent for France. More concerning is that the majority of people think the problems in the economy will soon lead to a 'Global Depression' - approximately 72 percent in the UK, 72 percent in France, 66 percent in Germany but falling to 60 percent of respondents in the US who think that this is the case. When it comes to issues around the depression in individual countries even more people are concerned, with nearly three quarters saying they agree that this might be a side effect of the turmoil. Again the UK is the most concerned about the threat of depression in their own country at 81 percent, France 74 percent and 66 percent in Germany and the US. "The most concerning result from our study is that the majority of consumers are expecting a global depression," said Bob Neuhaus, Executive Vice President, Financial Services for TNS in the United States. "Consumer expectations for the economy are plummeting and this is clearly reflected in their deep concerns about job prospects, financial security and even their ability to maintain their homes." TNS Omnibus online study of 4239 consumers in the UK, US, France and Germany aged 16-64 during December 2008. For further information, visit TNS' website here.

BMRB appoints Michelle Harrison as MD for government and public affairs

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 09:58:00 +0000

BMRB has appointed Dr Michelle Harrison to lead its public sector research and insight division. Michelle joins BMRB having previously held the position of Head of Public Sector consultancy at BMRB's sister company, The Futures Company (formerly The Henley Centre). In 2007 Michelle launched the Institute for Insight in the Public Services (a joint think tank between BMRB and the Futures Company) and since that time has been has been working with BMRB to develop its service transformation capability. Michelle remains Chair of the IIPS and a Board Director of The Futures Company. Commenting on the appointment, Richard Asquith, CEO of BMRB said "We are very proud of the high quality and innovative work BMRB conducts for public and third sector clients. Quantitative, qualitative and deliberative research is playing an increasingly important role in Public Life and I am delighted that Michelle is joining us to lead the next stage of our development in this area." Michelle Harrison adds "BMRB Social Research is highly regarded for providing the highest quality research to government. It will be a privilege to be able to build on this through ongoing innovation in research methods and delivery." Michelle began her career in academia and then joined The Henley Centre as a Consultant in 1997, being promoted to the Board 2003. She has worked across many areas of corporate and public sector strategy work and in recent years she has concentrated on building the Whitehall research and consultancy practice. She also led Planning for Consumer Change, Henley's proprietary on-going quantitative research into the values, aspirations and resources of the British population. Michelle was the founding Chair of the Institute for Insight in the Public Services in 2007.

Senior appointment recognises the growing importance of privacy issues

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 09:06:00 +0000

The Kantar Group is pleased to announce the appointment of George Pappachen to the newly-created role of Chief Privacy Officer, the first such appointment by a leading research, insight and consultancy business. Pappachen will develop and implement a privacy and data protection policy across the Group and will work directly with clients on these issues. He will report into Group Development Director Mandy Pooler and takes up the new role following two years as director of privacy and public policy at The Kantar Group on-line research company Safecount. A recognised contributor to the growing industry dialogue on privacy and data protection, Pappachen has presented to the US Federal Trade Commission and at numerous public and private sector conferences on the topic. In developing privacy policies for The Kantar Group, he will draw on extensive experience in working with web publishers, media companies, agencies and advertisers to identify solutions for safe, reliable and accountable data collection, usage and storage. His appointment comes against a background of intense public scrutiny around data protection matters and a reduction in consumer response rates. The Kantar Group chief executive Eric Salama said: "Privacy and data protection issues are top of mind for many consumers and will become so for many more. We cannot succeed as a business without recognising these concerns, putting in place strict and transparent policies where they are required and educating the public and our clients. In doing so, we are open to cooperating with all of our competitors to put in place industry-wide solutions, but we will not allow ourselves to be slowed down in implementing the right approaches." Pappachen added: "I am excited to develop the work I have done with Safecount onto the broader Kantar Group platform, especially at a time when privacy is becoming business-critical for ourselves and our clients. It is an opportunity to introduce best-in-class practice to one of the world's biggest data-based operations." Pappachen takes up the new position effective immediately, based in New York.

Discovery Communications signs up for TNS Media Research's DIRECTView service

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 12:45:00 +0000

Discovery Communications, the world's number-one nonfiction media company, has signed an agreement to utilize TNS Media Research's DIRECTView service, one of the largest national audience measurement services available in the United States. The deal will provide Discovery with granular insight into live and time-shifted (DVR) audience ratings at a second-by-second interval for Discovery's entire range of networks, including HD simulcasts and emerging networks. The innovative DIRECTView service will enhance the depth of analysis available to Discovery by leveraging the Return Path Data (RPD) from DIRECTV's national footprint of 100,000 satellite television subscribers projectable to the entire DIRECTV subscriber base of more than 17 million households. "It is imperative that Discovery remain ahead of the curve and work with innovative companies to provide more precise and detailed viewer research," said Wonya Lucas, Chief Marketing Officer, Discovery Communications. "The DIRECTView service offers a new level of intelligence and a strategic edge to our programming and advertising strategies." "The insights gleaned from DIRECTView will be instrumental in helping Discovery and its clients make more informed advertising and programming decisions thanks to the measurement of total viewing activity, including live and time-shifted (DVR) viewing on a second-by-second basis," added Dean DeBiase, CEO, TNS Media.

Added Value steps up commitment to creativity with appointment of senior duo

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 09:25:00 +0000

Brand consultancy Added Value has appointed its first ever creative directors in a move to boost the application of creativity in its work for clients. The company has brought in Nina Jenkins from WPP design and branding agency The Parters to be responsible for design execution and visual expression. Izzy Pugh, who has been with Added Value since 2000, takes a parallel role as creative director with responsibility for strategy. Jenkins brings with her a creative portfolio of work on brands including Wedgwood, Vertu, Smirnoff and BBC iPlayer, while Pugh has most recently worked on the development of the award-winning Archetype Game, a creative tool enabling marketers to decode and define brand character across borders. In her new role, Pugh will continue to work closely with Added Value's insight team to create bespoke marketing and insight tools. Jenkins will work directly with the company's in-house design studio and audio-visual teams. Added Value managing director Bart Michels commented: "We believe the combined creative talents of Nina and Izzy will further put creativity at the heart of what we do, giving our clients solutions with more impact, relevance and, most importantly, more value."

TNS increases its stake in TNS Interscience in Brazil to 100 per cent

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 09:28:00 +0000

Kantar-owned TNS, the global market and insight information group, has acquired the remaining 37% of TNS InterScience, one of Brazil's leading custom market research businesses. TNS has held a majority interest in TNS InterScience since 2005. Founded in 1983 and based in Sao Paulo, TNS InterScience employs 100 people. Clients include more than half of TNS' global account list, including Kraft, P&G, Telefonica and Samsung. TNS InterScience had revenues of Brazilian Reals 30 million for the year ended 31 December 2007 and gross tangible assets of Brazilian Reals 11.6 million as at the same date. This investment continues Kantar Group parent company WPP's strategy of developing its networks in faster growing markets and sectors.

TNS global study of on-line behaviour highlights the rise of virtual friendship

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 13:39:00 +0000

The internet is rewriting our definition of friendships and the ways in which we interact with our friends and aquaintances, a major new study reveals. Conducted by TNS in 16 countries, Digital World, Digital Life examines on-line behaviour and perspectives around the world. More than 27,000 participants aged 18 to 55 years old were interviewed online to see how much of their social life is conducted on-line. Across all 16 countries, respondents stated that 30 per cent of their friends are actually 'on-line only' (having never met face-to-face). However, the majority of people who first make acquaintances over the internet have then gone on to arrange to meet at least one person face to face or to talk on the phone. Despite the willingness to engage in on-line friendships, many respondents expressed a clear sense of doubt about the identities of such people. There now appears to be a distinct role for digital methods of contact. E-mail is used as much as face-to-face for communicating with friends in countries like Canada, France, Finland and Italy. In contrast, there are some countries, notably Korea, in which the mobile phone is used more than face-to-face or e-mail for communicating with friends. Yet despite their active online lives, face-to-face remains respondents' preferred way of communicating with friends and family members. For friends, 84 per cent prefer face-to-face, although e-mail is in second place (78%), followed by mobile phone (77%). For family, face-to-face was still the main way of communicating, mentioned by 8 out 10 (82%) respondents as compared to mobile phone (68%) or fixed phone (64%). Arno Hummerston, Managing Director, TNS Global Interactive, said: "What comes out in this survey is that we are actively engaging with people online, but we haven't lost the knack for conventional social contact. At the same time, online acquaintances are real acquaintances. This is underlined by the high percentages of people who, having first met people online, go on to meet them in person or at least by talking on the phone. But behind that is the sense of worry among our respondents who clearly express concern about the true online identity of a friend."

Companies urged to work harder at employee engagement as the recession bites

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 11:37:00 +0000

Employee engagement should be moved to the top of companies' agendas during recession, according to the latest findings from The Foresight Group. In a difficult financial environment, even a modest increase in employee engagement can be a true competitive advantage, claims Foresight, a leading global provider of employee survey solutions and part of the Kantar Group. "Stressful economic times can tempt companies to move employee engagement issues toward the bottom of HR and leadership agendas, yet with such a strong correlation between higher levels of engagement and higher levels of performance, continuing to survey employees and offer them a voice in the business just makes good business sense," says Foresight Group president Mike Schroeder. Foresight suggests a number ways of boosting engagement, including the consistent communication of goals and objectives; the proper alignment of goals to actual day-to-day work; regular "pulse-checks" to assess engagement levels; leadership skills training to foster better engagement; and the regular acknowledgement of a job well done. Further insight into the issue can be found at The Foresight Group website.

BMRB study uncovers "damning evidence" of poor care and support for older people

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:41:00 +0000

London, UK: Age Concern, the leading charity representing older people, has drawn heavily on a study conducted by BMRB in calling for a new national entitlement for care and support in later life. The "Lifestage" study has been released to co-incide with a government period of consultation on the topic. Age Concern is pushing for radical reforms to improve the quality of care and make the system fairer. Nearly two-thirds of respondents believe support services do no more than provide the minimum standard of care that they can get away with. And over 80 per cent believe that older people are not offered help from local services unless families lobby on their behalf. The study - which surveyed 2,500 people over the age of 45 - was supported by 47 listening events involving more than 700 people, who provided Age Concern with "detailed and damning evidence" of the state of UK services. Following the government consultation, a green paper will be issued next year. Further information can be found on Age Concern's website.

TNS Opinion lands prestigious EU contract following competitive tender

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 09:45:00 +0000

The European Commission and European Parliament have appointed TNS to conduct all their qualitative studies, believed to be the largest such research programme in the world. TNS won the 15 million Euro business following a tender process also involving IPSOS, GfK and others. The contract runs for four years. The Eurobarometer qualititative studies will be managed by TNS Opinion, a specialist unit within TNS' Political & Social division. The EU uses its Eurobarometer qualitative studies to examine reactions to different public policies or actions undertaken in connection with them, to evaluate communication material and key messages, and to go deeper into the understanding of some of the quantitative results and the formation of public opinion over time. The research programme covers 34 countries, including the 27 EU member states, candidate countries and non-allied neighbouring states. TNS has worked for the European Institutions since 1974 when it first won the contract for the quantitative Standard Eurobarometer studies. Leendert de Voogd, Global Head of TNS Political & Social, said: "We are delighted to win this major new assignment from the European Institutions, helped by our strong presence in the European territory and our knowledge of our clients' needs. "We look forward to building on our strong partnership with the European Commission and the European Parliament."

AMRB releases wide-ranging study of the "modern Muslim" consumer market

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:26:00 +0000

Kantar Group's AMRB has collaborated with WPP sister company JWT on a wide-ranging study into consumer attitudes across the Muslim world. The study, entitled "The Life and Times of the Modern Muslims: Understanding the Islamic Consumer", measures how religious values influence different stages of consumer decisions. It was conducted via interviews, focus groups and surveys with nearly 8,000 people in ten mainly Muslim countries - Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Malaysia, Pakistan, Indonesia, Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Jordan and Turkey. Gagan Bhalla, CEO of AMRB, said: "Our research has helped to both identify common values, as well as demarcate differences in mindset across the Islamic world. In doing so, the research throws light upon emerging value segments within Islamic society and also dispels many widely held beliefs." The study finds that an increasing number of the world's 1.4 billion Muslims are seeking lifestyles that balance religion and modernity, representing an untapped opportunity for many marketers. As well as identifying the key themes that unite all Muslim consumers - including an identification with religion over nation and a strong emphasis on family - the study breaks each country's population into social and cultural groups that could help marketers target them better. The groups include religious conservatives, societal conformists, pragmatic strivers, liberals and New Age Muslims. AMRB was established in 1999 and has offices in Dubai, Jeddah, Cairo and Algiers. It is a leading source of intelligence on the social, cultural, political and economic factors that influence consumers across the Middle East and North African regions.

Chris Urinyi takes US chief executive role at Lightspeed Research

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:20:00 +0000

On-line research solutions specialists Lightspeed Research has announced the promotion of Chris Urinyi to chief executive. He will report to president and group chief executive Anne Hedde and be based in the company's Princeton, New Jersey headquarters. Urinyi joined Lightspeed in 2001 as director of strategy having previously worked at Honeywell International in an variety of development and financial analysis roles. Most recently he was group chief financial officer at Lightspeed, in charge of the overall financial direction of the company as well as financial support for M&A activities, pricing, legal and real estate. Prior to joining the business world, Urinyi spent eight years in the US Navy Submarine Force.

NSPCC appoints BMRB for largest study of child maltreatment in the UK

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 09:32:00 +0000

BMRB has been commissioned by the NSPCC to undertake the largest study of child maltreatment ever conducted in the UK. The Survey of Children's Safety and Victimisation will interview 6000 respondents during 2009, and will focus on young people aged up to 24, with parents responding on behalf of the youngest children. 'The NSPCC is very pleased that BMRB has been contracted to do this important survey,' said Lorraine Radford, head of research at NSPCC. 'We urgently need to know more about the current prevalence of violence and abuse to children and young people in the UK. We are hoping to use the findings to inform our activities to end cruelty to children.' BMRB is one of the largest providers of public policy research in the UK and provides dedicated expertise in conducting social policy research for clients in the public and not-for-profit sectors. It works for clients across a wide range of policy areas conducting large and complex studies such as the British Crime Survey.

TNS launches new generation of digital ad effectiveness tools

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:46:00 +0000

TNS has announced the launch of a new generation of online advertising monitoring tools. TNS Digital Suite combines cookie tracking technology with TNS's 6th Dimension Panel to enable a unique and accurate analysis of online ad consumption. Mike Saxon Senior Vice President, Brand and Communications, TNS, explains the need for new measurement and monitoring systems, "For digital advertising, current tools are not meeting the industry demands because the fundamental relationship between advertising and the media that carries it has changed. TNS Digital Suite surveys our panelists, not site visitors, delivering the same kind of accountability and rigorous analysis for online advertising that our customers expect for traditional advertising." Current analysis tools overstate reach and understate frequency which result in overestimating the audience size exposed and give little insight into the exposed target audience. In addition the current tools interrupt the user experience with pop-ups, unpopular with publishers and webusers alike. This new panel based methodology finally enables advertisers to measure and understand the effectiveness of their online advertising with the same level of analysis as traditional advertising without interfering with the user experience. The benefits of the TNS Digital Suite new panel-centric approach to online ad monitoring include: - No more unpopular pop-up surveys - Control for cookie deletion, capturing ad exposure on multiple computers (home/work/school) for each panelist - Accurate ad effectiveness measures for the target audience, using the 6th Dimension panelists profiles (over 150 panelists characteristics) - Advanced analysis through longer surveys (up to 30 minutes long against 7-8 minutes) - Surveys taken at the convenience of the panelists instead of the current proximate surveys which occur immediately after ad exposure - Analysis available based on frequency and time since last exposure

Kantar Operations recruits RI's Tom Ewing for new role in social media

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 10:39:00 +0000

Kantar Operations has created the new position of social media knowledge leader as part of a wider initiative to examine social engagement. The role has been filled by Tom Ewing, formerly senior content manager at Kantar Group sister company Research International and an acclaimed authority on social media matters. "I'll be acting as a knowledge hub," Ewing said. "My job is to bring together the best in-house knowledge from all the Kantar companies." Ewing, 35, has generated a lot of industry interest with his entry to the Market Research Society awards, a paper entitled Confessions of a moderator: How web communities fail and how marketers can stop that happening. This influential work has been nominated for Best Paper, while Tom himself has been nominated for Best Presentation and Best Newcomer. The awards will be announced in early December.

BMRB wins three-year contract to run BBC Trust tracking study

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:10:00 +0000

BMRB has been commissioned by the BBC Trust to undertake its BBC Purpose Remit Tracking Study for the next three years. The BBC Trust will use the study to track public opinion on the performance of the BBC in terms of each of its stated Public Purposes. BMRB will interview 2,200 adults in the UK per year using a combination of face to face and online interviewing. Results will be published alongside the BBC's Annual Report each year. BMRB was commissioned to conduct this survey after a competitive tendering process. BBC Trust is the BBC's independent governing body. It works on behalf of the public, the people who own and pay for the BBC. The BBC's public purposes are: o sustaining citizenship and civil society o promoting education and learning o stimulating creativity and cultural excellence o representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities o bringing the UK to the world and the world to the UK o helping to deliver to the public the benefit of emerging technologies and services

New practice within TNS Compete offers on-line shopping analytics

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 11:29:00 +0000

TNS Compete, part of TNS Media Group, has launched a new practice offering web analytics in the area of on-line shopping. The Retail and Consumer Products practice, under director Matt Pace, will allow retailers to compare their own metrics with those of rivals across groups of retail e-commerce sites, shopping portals and search engines. Pace said of the new venture: "Our data show that it is becoming increasingly difficult for retailers and consumer brands to break through the clutter and reach and engage high valued shoppers," said Pace. "With the launch of the new practice, we'll give retailers an unparalleled view of current market dynamics including online marketing performance, shopper demographic and behavioral profiles, and competitive site metrics to help them drive online sales." The new Retail and Consumer Products practice will sit alpongside existing TNS capabilities, including TNS Retail Forward and TNS Sorensen. TNS Compete gathers clickstream data from about 20 sources, including Internet service providers and its own panel of two million consumers who browse the web using Compete's toolbar, which forwards to Compete clickstream data on every web page panel users visit.

WPP/Nielsen asset swap brings new companies into the Kantar Group

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 11:00:00 +0000

The Kantar Group has added two companies to its expanding "house of brands" as a result of the asset swap announced earlier this week by WPP and Nielsen. SRDS, the leading provider of media rates and data, and PERQ/HCI, the healthcare media planning specialist, are both set to join the group following the deal, which additionally sees WPP/Kantar take over Nielsen's 11% share in Latin American research company the IBOPE Group. WPP already holds a 31% stake in IBOPE. In return for transferring these assets, Nielsen will acquire WPP's 50% stake in AGBNielsen Media Research, which will now be wholly-owned by Nielsen. WPP's divestment of its stake in AGB is in compliance with EU regulatory requirements arising from its recent acquisition of TNS. Kantar Group CEO Eric Salama said of the new group members: "This move allows us to strengthen our healthcare offer through PERQ/HCI and develop a new stream of business through SRDS. At the same time, it strengthens an already powerful relationship with IBOPE, for whom we have considerable respect."

Latest research from TNS Worldpanel shows discount grocers powering ahead

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:56:00 +0000

"Ingenious" creative approach nets Added Value Company top research prize

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 11:44:00 +0000

Kantar Group's Added Value Company took the top slot in the research category of this year's WPPed Cream Awards. The awards recognise the best work in all disciplines across the whole of WPP. Hailed as "the most ingenious winner" across the eight categories, Added Value was awarded the prize for The Archetype Game, a board game-based tool that helps marketers identify their brand personality and future areas of possible brand development. Click on the link to read more about The Archetype Game and Kantar Group CEO Eric Salama's views on the important role that creativity plays in producing actionable insights. www.wpp.com/wppedcream/2008

Kantar Group announces senior management changes at TNS

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:00:00 +0000

The Kantar Group is pleased to announce the appointment of Pedro Ros as CEO to lead the global custom business at TNS, which officially joined the Kantar Group following its acquisition by WPP Group last week. As CEO of TNS Custom, Ros will report directly to Kantar Group CEO Eric Salama. The Custom Board will initially consist of Ros and three regional CEOs, Judith Passingham (Europe), Jamie Hall (Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East and Africa) and David Kieselstein (North America), whose responsibilities remain unchanged. Kantar also confirmed the continued positions of the senior management team - Josep Montserrat as CEO of Worldpanel, Jean-Michel Portier as CEO of TNS Media and Elaine Riddell as CEO of TNS Healthcare, all of whom will also report to Salama. Commenting on the management line-up, Salama said: "We have long admired the quality of the people at TNS and one of our key rationales behind the decision to acquire the business was the talent. Pedro Ros has been a key part of the successful track record at the company. Together with his Custom Board colleagues he will develop a strategy that will increase the desirability of the business for clients and talented people alike." Ros, a TNS veteran of 20 years, has been managing director of global clients and sectors since January 2006, having previously worked across various areas of business and geographical regions in TNS. He was chairman of Latinpanel from 1999 to 2006.

Google and WPP launch Marketing Research Awards Program

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0000

New York - Google and WPP (NASDAQ: WPPGY) announced today that they will jointly fund a grant program to support research into how online media influences consumer behaviour, attitudes and decision making. WPP and Google will contribute up to $4.6 million over three years to endow the Google and WPP Marketing Research Awards Program, which will immediately begin reviewing grant applications. The program will be overseen by Professor John Quelch, Senior Associate Dean of Harvard Business School and a non-executive Director of WPP; Dr. Hal Varian, Google's Chief Economist; and Professor Glen Urban, former Dean of the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This committee will work with WPP and Google to decide which grant proposals will be funded and ensure the integrity, delivery and impact of the research. "We want to encourage more research about how online and offline media work together to influence consumer choices. We think that such research will contribute to more effective and more measurable advertising performance," said Hal Varian, Google's Chief Economist and a co-director of the grants program. "I'm excited that we're teaming up with WPP to fund these activities." "We're very pleased to be working with WPP to encourage new insights into online advertising," said Tim Armstrong, Google's Senior Vice President and President of Advertising Operations for the Americas. "As it becomes more challenging to reach consumers through any one medium, we hope programs like this will help drive a deeper understanding of how marketers can engage consumers, both online and offline." Mark Read, CEO of WPP Digital and WPP's Director of Strategy, said, "We are thrilled to join Google in supporting this research program. The industry, our clients and our companies will benefit from the application of some of the world's finest academic research minds into how online media influences consumers. The digital age raises many complex and critically important questions for marketers and media owners. The meshing of the business and academic worlds puts us on the path to providing robust answers." Eric Salama, CEO of Kantar, WPP's insight, information and consultancy division, added, "The industry needs a much better handle on how offline and online media interact with each other and how that interaction shapes consumer attitudes and behaviours. This initiative will be a critical part of that solution." In addition to funding, WPP will provide access to BrandZ -- the annual study of brand perceptions published by The Kantar Group -- and the media data and research generated at GroupM. Clients of WPP and Google will be able to volunteer to provide case studies and data for research being conducted by grant recipients. In the first year, the Google and WPP Marketing Research Awards Program will aim to award up to a dozen grants. For more information about the Google and WPP Marketing Research Awards Program, please visit research.google.com/university/marketingresearchawards

Martin Sorrell emphasises importance of research in difficult times

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Dear all, The following news item contains a note of welcome and information from Eric Salama. I just wanted to add my own short message to all Kantar people, whether long-standing or recently-joined. At WPP, we're extremely proud of Kantar's companies and have great ambitions for them. Today, we're delighted to welcome another strong and respected brand to Kantar's already exceptional portfolio. Through its complementary skills and talented people TNS brings still further firepower to this critical division of the Group. Difficult times can also be times of opportunity - particularly for research companies. Clients place an even greater value on market knowledge and insight. I've no doubt whatever that Kantar companies will respond to these new demands and challenges with their customary professionalism - and I send you all, old and new, my very best wishes for continued and even greater success. Martin

Eric Salama shares vision for the newly enlarged Kantar Group

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Dear all, I am delighted to extend a very warm welcome to all our new TNS colleagues into what is now the world's foremost market research and insights organisation. Combined, we are in a leading position in all the major geographic markets and in numerous industry sectors. We have the potential to redefine and lead the research and insight industry and deliver better solutions to our clients. We believe that this will inevitably lead to a broader range of opportunities for our most important asset, our people. At Kantar we have long admired the professionalism and expertise of TNS - and sometimes, usually during competitive pitches, despaired at it too! It may take a little time and adjustment for us all to move from being fierce competitors to colleagues who compete but also collaborate for the benefit of our clients, but our shared vision will help. Both companies share the belief that clients and people come first. Both companies have a commitment to integrated and actionable insights, delivered creatively. There will inevitably be some changes ahead of us, as our plans for our new future take shape. The newly enlarged Kantar Group will continue as a "house of brands", and the TNS brand will continue. We will be announcing some changes in reporting lines tomorrow. Over the next few months as part of the ongoing integration programme, we will assess how best to structure and grow the enlarged Kantar Group. We will of course consult and share our ideas with the appropriate people along the way. But for now, particularly given the economic climate, our Number 1 priority is to keep our attention firmly focused on our business and the quality of our offer and our service to our clients. You will undoubtedly have a number of questions about next steps. Please feel free to email me on askeric@kantargroup.com. We are all looking forward to working together in the years ahead as we build our future. Kind regards, Eric Salama CEO The Kantar Group

The Kantar Group welcomes TNS into its "House of Brands"

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0000

A new global force in market research is created today with the arrival of the highly respected TNS research company into the Kantar Group. TNS has been acquired by WPP Group plc and will be integrated into the Kantar Group forming a company of over 25,000 employees operating in 80-plus countries. The enlarged Kantar Group will be headed by CEO Eric Salama. It will occupy a leading position in all the major geographic markets and in numerous industry sectors and has the potential to redefine and lead the research and insight industry. Salama said: "I am delighted to extend a very warm welcome to all of TNS, whose professionalism and expertise we have long admired. TNS shares our commitment to integrated and actionable insights and the enlarged Kantar Group will have the ability to offer better solutions to our clients." About the Kantar Group The Kantar Group is one of the world's largest research, insight and consultancy networks. By uniting the diverse talents of more than 20 specialist companies - including the recently acquired TNS - the group aims to become the pre-eminent provider of compelling and actionable insights for the global business community. Its 26,500 employees work across 80 countries and across the whole spectrum of research and consultancy disciplines, enabling the group to offer clients business insights at each and every point of the consumer cycle. The group's services are employed by over half of the Fortune Top 500 companies. The Kantar Group is a wholly owned subsidiary of WPP Group plc.

New trends service launched by two Kantar Group research consultancies merged to form The Futures Company

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0100

London, UK October 14, 2008: Two members of the Kantar Group, Henley Centre HeadlightVision and Yankelovich, which merged in January 2008, announced today the launch of a ground-breaking global consumer trends service called Global MONITOR, the first ever to integrate quantitative survey data with an observational database, called Global Streetscapes, of the latest marketplace manifestations of trends. Global MONITOR will provide both ongoing marketing insights and future scenarios for clients. The announcement is part of a strategic re-branding of the combined firms as The Futures Company. Steps to launch the new branding for The Futures Company include the introduction of a fresh new graphic identity, seen here at www.thefuturescompany.com, as well as a bold mission embodied in its new tagline, "Unlocking Futures." "The marriage of Yankelovich's expertise in U.S. consumer trends and Henley Centre HeadlightVision's global trends intelligence takes global trends research knowledge to a new level," said Sian Davies, chief executive of The Futures Company. "We live in a fast-moving, highly connected world that, even in normal times, proves a daunting challenge for global marketers. Global MONITOR brings the trends shaping our world alive, providing a visually exciting, street-level understanding of today along with a compelling, actionable strategic vision of the future." In addition to global consumer trends, The Futures Company's proprietary expertise includes health, sustainability, and generational and multicultural marketing. Its clients are many of the leading companies in their categories, including CPG, pharmaceutical, financial services, technology and telecommunications, travel, leisure, media and the public sector. The Futures Company enriches its proprietary trends perspectives with future-facing qualitative and quantitative custom research and trends and futures consultancy. This unique combination of capabilities enables its clients to uncover new ways to understand and segment their consumers, identify future sources of value, and build powerful brand connections. "With a backbone of deep trends intelligence coupled with unique quantitative, qualitative and consultancy skills, we create inspirational approaches for unlocking futures for our clients. This will make us a highly valued partner in these complex times." said Crawford Hollingworth, Executive Chairman of The Futures Company. Both Yankelovich and Henley Centre HeadlightVision have long legacies of innovation and cutting edge ideas, as well as long-standing commitments to client service and marketing impact, and are excited to be able to nurture these combined strengths together, and to create new ones, as The Futures Company. "Our new company combines the great heritage of thought-leadership for which Henley, HeadlightVision and Yankelovich are renowned, now with an innovative focus on the future," said J. Walker Smith, Executive Vice Chairman of The Futures Company and President of Yankelovich MONITOR. "Ours is the only company that can bring together this kind of innovation and tradition to deliver insights and bottom line value. We could not be more thrilled about where we're headed, and, frankly, we could not be more confident that these new services will be crucial for marketers in the immediate future." About Kantar The Kantar Group is one of the world's largest research, insight and consultancy networks. By uniting the diverse talents of more than 20 specialist companies - including the recently-acquired TNS - the group aims to become the pre-eminent provider of compelling and actionable insights for the global business community. Its 26,500 employees work across 80 countries and across the whole spectrum of research and consultancy disciplines, enabling the group to offer clients business insights at each and every point of the consumer cycle. The group's services are employed by more than half of the Fortune Top 500 companies. The Kantar Group is a wholly-owned subsidiary of WPP Group plc.

Research International announces a new partnership with STAT'COM

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Research International (RI), one of the world's leading marketing and innovation research agencies and a member of the Kantar Group, announced today a business alliance with STAT'COM to launch a new simulated test market product named MicroTest Nouveau. This new offer will represent the next generation of one of RI's key innovation products. The partnership will enable RI to integrate state of the art modeling that reflects the ever-changing market conditions in our clients' daily reality with a vast global database of over 40,000 records in order to put results into context. "RI is committed to providing the best global solutions to our clients in the innovation space, and this new alliance with STAT'COM is a great example of our determination to bring an unparalleled offering to our clients," said Research International Worldwide CEO Bob Meyers. Alain Pioche, Alain Maréchal and Jean-Pierre Bidon, co-founders of Paris-based STAT'COM and formerly heads of INTERSTAT, have been distinguished market leaders in designing mathematical models for sales volume forecasting. Together with Julian Bond, Head of Innovation modeling at RI, they will be working closely to develop this new offer. Bond comments "This is a fantastic move. Alain Pioche has always been a great pioneer in the area of modeling and by partnering with STAT'COM we are able to expand our forecasting expertise to create an approach that will be world leading." The launch of the MicroTest Nouveau is expected on January 2nd, 2009. "For me, Research International is an ideal partner as we will be able to apply our models on a much grander, global scale," says Alain Pioche. "Over the years, clients who have experienced our products through our former name INTERSTAT, came to rely on the complexity and precision of our modeling. Now we will share our former success with RI clients world-wide."

IMRB scoops coveted Agency of the Year award for third year running

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0100

At the recent 18th Annual Seminar of the Market Research Society of India (MRSI), IMRB International was judged the 'MR Agency of the Year'. IMRB - a member of the Kantar Group - has bagged this honour for the third successive time and is the only MR Agency in the country to have been bestowed this honour since the inception of this award in 2005. The annual MRSI conference is a competitive showcase of the best work carried out by Indian research professionals. A panel of senior marketing and research professionals shortlisted the 15 best case studies from the 80-odd entries submitted by researchers and marketing professionals. These were showcased at the two-day conference held on September 25-26 in Mumbai. IMRB swept four of the five awards, besides winning the MR Agency of the Year award. Commenting on the award, Thomas Puliyel, President, IMRB International, said, "We are elated at receiving this award for the third time in a row. This award is very special to us as there is no award greater than the recognition of our peers." In the cutting-edge, innovative research section, the best paper award was won by the IMRB team of Ashish Karnad and Magesh Poondi, who partnered with Tushar Dhingra of Adlabs Cinemas. The best MR Works award was bagged by Jaydeep Guha of IMRB. Second and third prizes in this section were also won by IMRB teams.

Are consumers warming to pop-ups? New research suggests they are...

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Recently-released evidence from Dynamic Logic suggests that consumers may be softening their attitude to over-content ads on-line (or "pop-ups") as long as they're being rewarded with engaging or useful content. Dynamic Logic (a division of the Kantar Group company Millward Brown) have been tracking consumer attitudes in this area since 2003. Read more at the following website: www.dynamiclogic.com

Consumers less willing to pay a premium for green choices, claims wide-ranging survey

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Compared to last year, fewer consumers are willing to pay more for green products despite growing consumer interest in the environment, green behaviours and green lifestyles, according to the Kantar Group's leading consumer market research company Yankelovich. Going Green 2, a follow-up to last year's report examining how much consumers actually care about green issues, indicates that environmentalism is developing among U.S. consumers - especially among Echo Boomers (ages 16-29) and GenXers (ages 30-43), who both said they are more concerned about the environment compared to a year ago. But while interest in green issues continues to grow, consumers' willingness to pay more for green alternatives has decreased. "There is a looming challenge for marketers of green products and services," said Dr. David Bersoff, the EVP in charge of global knowledge and intelligence at Yankelovich and author of Going Green 2. "Consumers will be pushing for stricter governmental and institutional green policies, and they'll be choosing brands to a greater extent based on green considerations. But at the same time, they are becoming less willing to help marketers pay for the greening of their business and products." While concern about the environment is increasing among the population as a whole, it is still - for the most part - a minority position. Although 49% of consumers feel that our environmental problems are severe and 51% feel that these problems demand immediate corrective action, only 41% of Americans express high levels of personal concern, a meagre four-point increase over last year. "It is important to note that, contrary to what might have been expected in the midst of rising unemployment, interest rates and fuel prices, increased levels of economic concern did not reduce levels of environmental concern," said Dr. Bersoff. "In fact, somewhat surprisingly, consumers who have no financial anxiety appear to be the least attractive targets for new green products and services." Going Green 2 was fielded among adults, ages 16 and older, in a nationally representative sample of more than 2,500 respondents.