top 25 market research companies 2012

2012 HONOMICHL

RESEARCH REPORT

GLOBAL GLOBAL GLOBAL TOP 25TOP 25TOP 25

american marketing aSSOciatiOn MARKETINGPOWER.COM

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alSo in thiS iSSueexpert insights on globalization

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AMERICAN MARKETING ASSOCIATION

table of contents

AMERICAN MARKETING ASSOCIATION

David ReibsteinChairperson of the AMA Board 2012-2013

Dennis Dunlap, AMA Chief Executive O� [email protected]

EDITORIAL STAFFPhone (800) AMA-1150 • Fax (312) 542-9001E-mail [email protected]

Elisabeth A. Sullivan, [email protected]

Christine Birkner, Sta� [email protected]

Molly Soat, Sta� [email protected]

Hennessy Design Group, Inc., Art Directors

ADVERTISING STAFFFax (312) 992-3763 • E-mail [email protected]

Richard Ballschmiede, Advertising Sales [email protected] (312) 542-9076

Catherine Eck, Advertising Account Representative [email protected] (312) 542-9103

Lore Gil-Torres, Classifi ed Ad [email protected] (312) 542-9033

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Brian Thompson, Advertising Production [email protected] (312) 542-9094

Marketing News (ISSN 0025-3790) is published monthly with four special issues in March, May, September and November (16 times a year) by the Publishing Group of the American Marketing Association, 311 S. Wacker Dr., Suite 5800, Chicago, Ill. 60606-2266, USA. (800) AMA-1150, (312) 542-9000.

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VOl. 46 | nO. 10

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eXCluSiVe feature

the 2012 Honomichl global top 25 reportthe global marketing research indus-try’s acquired size and strength yield positive returns amidst a battered global economy. read on for industry vet Jack Honomichl’s insights, as he lifts the veil on his annual analysis.

12 state of the industry report By Jack Honomichl

16 Honomichl global top 25 rankings Chart

18 global top 25 Company Profi les

DePartmentS

4 the buzz

6 core concepts Create an affi liate marketing program

to boost your e-commerce business with a little help from your friends.

8 problem solved tide embraces viral and turns satire

into a solution.

46 ama’s 75 years in marketing history

Word of mouth has evolved from a fact of life in business into a strategic marketing linchpin, writes Jackie Huba, marketing blogger and author.

47 ama community meetup Check out the aMa’s latest lineup of

conferences and events, and learn how you can join the action.

VieWPointS

10 agents of change not every brand mention is a

good brand mention, so you should have a plan in place for how to respond, writes columnist Jeff rey Hayzlett.

11 worldview the world may be fl at, but the

path to globalization sure isn’t. netherlands-based B-to-B marketer James slusser discusses some of the marketing pitfalls, potholes and pos-sibilities awaiting any company that goes global.

FULL PAGE BLEED AD

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8

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thebuzz

Building Size, Strength, reach and aptitude

Growth by acquisition. That’s how much of the corporate world—from Facebook, to AB InBev, to IBM—operates, and the

marketing research industry is no different. In his 16th-annual Global Top 25 report, Jack

Honomichl discusses how the highest earners in the global research industry have attained much of their size and strength through consolidation. “For the most part, the 25 behemoths of our industry have come to be so via amalgamation, the end result of hundreds of acquisitions made over many years in many countries,” he writes. “In 2011 alone, Top 25 fi rms bought 24 research fi rms around the world. … Th e concentration of power in our industry continues unabated.”

A noteworthy example is Paris-based Ipsos: Ranked fi ft h on the 2011 Global Top 25 list, Ipsos now holds the No. 3 spot aft er acquiring Synovate, ranked sixth on last year’s list. Turn to page 12 to read more of Honomichl’s analysis of the industry’s movers and shakers.

The “strength in numbers” philosophy applies to many aspects of business, of course. On page 6, we offer you some tips on what to consider when building an affiliate marketing program to help boost your e-commerce sales. Consider this a primer, a starting point for your planning process.

And let us know what other marketing tactics, tools, theories or concepts you’d like to learn more about in our how-to section. Th e Marketing News staff —and the AMA, as a whole—appreciates your feedback so that we can deliver the knowledge, insights and tools that you need.

Best,

Elisabeth A. [email protected]

letter from the eDitor

Best,

Elisabeth A. Sullivan

get mOre marketingpower

neW ama PODcaStAUTHOR SERIES: BRAND REALlaurence Vincent, branding strategist and author of Brand Real: How Smart Companies Live Their Brand Promise and Inspire Fierce Customer Loyalty, takes it personally when he hears branding described as an artful mix of wordplay and graphics—or, worse, magic. During this podcast, Vincent shares a practical approach to the business of branding.

Visit marketingPower.com/podcasts.

neW ama WeBcaStBEST PRACTICES IN LIST SEGMENTATIONin direct marketing, if you’re not reaching the right people, your message and call to action will have no meaning. Being able to easily segment your lists will enable you to expand your reach and target your audience with appropriate messages, thus increasing your response rates. this webcast will teach you the diff erence between behavioral and profi le segmentation, how to use personalization to optimize segmentation, and more.

Visit marketingPower.com/webcasts.

tune in to ama tV, an online service that comes to you twice monthly with the latest in marketing news and trends, as well as career tips and insights from industry leaders.

Visit marketingPower.com/amatV.

4 marketing news | August 31, 2012

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thebuzz

Marketing Research PioneerIn the July 31, 2012, issue of Marketing News, Charles Coolidge Parlin was misidentified in a photo caption. We regret the error.

Career Climbing by the NumbersRare is the marketer whose career has not had some twists and turns. My career path, if plotted on a chart, would make you dizzy. And yet I can see a pattern in all of the ups, downs and diversions, and that is volunteerism.

Many of the pivotal lessons I’ve learned, amazing people I’ve met and unexpected opportunities I’ve received have stemmed from my work with the American Marketing Association. In honor of the AMA’s 75th anniversary, I thought I’d share some stats and lessons from my own career trajectory—and the AMA’s role in it.

75This year marks the AMA’s 75th year of bringing marketers together to share, learn and grow. Being a card-carrying member of the AMA looks good on your LinkedIn profile, but the onus is on you to take full advantage of all of the benefits that come with it. Log in to MarketingPower.com today and update your profile, join one of the online communities, subscribe to an e-newsletter or two, browse the content library and sign up for a free webinar or virtual event. The AMA is a powerhouse of career opportunities, but as I am fond of saying, “It only works if you work it.”

10I joined the AMA 13 years ago because I thought it was high time I got more involved in my industry. The art and science of marketing were fast evolving with the advent of new technologies and I needed a smarter way to keep up. But it took me another three years to find my groove.

After a few false starts, I landed on the business-to-business committee and things started to click. I made friends—always a bonus—but more importantly, I forged relationships with like-minded people willing to share

their expertise. Many of those early connections are still very much a part of my network today, ready to take my call or answer an e-mail. If you’re not yet actively volun-teering in your local chapter, I encourage you to step up. In my experience, the surest way to get the most out of any association is to first consider what you can give.

6Six years ago this July, I made a decision that, perhaps more than any other in the past decade, catapulted my career to an entirely new level: I joined the board of the Chicago AMA chapter. I spent two years each leading the B-to-B division and collegiate relations, and as board secretary. I learned invaluable life lessons about lead-ing volunteers, managing expectations, and working in teams that continue to serve me well both personally and professionally. And I made friendships that have enriched my life beyond measure. Board members were some of the first to hire me when I started my own business. They showed up at my doorstep with care packages when my mom died. And they have graced my Thanksgiving table because many have become my extended family.

Looking AheadAfter six years, it’s time to let a new crop of volunteers take their seats at the boardroom table. I will continue to write this column, pen the Career Update monthly e-newsletter, serve as an AMAConnect Ambassador and support my local chapter.

When you volunteer, your character, competence and charisma are on display; you have the opportunity to make an imprint that will last well beyond your years of service. Eager to climb the ladder of success? Be it the AMA or other professional association, step up your involvement. It’s a career move that you can count on. m

Career Corner

Sima Dahl (MarketMyCareer.com) is a recovered job seeker turned personal branding and social networking consultant, trainer and speaker. Subscribe to her monthly AMA career e-newsletter at MarketingPower.com/ newsletters.

Buzz Bit

B-to-B Marketers Missing the Mark on Demand Gen80% of B-to-B marketers and salespeople consider their demand-generation campaigns ineffective, according to a July 2012 survey from Corporate Visions Inc., an Incline Village, Nev.-based B-to-B marcom firm with clients such as IBM, Lockheed Martin and SAP. Of those respondents:

• 37% report that the content isn’t engaging enough.• 31% attribute the problem to a lack of alignment between marketing and sales.• 12% blame budget constraints.• 9% say that there isn’t enough content.• 8% report a lack of buy-in from execs.

60% of respondents say that their companies’ demand-gen campaigns fail to adequately address their offerings’ value propositions and instead focus on the offerings’ attributes. Because of that, 65% of the salespeople who responded to the survey admit that their sales teams use less than half of the demand-gen content produced by their marketing departments.

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By ChriStine Birkner | Staff Writer [email protected]

the aBCs of affiliate marketing Boost your e-commerce business with a little help from your friends online. here’s how.

In e-commerce as in life, your success often depends on whom you affiliate yourself with.Affiliate marketing is an online market-

ing tactic by which brands work with other online content providers to drive traffic and business to the brands’ sites, and pay the content providers a commission for any sales that result. Spending on affiliate marketing in the United States is expected to reach $4.1 billion in 2014, up from $1.6 billion in 2007, according to Forrester Research. And as the Web becomes increasingly interconnected, it’s likely that this tactic will continue to gain steam for both B-to-C and B-to-B brands. Here’s what you should know before build-ing your own affiliate marketing strategy.

what it is Affiliate marketing connects an online merchant with an affiliate, a website or blog that features subject matter associated with the merchant’s products. Affiliates post the merchant’s banner ads or text links on their websites or blogs and when a consumer clicks on those links and buys the merchant’s product, the affiliates receive a commission, usually 5 to 10%, of each sale. Affiliate marketing also can be used in the same way to generate leads, with affiliates receiving commission for each person who engages in sponsored posts by filling out a Web-based form with his contact information.

Affiliates most often are grouped in affiliate networks such as LinkShare, Commission Junction and Google Affiliate Network, or in smaller niche networks or lead-gen-specific networks.

Affiliate marketing allows retailers to spend less to generate sales or leads than traditional online advertising, says Greg Shepard, CEO of Affiliate Traction, a Santa Cruz, Calif.-based affiliate market-ing agency. “You only pay when the sale is made. … On top of that, you only pay for the sales that came through [and] you pay 30 days after the sale. Affiliate marketing … frees up more money for advertising.”

How it’s Used While many referral-based e-marketing tactics suit brands of all sizes, affiliate marketing is best suited to well-established brands because it can require considerable planning and resources to ensure proper execution and oversight, experts say. Here are some tips:

1. Build Your Business Model First Retail-ers shouldn’t start an affiliate program until they’ve accumulated $1 million or more in sales, says Robert Glazer, founder and managing director of Acceleration Partners, a Needham, Mass.-based agency that runs affiliate marketing programs for

One Kings Lane, Shutterfly, Tiny Prints and others. “Affiliates want to be associated with a brand that has traction. If you’re still figur-ing out your product and your business model and pricing, you really want to be testing that before you work with [affiliates] because if you don’t perform, they’re not going to stay with you.”

It’s also wise to develop your aptitude for strategizing and tracking digital marketing efforts, in general, before building an affil-iate program, says Scott Langdon, manag-ing partner at HigherVisibility, a Memphis, Tenn.-based firm specializing in affili-ate marketing. “Most of the people who come to us … have already worked on other channels such as SEO and pay-per-click, and they’ve kind of exhausted those channels. They have to have great internal controls and tracking to be able to attribute sales to a specific affiliate.”

2. Choose Your Network Wisely Care-fully consider which affiliates to work with. “To be successful in the market, the affiliate network has to have pockets deep enough to manage that cash flow cycle. A lot of these smaller networks that pop up all the time don’t,” says Peter Wilson, CEO of St. Louis-based LashBack, an e-mail compli-ance solutions provider that works with affiliate networks and online advertisers.

3. Build Relationships The most successful affiliate marketers have solid relationships with their affiliates and pay them on time, Langdon says. “[Affiliates] need to feel confi-dent that those sales are getting tracked and attributed back to them or they’re not really going to promote your product. … The quicker they receive the return on their end, the more likely they’re going to be to push [your] products.”

Also, be consistent with your affiliate program, Wilson says. “You’ve got to have a

sustained, consistent approach to affiliate marketing. If you just put your toe in it and leave, it’s very difficult to get the strongest [affiliates] to pay attention to the brand.”

4. Beware of Fraud “Open your eyes and understand where and how all of your affiliates are generating traffic,” Glazer says. “If you’re a shoe site, look at the affiliate and say, ‘Is this affiliate doing shoe stuff and shopping stuff or do I have no idea what their site is?’ This is an industry where, when there’s always smoke, there’s fire. The basic premise of ‘Who are my affiliates and what are they doing?’ is the best defense.”

Conduct weekly and daily checks on affiliates that are driving a large amount of clicks without conversions or sales, which could be a red flag that the affiliate is less than legit.

Adds Wilson: “Try to find partners that have been around for a long time, that have a good reputation. It may not be the fast-est way to make money, but it’s the way to make money to build a sustainable business in the space.”

How it’s Used wellGlazer’s Acceleration Partners works with Sunnyvale, Calif.-based stationery retailer Tiny Prints Inc. on its affiliate marketing program, which includes marketing messages on shopping sites, “mommy blogs,” and websites dedicated to party supplies and weddings. “The program has grown 100% in revenue for the last five years,” Glazer says. The Tiny Prints program also won the Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Award for exceptional merchant in 2012, the industry’s equivalent of affiliate program of the year. “We won it over Amazon and Overstock, programs that are 10 times larger, which validated our focus on quality and doing a good job communicating with our affiliates, and knowing them and under-standing them,” Glazer says. m

coreconcepts affiliate marketing


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problemsolved caSe StuDy

By molly Soat | Staff Writer [email protected]

turning the tide P&g’s clothes-cleaning champ embraces viral and turns satire into a solution

the ProblemMaking a 70-year-old brand of any kind seem hip and social is no easy feat. But making a 70-year-old brand associated with dirty socks seem hip and social is even trickier.

Procter & Gamble got an assist in its efforts to create some digital traction for its Tide detergent line on May 29 when The Onion, a satirical newspaper based in Chicago, ran a fictional article penned by a hypothetical Tide social media direc-tor titled, “Hey, Everybody! This Cool New Tide Detergent Video Is Blowing Up All Over the Internet!” The article pokes fun at marketers’ attempts to create viral videos in order to boost brand interest on the Web. It begins: “Have you seen this awesome new Web video from Tide detergent? I just checked it out online and, man, it is easily one of the coolest digital videos I’ve ever seen. It’s no wonder this clip is blowing up all over the Internet! It’s so fun and enter-taining, absolutely everyone is discussing it on popular blogs and linking to it from social media platforms.”

The video described in the Onion satire plays on multiple viral video clichés. “It’s got these cute, funny talking animals, a cool indie-rock song, and it’s just so hilariously random. And it’s got this amazing cameo by Bret Michaels, which is so funny because Bret Michaels is hilarious and from the ’80s.”

Tide was faced with the task of reacting to the article—and fast. According to John Robinson, senior vice president of creative at Boston-based agency Digitas Inc. and a consultant on the project, “Relevancy has a deadline: What people are talking about one minute can easily change in the next.”

the FixSarah Pasquinucci, a P&G marketer in charge of the Tide campaign, says: “When we read the Onion article, to be honest, our first reaction was we laughed. … It was cleverly written to really highlight the plight of brands everywhere that are navigating social media, especially those that might not have an obvious fit, like detergent.”

The Tide team understood that to capitalize on the marketing opportunity that the article created, the brand’s response had to be quick, and the only way to respond would be to create the video described in the Onion article.

Pasquinnucci and her colleagues got to work immediately with Digitas, public relations agency DeVries PR, and creative agency Saatchi and Saatchi. Digitas dressed up one of its employees as 1980s rock star Bret Michaels. The team hired puppeteers to animate the “cute, funny talking animals” as the fictional singer croons an original tune

about laundry detergent. The article ran in The Onion on a Tuesday and Tide posted the video online on its YouTube channel and linked it to the company’s Facebook and Twitter feeds by Friday. (P&G declined to comment on the project’s budget.)

“Something that’s relevant today is not necessarily relevant tomorrow or next week and social media really kind of exacer-bates that. This wasn’t a situation that we really wanted to spend weeks ideating and vacillating between scenarios, scripts and different ways to respond. We just knew we needed to act quickly in order to, kind of, play into the joke and really have an impact,” Pasquinnucci says.

metricsAt press time, Tide’s video had attracted 15,518 views on YouTube and 249 “likes” on Facebook, and garnered the detergent brand some earned media in trade publica-tions such as MediaPost’s Marketing Daily e-newsletter. It also earned a nod from The Onion’s managing editor, Kyle Ryan, who tweeted, “Well played, Tide, well played.”

Tripp Westbrook, partner and exec-utive creative director at Dallas-based digital marketing firm Firehouse with clients including McDonald’s, Saturn, United Airlines and Mercedes-Benz, says that playful digital efforts like P&G’s viral video can help to personalize an old and established brand like Tide. “I think it’s great when brands try to engage with consumers on a different level than consumers are used to. If done well, it can put a very human face on a brand that most people feel is distant and very corporate,” he says.

The video attracted a following but failed to hit the viral threshold set by campaigns such as Old Spice’s “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like,” which

attracted more than 6 million views in less than a week in July 2010. While time-liness is vital with such online efforts, quality and execution should not fall by the wayside, according to Westbrook. “If it’s not interesting content, it’s not going to be seen. … I just find that the execu-tion [of Tide’s video] fell a little flat. It just wasn’t funny. … With a little over 15,000 hits, I wouldn’t exactly call the video viral. In many ways, it sort of proves what the Onion article was trying to make fun of, unfortunately,” he says.

But according to Digitas’ Robinson, the small digital splash that the video made was enough of a sign of success for the effort. “Seeing how much every-one enjoyed this video and respected the choice that Tide made in doing it was the return we wanted.” m

BranD tide

cOmPany

Procter & gamble

heaDquarterS

cincinnati

Partner agency

Digitas inc.

PrOJect timeline three days

reSultS 15,518 views on youtube; 249 “likes” and 28 shares on facebook


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viewpoint Agents of ChAnge

By Jeffrey Hayzlett [email protected]

Preparing for the Perils of Brand Mentions

N ot all brand mentions are fact. Indeed, some are pure fiction.

In a recent episode of AMC’s Mad Men, the Jaguar brand was depicted in a less-than-optimal light, involving immoral fictional Jaguar executives and implying that there were questions about the reliability of the product. Executives at any major brand are always excited when they receive news that they will be featured on a major television show, but in this case, Jaguar execs had no forewarning about the televised appearance of their brand, let alone what was going to be said about their company or how it was going to be used.

Jaguar execs can take solace in the fact that it was a fictional story. Therefore, they did not have control and even had some deniability once they found out that the episode was not portraying their company in the best light. What is a brand to do when this kind of controversy hits?

I was once confronted with this ques-tion when someone used the name of our brand in a rap song, which hit the top of the charts and received millions of downloads. Although it was popular, the song contained vulgar and derogatory words. On one hand, we were proud that the rap artists used our brand as an iconic symbol in the song, but at the same time, who wants to be associated with a word that is so derogatory and nega-tive that it offends not only our customer base, but also our own morals and sense of who we are as a company?

How do marketers prepare themselves for the questions raised in these situations? What is your value system and what moral compass do you use in making your deci-sions? I was pleased to see Jaguar’s response to the Mad Men brand inclusion, with the company rep stating that he was grateful that the brand was used in the episode and remained confident that the public would recognize that Mad Men is a fictional show. Similarly, I also liked the response from our team to the rap song inclusion: Some wanted to promote it, while others wanted to run from it. In the end, we decided we would always recognize the use of our brand name as iconic, yet we would neither condemn nor endorse the use of our name in a pop phenomenon. That way, we are able to take a stand and preserve our integrity as a company.

It is important for marketers to think ahead and not only raise the questions about these kinds of situations, but also think about their brand language. As market-ers, we spend a lot of time thinking about the

way that our companies and brands look and feel, but also we really need to sit down and think about the essence of who we are and what we want to represent. That will filter into everything that we do, in terms of our relationships with vendors, our customers and, most importantly, the promises that we deliver to our customers.

This process should not be led by just CMOs. As the leaders of the business, CEOs have to take a very active role in deciding about the essence of the brand: where it

needs to go, how it is represented, and how executives’ professional—and personal—decisions may have an impact. m

•comJeffrey Hayzlett will be presenting at the 10th-annual Brand ManageCamp marketing conference, an AMA partner event, in Las Vegas on Oct. 17-18, 2012. For more information, visit MarketingPower.com/events.

We spend a lot of time thinking about the way that our companies and brands look and feel, but also we really need to sit down and think about the essence of who we are and what we want to represent. That will filter into everything that we do, in terms of our relationships with vendors, our customers and, most importantly, the promises that we deliver to our customers.

Jeffrey Hayzlett is a global business consultant and author of The Mirror Test: Is Your Business Really Breathing? and Running the Gauntlet: Essential Business Lessons to Lead, Drive Change, and Grow Profits. Previously, hayzlett was CMo of Kodak. for more insights from hayzlett, check out his regular contributions to AMA tV at MarketingPower.com/AMAtV, or follow him on hayzlett.com or at twitter.com/Jeffreyhayzlett.

10 Marketing news | August 31, 2012

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Globalization worldview

Jim SluSSer is the marketing director at itpreneurs in Rotterdam, the netherlands; serves on the European advisory board of the CMo Council; and is past president of the aMa tampa bay chapter. Follow Jim on twitter at @jslusser.

By Jim SluSSer [email protected]

Navigating the Path to Globalization

T he world may be flat, but the path to globalization sure isn’t. The marketing challenges and opportu-

nities that accompany globalization add a few bumps in the road, and given the increasing breadth and reach of the global marketplace, your path is only getting bumpier.

In my own experience, I’ve worked from both the client and agency perspec-tive across a range of verticals both stateside and internationally. And for the past 18 months, I have headed up global marketing at ITpreneurs, which delivers competency development programs for IT professionals, with a portfolio offered in 10 different languages and delivered in 45-plus countries to more than 50,000 IT professionals. The diversity of our customer and product base is matched equally by our employee base. Our global marketing team of 10 represents eight nationalities and speaks 15 languages.

This global orientation, both internally and externally, obviously poses unique cultural and communication challenges, and it reinforces the base need for a strong brand promise and well-tailored customer messaging.

Beyond that, globalization affects every nook and cranny of your marketing strategy. So you think you’ve mastered social media and your Facebook strategy is finally starting to produce measurable results? Congratulations. Is your SEO strategy on Google driving lots of organic traffic to your site and generating qualified leads? Kudos. Now what about the 500 million Internet users in China who don’t use either? Time to wrap your head around Baidu, Qzone, Sina Weibo and Renren.

Do you have your traditional display ad budget and strategy firing on all cylinders? How nice for you. However, the 121 million Internet users in India (still a relatively small proportion of the country’s 1.2 billion people) are accessing the Web via their mobile devices. Time to revisit the Hindi mobile ad campaign, no?

Or as we’ve found out in our IT training certification process, are you mailing traditional paper certificates to your membership or customer base each year? That’s cute—and potentially a complete waste of your time and money. Latin America demands something more substantial. North America doesn’t really want or need the paper certificate; digi-tal delivery works just fine, thank you very much. The paper certificate method still is relevant in Europe and the Middle East (for

now), but getting them delivered—on time and in good condition—can be a challenge in other regions (Asia Pacific, I’m talking to you). The market size and opportunity is large and exciting, and matched at every turn with new challenges.

To develop an effective and truly globally applicable marketing strategy, you have to consider virtually every marketing tactic that you employ and how it will be received by the given country or target audience. But don’t be overwhelmed. Instead, consider this an opportunity to hone your marketing

efforts overall. Let globalization inspire you. Crave knowledge about your custom-ers. Where do they work, play and live? How do they use your product or service? What problem are you helping them to solve? And just when you think you have your marketing strategy done and dusted, it all changes overnight. Stay alert to find the best routes around the inevitable obstacles ahead. m

This global orientation, both internally and externally, obviously poses unique cultural and communication challenges, and it reinforces the base need for a strong brand promise and well-tailored customer messaging.

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2012 HONOMICHL

RESEARCH REPORT

GLOBAL GLOBAL GLOBAL TOP 25TOP 25TOP 25

BY JaCk HOnOmiCHL


AMA083112_INI.indd 12 8/6/12 3:42 PM

he world’s 25 largest marketing, advertising and public opinion research conglomerates, in toto, saw revenues increase by 4.1% in 2011, with a “real growth” rate of 1.4% aft er adjustment for infl ation. Th at, I submit, is good news given the dire economic conditions in many countries, as well as civil unrest and war-like conditions in

many others during the year.But not all of the Global Top 25 shared in this limp gain:

Nine saw revenues decrease in 2011 or not grow enough to cover infl ation, which was an estimated 2.7%. (Th is was calculated by taking the known infl ation rates in the U.S., 15 European Union countries and Japan, which account for about 75% of the world spend for research services, weighting them and then assuming that rate applies to the rest of the world.)

Th is is especially important because, in aggregate, the Top 25 had revenues of $18.7 billion in 2001, which is about 58% of the total world spend for research.

Th ese are the top-line fi ndings from my annual global industry analysis, now in its 16th year, prepared exclusively for Marketing News. And, I suggest, it is the best gauge that we have about how the research industry is faring worldwide.

glass HouseFor the most part, the 25 behemoths of our industry have come to be so via amalgamation, the end result of hundreds of acquisitions made over many years in many countries. Th at raises the question of who owns the end result—and the degree to which the owners make public fi nancial infor-mation. Let’s examine that.

Ten of the Top 25 organizations, which account for the lion’s share of Top 25 revenues, are publicly listed companies traded on major exchanges in the U.S., the U.K., France, Germany and Japan, so their fi nancial information is in the public domain.

Four are subsidiaries of larger public companies and it is the parent that decides how much fi nancial information to release on their subsidiaries—and that varies. One might publish top-line fi nancials but withhold details (such as profi tability). Others make full disclosure or none at all. For instance, McGraw-Hill, which owns J.D. Power and Associates (No. 14 on this year’s Top 25 list), does not

publish anything about J.D. Power’s revenue and it had to be estimated for this analysis.

Th ree are subsidiaries of non-public corporations and, fortunately, those Top 25 parents choose to cooperate with this compilation. Two fi rms—Video Research in Japan and Médiamétrie in France—are owned by consortiums of advertising and media companies in their home countries, and they cooperate. One Top 25 fi rm, Westat, is employee-owned and it chooses to cooperate for revenue but provides no details.

Th e remaining eight companies are privately held by institutional investors, private equity fi rms or company founders and top executives. All eight provide revenue data for this analysis.

So in sum, we have a situation where, generally, there is ample fi nancial information in the public domain to accurately produce this annual compilation and trend analysis. But, as it pertains to stock, while many of the Top 25 are “public,” there is not much “fl oat” on their stock; most is under tight control of institutional investors or company founders and key employees.

international sprawlMost of the Top 25 are truly international. As a group, 55% of their combined revenues came from operations outside of their home countries and fi ve have subsidiaries or opera-tions in 64 or more countries. Th e leader is Nielsen, which has perched atop this listing since its inception. In 2011, Nielsen’s $5.4 billion in revenue came in from operations in 100 countries. One fi rm, Ipsos in France, earned 91% of its revenue from outside France. Only three of the Top 25—Westat in the U.S., and Video Research and Macromill in Japan—had, for practical purposes, no revenue from outside of their home countries.

As noted, most of these 25 conglomerates are the end result of numerous acquisitions over many years. In 2011 alone, Top 25 fi rms bought 24 research fi rms around the world. Th e individual company profi les that follow include information on these acquisitions (and two divestitures). So the concentration of power in our industry continues unabated. A dramatic example of this occurred in 2011: Paris-based Ipsos, No. 5 on last year’s list, acquired Synovate, No. 6 on last year’s list. Th at moved Ipsos up to No. 3 on this year’s list with $2.4 billion in revenue.

Th e global marketing research industry’s acquired size and strength yield

positive returns amidst a battered global economy

August 31, 2012 | marketing news 13

excluSiVe feature honomichltop25

AMA083112_INI.indd 13 8/6/12 3:42 PM

Calculating growthSince one of the main reasons to compile a “world’s largest” list is to get a fi x on the industry’s fi nancial health, it follows that how the data are derived is important. Here are the highlights.

Inclusion on the list is based on revenue—and cooperation. Most of the fi rms make a special eff ort to comply with requirements and that is because they, too, want to know the outcome.

As it pertains to individual organizations, their revenue growth, year to year, is calculated in their home country currency. But there are adjustments. Some of the organiza-tions have additional revenue from nonresearch activities; as best as possible, those are eliminated. Also, adjustments are made for acquired revenue. If a Top 25 organization made an acquisition or acquisitions during 2011 or 2010, either the acquired revenue is included in both years before calculating growth, or eliminated entirely from the calculation for both years. Th is is done so as not to artifi cially bump industry growth rates with bought revenue. Th e same is done with divestitures.

Th en, for revenue totals, all company revenues are converted to U.S. dollars and industry growth is based on those totals, as noted in the table on page 16.

Participating fi rms are asked to furnish their number of full-time employees. For 2011, the total for all Top 25 fi rms was 110,235, compared with 103,136 in 2010. Th at’s a gain

of 6.9% and includes employees at acquired companies.While the Global Top 25 list is limited to 25 fi rms, there

are participant changes year to year. For instance, this year Synovate lost line identity because of its acquisition by Ipsos. Taking its place was YouGov, a fast-growing British fi rm that has made numerous acquisitions outside of the U.K. in recent years.

Also, IMS Health, the huge U.S.-based healthcare fi rm, dropped from No. 3 last year to No. 6 in this ranking, basically for defi nitional reasons. IMS, once a public company, now is owned by private investors. Th is ownership uses a more concise defi nition of “marketing research” in its fi nancial reports than had been used in prior years, and that resulted in a smaller research-only revenue and employee input for the Top 25 listing.

LeadersIndividual fi rm profi les include information on the top executives at the Top 25, the leaders of our industry. A summary shows that they average 55 years of age and the age range is from 45 to 71. One of the 45s, it turns out, is Jane Shirley, CEO of London-based Cello Research and Consulting, the only woman in Global Top 25 history to head a Top 25 fi rm.

Company profi les tell you much more about each of the Top 25 fi rms—their range of services, geographical sprawl, top management, etc. Read on. m

MethodologySince results from this annual analysis are oft quoted in the press, it is especially important that the reader know exactly how these data are derived, and so this explanation: invitations to market research fi rms with estimated annual u.S. revenue of more than $50 million are sent in april of each year requesting revenue information for the prior year, a company profi le of activities and other company metrics. global top 25 rankings are based on home country revenue converted to u.S. dollars using average year exchange rates provided by the u.S. federal reserve Bank. growth rates from the prior year to the current year for each fi rm are based on home country organic percent revenue change, as much as possible, which excludes year-to-year currency exchange eff ects and acquisition or divestiture eff ects. total company revenues are stated in the company profi les when provided. Verifi cation of revenue is required of each private fi rm for ranking by a third party, generally its outside accounting fi rm. for further information, contact larry gold at 847-525-0707 or Jack honomichl at 847-382-3246.

Most of these 25 conglomerates are the end result of numerous acquisitions over many years. In 2011 alone, Top 25 fi rms bought 24 research fi rms around the world.

eDiToR’s NoTe: In the 2012 Honomichl Top 50 report, the CPI should have been listed as 3.2%, so the infl ation-adjusted growth rate for the Top 50 fi rms in 2011 is 1.9%. Th e authors regret the error.


honomichltop25 excluSiVe feature

JaCk honomiChl is founder of the Inside Research industry newsletter, a market research trade publication based in Barrington, ill.

AMA083112_INI.indd 14 8/6/12 3:42 PM

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

20

15

10

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TOP 25 FIRMS’ REVENUE

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AMA083112_INI.indd 15 8/6/12 3:42 PM

Top 25 Global ReseaRch oRGanizaTions

Rank 2011 2010

Organization HeadquartersParent

CountryWebsite

No. of Countries With Subsidiaries/

Branch Offices1

Research-only

Full-time Employees4

Global Research Revenue2

(US$ Millions)

Percent Change

From 20103

Revenue From Outside

Home Country (US$ Millions)

Percent of Global

Revenue From Outside

Home Country

1 1nielsen holdings n.V.

New York U.S. Nielsen.com 100 35,500 $5,353.0 4.8% $2,837.0 53.0%

2 2 Kantar*London & Fairfield, Conn.

U.K. Kantar.com 80 21,900 3,331.8 0.8 2,402.4 72.1

3 - ipsos sa Paris France Ipsos.com 84 16,569 2,495.0 2.9 2,261.2 90.6

- 5 Ipsos SA Paris France Ipsos.com 68 10,307 1,639.1 4.6 1,508.0 92.0

- 6 Synovate London U.K. Ipsos.com 64 6,262 855.9 -0.3 753.2 88.0

4 4 GfK se Nuremberg Germany GfK.com 68 11,457 1,914.0 5.8 1,389.3 72.6

5 7symphonyiRi Group inc.

Chicago U.S. SymphonyIRI.com 8 3,928 764.2 3.2 298.9 39.1

6 3 iMs health inc. Parsippany, N.J. U.S. IMSHealth.com 74 2,500 750.0 4.5 480.0 64.0

7 8 Westat inc. Rockville, Md. U.S. Westat.com 5 1,947 506.5 11.2 3.1 0.6

8 9 inTaGe inc.** Tokyo Japan Intage.co.jp 4 2,153 459.9 -0.2 15.4 3.3

9 10 arbitron inc. Columbia, Va. U.S. Arbitron.com 3 1,205 422.3 6.4 6.4 1.5

10 11 The npD Group inc.Port Washington, N.Y.

U.S. NPD.com 14 1,256 265.3 9.9 76.4 28.8

11 13 Video Research ltd.** Tokyo Japan VideoR.co.jp 3 392 240.9 3.2 – –

12 14 ibope Group Sao Paulo Brazil IBOPE.com.br 15 2,797 239.9 4.6 60.2 25.1

13 16 comscore inc. Reston, Va. U.S. comScore.com 22 1,012 232.4 23.5 60.1 25.9

14 12J.D. power and associates*

Westlake Village, Calif.

U.S. JDPA.com 10 720 228.5 -0.6 73.5 32.2

15 15 icF international inc. Fairfax, Va. U.S. ICFI.com 7 1,200 227.5 13.7 49.6 21.8

16 18 Maritz Research Fenton, Mo. U.S. MaritzResearch.com 5 830 187.5 10.0 29.5 15.7

17 17 harris interactive inc. New York U.S. HarrisInteractive.com 5 566 160.7 -3.7 67.5 42.0

18 20 Macromill inc. Tokyo Japan Macromill.com 3 594 159.7 -1.4 0.2 0.1

19 19 abt sRbi inc.Cambridge, Mass.

U.S. AbtAssociates.com 37 1,264 158.0 22.1 30.6 19.4

20 23 Médiamétrie Paris France Mediametrie.com 1 576 109.6 13.1 14.3 13.0

21 22 oRc international Princeton, N.J. U.S. ORCInternatonal.com 5 438 101.3 0.9 37.0 36.5

22 - YouGov plc London U.K. YouGov.com 9 445 93.7 12.0 69.8 74.5

23 21lieberman Research Worldwide

Los Angeles U.S. LRWonline.com 3 390 90.2 -10.5 15.3 17.0

24 24cello Research & consulting

London U.K. CelloGroup.co.uk 2 351 87.4 1.1 43.3 49.5

25 25Market strategies international

Livonia, Mich. U.S. MarketStrategies.com 3 245 75.3 -7.3 3.5 4.6

Total 110,235 $18,654.6 4.1% $10,324.5 55.4%

* Estimated by Top 25 authors. ** For fiscal year ended March 2012. 1 Includes countries that have subsidiaries with an equity interest or branch offices, or both. 2 Total revenues that include nonresearch activities for some companies are significantly higher. This information is given in the individual company profiles. 3 Rate of growth from year to year has been adjusted so as not to include revenue gains or losses from acquisitions or divestitures. See company profiles for explanation. Rate of growth is based on home country currency and excludes currency exchange effects. 4 Includes some nonresearch employees.


honomichltop25 ExCLUSIVE FEATURE

AMA083112_INI.indd 16 8/6/12 6:04 PM

1 nielsen holdings n.V. Nielsen.com

David L. Calhoun, 55titLe CeO

eduCAtiOn B.s., ACCOunting, VirginiA POLyteCHniC institute

2011 WOrLdWide reVenue

$5,353.0 MiLLiOn*

CHAnge FrOM 2010 +4.8%**

reVenue Outside HOMe COuntry

$2,837.0 MiLLiOn*

FrOM Outside HOMe COuntry

53.0%*

eMPLOyees WOrLdWide 35,500*

Nielsen Holding N.V., incorporated in the Netherlands and headquartered in New York, was founded in 1923 and sold to a consortium of six private equity firms in 2006. In January 2011, the firm was listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Nielsen is a global information and measurement company that provides a comprehensive understand-ing of consumers and consumer behavior. It delivers media and marketing information, analytics and industry expertise about what consumers buy and what consumers watch (consumer interaction with television, online and mobile) on a global and local basis.

The firm’s information, insights and services help clients maintain and strengthen their market posi-tions, and identify opportunities for profitable growth. Nielsen has a presence in approximately 100 countries, including many developing and emerging markets.

Consumer watchNielsen’s Watch segment includes measurement and analytical services related to TV, online and mobile devices, and offers viewership data and analytics primarily to the media and advertising industries. Its media clients use the data to price their advertising inventory and maximize the value of their content, and its advertising clients use the data to plan and optimize their advertising spending and to better ensure that their ads reach the intended audiences. Nielsen provides measurement services across three screens: TV, online and mobile.

In the United States, Nielsen offers two principal TV ratings services: measurement of national TV audiences and measurement of local TV audiences in all 210 designated local TV markets. In addition to the U.S., Nielsen measures TV in 28 countries.

Nielsen is a global provider of Internet media and market research, audience analytics and social media measurement of the behavior of online audiences for online publishers, Internet and media companies, marketers and retailers. It measures and analyzes consumer-generated media including opinions, advice, peer-to-peer discussions and shared personal experiences on more than 100 million blogs, social networks, user groups and chat boards. Its online measurement service has a presence in 46 countries.

The firm offers consumer research and indepen-dent measurement for telecom and media companies in the mobile telecommunications industry, including mobile carriers and device manufacturers. In the United States, its metrics are an indicator of market share, customer satisfaction, device share, service quality, revenue share, content audience and other key

performance measures. Nielsen offers mobile measurement services in 10 countries.

Its cross-platform measurement services provide information about simultaneous usage of more than one screen, unduplicated reach, cause and effect analysis, and program viewing behavior. Nielsen also provides advertising effectiveness research across multiple platforms.

Consumer BuyNielsen’s Buy segment provides retail transactional measurement data, consumer behavior information and analytics primarily to businesses in the consumer packaged goods industry. This segment is organized into two areas: Information, which provides retail scanner and consumer-panel-based measurement, and Insights, which provides a broad range of analytics.

The Information segment provides measurement data that is used for measuring sales and market share in the CPG industry by tracking sales transactions in retail outlets around the world from either POS data or audit data. Its database of retail and consumer information, combined with its analytical capabilities, helps generate strategic insights for business decisions.

Nielsen conducts consumer panels around the world that help clients understand consumer purchas-ing dynamics at the household level, providing insight into shopper behavior such as trial and repeat purchase for new products and likely substitutes, as well as customer segmentation. Its consumer panels collect data from approximately 240,000 household panelists across 26 countries that use in-home scanners to record purchases from each shopping trip. Data from these panels are processed into databases and reports for clients to perform analyses.

The Insights segment uses consumer purchasing information as its foundation to provide a selection of consumer intelligence and analytical services. It draws insights from retail and consumer panel measurement data sets, online behavioral information and a variety of other proprietary data sets.

Its analytical services are organized into seven primary categories that follow clients’ business development processes: growth and demand strategy, market structure and segmentation, brand and portfolio management, product innovation services, pricing and sales modeling, retail marketing strategies and marketing ROI strategies.

* research only. Worldwide research and nonresearch revenue in 2011 was $5.5 billion.

** the growth rate includes the 2010 and 2011 revenue for the 2010 acquisition of glanceguide inc. in the u.s. and the sale of nielsen edi in the u.s., and excludes the 2011 acquisitions of neuroFocus inc. in the u.s., Marketing Analytics inc. in the u.s., usP Market intelligence gmbH in germany and MeMBr interna-tional Ltd. in Cyprus.

2 kantar Kantar.com

Eric Salama, 51 titLe CHAirMAn And CeO

eduCAtiOn M.sC., BirkBeCk COLLege, LOndOn


$3,331.8 MiLLiOn

CHAnge FrOM 2010 +0.8%* **


$2,402.4 MiLLiOn*


72.1%*


Kantar, based in London and Fairfield, Conn., was founded in 1993 and is the consumer insights division of WPP plc, a London-based public company.

Kantar’s research businesses work across the spectrum of research and consultancy disciplines, offering business insights at each point of the consumer cycle.

The group now comprises 12 research business units providing the following worldwide services:

•Added Value (Added-Value.com) focuses on brand devel-opment and marketing insight through its Brand Connections methodology, providing services in the areas of brand marketing, consumer insight, innovation and communications. Its services include cultural trend analysis; portfolio strategy; market segmentation; mindset mapping and brand portfolio management for identifying market opportunities; brand positioning; ethnography and ideation; copy testing; tracking semiotic audits; and touch-point evaluation.

•IMRB International (IMRBInt.com), based in India but with multi-country capability, has 11 specialist units that provide research services including advertising and promotion, stakeholder and mystery shopping, product and packaging, B-to-B and industrial, brand, channel and retail, pricing and strategic. It also offers nine syndicated services covering the Indian marketplace.

•Kantar Health (KantarHealth.com) specializes in healthcare primary research and consulting. The group has seven practice areas: marketing insights; strategic planning; risk management, safety and surveillance; stakeholder effectiveness and brand marketing; health economics and patient outcomes; pricing and reimbursement; and forecasting and epidemiology. Kantar Health maintains panels of healthcare professionals and patients in the U.S. and Europe who participate in Internet research.

•Kantar Japan (jp.KantarGroup.com) was formed in 2007 by the consolidation of four research business units in Japan: Research International, Millward Brown, Added Value and Lightspeed Research. It offers selected services from each, including branding, ad testing, demand forecasting, product development and shopper solutions.

•Kantar Media (KantarMedia.com) offers a range of media insights and audience measurement services. It serves global advertisers, agencies and media companies by providing media and consumer research capabilities through its traditional, social and digital media monitoring offerings.

•Kantar Operations (KantarOperations.com) is an internal provider of market research services to the Kantar units that include face-to-face and telephone



AMA083112_INI.indd 18 8/6/12 3:42 PM

data collection; scripting, coding, data entry and data processing; process tools, software and technical solutions; process optimization; and metrics and performance measurement.

•Kantar Retail (KantarRetail.com) is focused on digitally delivered intelligence on retailers and extending shopper insights and consulting capabilities. Specialist areas include retailer insights and trends, organization development and virtual shopping insights. These areas are supported by products and services including Kantar Retail IQ, Shopcom, ShopperGenetics, Kantar Retail PowerRanking and Richmix.

•Kantar Worldpanel (KantarWorldpanel.com) is a global provider of consumer panels that offer continuous measurement and analysis of consumer purchasing and usage behavior. The firm collects and analyzes data from samples of consumers using technology matched to the sophisti-cation of local markets, including bar-code and POS scanners, Internet, SMS text messaging and diary.

•Lightspeed Research (LightspeedResearch.com) provides market research services by building and maintaining online and mobile panels and associated services including survey design consultation, sample management, programming, hosting and data collection. They range from proprietary online access panels to specialty panels, custom panels and mobile surveys. Lightspeed also provides custom panel services to address specific client needs.

•Millward Brown (MillwardBrown.com) provides a full range of qualitative, quantitative and consulting services focusing on brands, marketing communi-cations, media and marketing effectiveness. It works across a wide range of industries and categories, operating in areas such as brand strategy and experience; creative development and campaign evaluation; consumer needs and values; media planning and strategy; ROI, forecasting and investment management; brand valuation and analytics; and demand and activation.

•The Futures Co. (TheFuturesCompany.com) monitors what influences consumer values and attitudes to identify current and future trends, and offers trends and futures consulting, and future-facing qualitative and quantitative research. Its work covers the categories of brand, category, company, consumer and macro futures.

•TNS (TNSglobal.com), and TNS/Research International in selected markets, is a provider of both custom market research services and qualitative research services providing marketing knowledge and insights into consumers and markets. It has experience in most major sectors, particu-larly automotive, consumer, finance, technology, political and social. The firm’s practice areas are: stakeholder manage-ment, brand and communications, product development and innovation, retail and shopper, qualitative, and digital.

* estimated, research only. ** the growth rate excludes the 2010 and 2011

research-only revenue for the 2010 acquisitions of instore Factor sri in italy in October; retail insights in Belgium in december; and research and Market-ing services Ltd. in nigeria in september, and the 2011 acquisitions of spring Wirtz and Pischkegmbh in germany in January; Lanka Mr Bureau in sri Lanka in October; and global Market insite inc. in the u.s. in september.



AMA083112_INI.indd 19 8/6/12 3:42 PM

3 ipsos Sa Ipsos.com

Didier Truchot, 65titLe CHAirMAn And CeO

eduCAtiOn eCOnOMiCs, PAntHéOn-sOrBOnne, FrAnCe


$2,495.0 MiLLiOn

CHAnge FrOM 2010 +2.9%*


$2,261.2 MiLLiOn


90.6%

eMPLOyees WOrLdWide 16,569

Ipsos SA, in Paris, was founded in 1975 and listed on the Paris Stock Exchange in July 1999. In October 2011, Ipsos SA acquired Synovate.

Ipsos is a global market research firm that is organized around six areas of specialization: advertising, marketing, media, opinion and customer relationship management research, along with data collection and processing. The firm’s researchers assess market potential, interpret market trends, develop and build brands, test advertising, study audience responses to various media and measure public opinion around the globe.

Ipsos’ six areas of specialization are represented by the following:

•Ipsos ASI (Ipsos.com/ASI) is a global provider specializing in advertising and brand communications. It offers a full range of advertising research services that employs measures predictive of in-market performance. All stages of the advertising development process are offered, from concept development to production to final execution and into post-implementation performance.

•Ipsos Marketing (Ipsos.com/marketing) is organized around four global practices: Ipsos InnoQuest, the innovation and forecasting specialists; Ipsos MUM, market understanding and measurement specialists; Ipsos Healthcare, the healthcare research specialists; and Ipsos UU, the qualitative research specialists. It offers contractual models to better manage market research money, distributes insights in real time within clients organizations by leveraging technology and workshops, and integrates knowledge by combining various sources of insights.

•Ipsos Public Affairs (Ipsos.com/public-affairs) are social research and corporate reputation specialists, a non-partisan, objective, survey-based research practice made up of seasoned professionals. It conducts research on public policy issues, and on the attitudes and behaviors of citizens and consumers. It also conducts public opinion research and elite stakeholder, corporate and media opinion research.

•Ipsos MediaCT (Ipsos.com/mediaCT) covers content, telecom and technology. Its experience includes audience measurement, content research, data analytics, consumer behavior, and help with monetization and innovation strategies. The staff combine research skills with a focus on business fundamentals to help maximize their return on investment.

•Ipsos Loyalty (Ipsos.com/loyalty) provides customer experience, satisfaction and loyalty research globally. It measures, models and manages customer and employee relationships.

•Ipsos Observer (Ipsos.com/Observer) is the firm’s survey management, data collection and data delivery specialization serving researchers who have the means to analyze data in-house. From creating surveys to delivering data, its team of market research professionals manage projects across a broad range of online and offline research methodologies including online, telephone, face-to-face and mobile.

* the growth rate excludes the 2010 and 2011 revenue from the 2010 ipsos acquisitions of OtX in the united states in January and APeMe in Portugal in January, the 2010 synovate acquisitions of Firm united Health-care Ltd. in the netherlands in May and COMCOn in russia in december, and the 2011 ipsos acquisitions of espace tV in January in France, tMg Customer research in Panama in March, synovate in France in October, and Consumer Behavior & insight in Vietnam in december.

4 Gfk SeGfk.com

Matthias Hartmann, 46 titLe CeO OF gFk se

eduCAtiOn B.A., inFOrMAtiOn teCHnOLOgy, uniVersity OF COOPerAtiVe eduCA-tiOn, stuttgArt, gerMAny


$1,914.0 MiLLiOn



$1,389.3 MiLLiOn


72.6%


GfK SE, a public company based in Nuremberg, Germany, was established in 1934 and is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

GfK is one of the world’s leading market research companies, working to discover new insights into the way people live, think and shop in more than 100 countries. Its focus is on innovating, using technologies and methodologies to provide a clear understanding of consumers.

The firm delivers services in all major consumer, pharma-ceutical, media and service sector market segments. Services are divided into two sectors, Consumer Choices and Consumer Experiences. Consumer Choices’ business focuses on market sizing, currency, and convergent media and sales channels. Consumer Experiences’ business explores consum-ers’ attitudes, focusing on consumers perceptions of the world and the way that they experience it.

These services are delivered in the following practice areas:

•Audience Measurement & Insights: GfK provides TV and radio audience measurement currencies throughout Europe and the print currency in the U.S. It provides ROI metrics, needed for cross-media campaigns across traditional, digi-tal and mobile media. Measurement includes engagement with content on TV, mobile, social media, online, in print and more.

•Brand and Customer Experience: This global area is focused on brand, communication, satisfaction and loyalty research. Measurement includes brand affinity, acquisition, retention and repeat purchase using 12 social neuroscience, digital sciences and ROI models. The firm targets sensorial, intu-itive, emotional, social and deliberative dimensions of how people experience brands.

•Consumer Panels: GfK provides continuous audits and analyses of consumer purchasing decisions and behavior for most fast-moving consumer goods, as well as numer-ous consumer durables and services. Reports are based on continuous data collection and analyses of the purchasing behavior of consumers that reveal a range of insights, stan-dard measures of product and brand consumption, buyer groups for a manufacturer’s own products and those of the competition, brand loyalty and store preference, and the effect of price changes, promotion and advertising activities.

•Geomarketing: This service addresses the questions of customer location, target groups and new sales potentials, providing a basis for all location-related decisions in sales, marketing, expansion and controlling.

•Market Opportunities and Innovation: GfK uses innovation and segmentation, and adherence to best prac-tices, to help develop and refine ideas, whether for new products, new touch points, new targets or channels, or a more prominent positioning. Sizing and validating ideas before launch enables sequencing of the pipeline for optimal market traction.

•Mystery Shopping: This offering measures the way that people experience products and services across every point of contact, revealing how employees are interacting with customers; where and how products are recommended; and how companies comply with service standards, and distrib-ute and price their products; and provides reports on store environments and point-of-sale communications. The service benchmarks a company’s performance vs. compet-itors, and provides ROI and recommended actions for increasing customer ratings.

•Product Catalogs: GfK is a provider of digital and office supply products, with data on more than 7 million prod-ucts from 20,000 manufacturers in 30 countries and 20 languages. The data is used by retailers, Internet portals and online shops, and by distributors and manufacturers for their websites, price labels and product range optimization.

•Promotion & Retail Monitoring: The firm provides causal analysis and reporting for technical consumer goods markets in more than 60 countries, analyzing the shelf, print ads and Web share, as well as the presence of goods and brands in the market.

•Retail Sales Tracking: GfK provides retail point-of-sale reporting and technology market intelligence, revealing when, where and for how much items are sold, providing currencies for brands and assortment guides for resellers. It brings together point-of-sale and external data on ad spend, consumer sentiment, shipments and economic indicators for business issues and forecasts future demand.

•Shopper & Retail Strategy: An experienced GfK team provides insights, strategic consulting and activation through point of sale. Supported by a range of services, the firm works closely with manufacturers and retailers to activate insights and optimize channel strategy, merchandising strategy and the overall shopping experience.

•Trends and Forecasting: The firm forecasts product sales and market demand to identify future sales opportunities and consumer trends, and create new market opportunities.

* the growth rate excludes 2010 and 2011 revenue from the 2010 acquisitions of Agricultural information services in the united kingdom in April and interscope LLC in the united states in november, and the 2011 acquisitions of sirValuse Consulting gmbH in germany in January and MarketWise Ltd. in thailand in June.



AMA083112_INI.indd 20 8/6/12 3:42 PM

5 Symphonyiri Group inc.SymphonyIRI.com

Andrew Appel, 47 titLe President And CeO

eduCAtiOn M.B.A, uniVersity OF CHiCAgO


$764.2 MiLLiOn

CHAnge FrOM 2010 +3.2%


$298.9 MiLLiOn


39.1%

eMPLOyees WOrLdWide

3,928

SymphonyIRI Group Inc. (SIRI), based in Chicago, was founded in 1979 and became a public company in 1983. It was acquired in 2003 by Symphony Technology Group and then in 2011 by New Mountain Capital LLC, a private company and majority shareholder.

SIRI is a worldwide provider of informa-tion, analytics, business intelligence and consulting services supported by technology platforms and experienced teams for transforming insight into impact.

The firm offers the SIRI Partner Ecosystem that leverages the skill sets of its retail tracking and panel staff to provide “one answer” to business issues for more than 25 clients with regional and global agreements.

SIRI operates in 58 countries through stand-alone operations, wholly owned subsidiaries, partnerships and alliances. It operates under two interconnected business segments:

SIRI Market Measurement provides CPG and retail market tracking information and insights via access and visualization tools. This information is used to analyze shopper activity and create new products, as well as for packaging, pricing, promotion and merchandising strategies.

•InfoScan Tracking: The census-based InfoScan point-of-sale (POS) tracking service provides access to detailed information on sales, share, distribution, pricing and promotion across a wide variety of retail channels and accounts.

•AllScan Convenience Store Tracking: The AllScan tracking service provides scanner-based POS data across the entire convenience channel, using data from more than 15,000 sample convenience stores.

Industry Vertical Solutions offers verti-cal experience and customized products and services for multiple industry verticals, including healthcare and wellness, center store, confections, beer, wine, spirits, tobacco, bakery and dairy. These include:

•Healthcare Insights: The firm’s Healthcare Solutions Group provides pharmaceutical, healthcare and CPG companies and retailers with consumer intelligence, targeting and analytic services for the healthcare

marketplace. It offers a suite of retail tracking, consumer panel and analytics-driven products and services under the RxPulse brand.

•Beverage Alcohol and Tobacco Industry Insights: SIRI provides insights through an integrated view of the beverage alcohol and tobacco industry. The retail track-ing products and analytics are scaled to specifically meet the beverage alcohol and tobacco industry needs, provid-ing manufacturers and distributors with retail sales

trends, and purchase behavior and consumer insights in grocery, drug, mass merchandise, convenience, liquor and club stores.

symphony solutions & servicesSymphony Consumer & Shopper Marketing offers CPG and retailers a range of services focusing on deliver-ing consumer and shopper insights, test marketing services, digital media services, shopper segmentation and targeting, and shopper marketing services. These



AMA083112_INI.indd 21 8/6/12 3:42 PM

services are delivered on the SIRI Liquid Data technology platform and supported by experienced teams.

SIRI’s Consumer & Shopper Marketing capabilities include market structure and consulting, brand and retailer loyalty analyses, attitudinal segmentations and individual user profiles.

In 2011, SIRI announced a new relationship supporting Wal-Mart’s customer-centric initiatives whereby the two companies introduced a Web-based shopper insights and collaborative planning platform, Customer Advantage. It provides a dedicated shopper insights portal of user-friendly, customizable reports shared between Wal-Mart and its supplier partners.

The firm offers a series of new digital media services that integrates SIRI’s Consumer Network (panel) purchase data, predictive modeling techniques and analytical experience with a number of online research and advertising capabili-ties through a series of partnerships to provide consumer insights, segmentation, targeting and campaign-specific ROI analysis capabilities for online advertisers.

Symphony AdvantageSymphony Advantage is a suite of business intelligence software services for trade management, merchandizing, shopper marketing and in-store execution powered by the Liquid Data technology platform. It is delivered by an Advantage Portfolio of business applications that include:

•Brand Advantage is a user-friendly online media planning and analytical application that is delivered over the Web.

•Consumer & Shopper Insights Advantage provides insights into shopper behavior combining content, such as built-in scorecards and best-practice analysis templates.

•Market Advantage identifies emerging trends and growth drivers (e.g., health and wellness) before the competition and elevates their retailer partnerships from “category” captain to “aisle” or “department” champion.

•Price & Trade Advantage gives insight on price sensitivities, gaps, thresholds, competitive implications and sales volume decomposition.

Symphony AnalyticsSymphony Analytics provides a combination of predic-tive analytical techniques, proprietary rapid-modeling platforms, automated services and experienced analytics consulting talent. It focuses on the strategic and operational needs in sales and category management, marketing and brand management, strategy and demand planning.

Symphony ConsultingIn 2011, SIRI continued the expansion of its Consulting and Innovation Practice, delivering advisory services in sales and marketing for C-level management within the CPG and retail industries. The group focuses on four key practice areas: strategic pricing, growth and innovation, shopper marketing, and customer and channel manage-ment. Symphony Consulting is composed of experienced consultants from top-tier strategy consulting firms who have successfully completed hundreds of engagements focused on developing long-term strategic and collabora-tive relationships.

SIRI has 11 offices throughout the United States and in the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Greece, Italy and Spain.

6 IMS Health Inc.IMSHealth.com

Ari Bousbib, 49 TiTle Chairman and CeO

eduCaTiOn m.B.a., finanCe, COlumBia universiTy

2011 WOrldWide revenue

$750.0 milliOn*

Change frOm 2010 +4.5%* **

revenue OuTside hOme COunTry

$480.0 milliOn*

frOm OuTside hOme COunTry

64.0%*

emplOyees WOrldWide 2,500* ***

IMS Health Inc. in Parsippany, N.J., was founded in 1954 and was acquired by TPG Capital, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and several other investors.

IMS is a leading provider of information services and technology for the healthcare industry around the world. The firm draws on its global technology infrastructure and combination of in-depth analytics, on-shore and off-shore commercial services, and software platforms to better understand the performance and value of medicines.

With a presence in more than 100 countries, IMS offers services to pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors, providers, payers, government agencies, policymakers, researchers and the financial community.

Using predictive modeling and forecasting techniques with its databases, IMS tracks more than 1.3 million healthcare products, covering more than 80% of all pharmaceutical sales transactions worldwide. Its stakeholder insights—representing patients, prescribers and payers—are used to develop commercialization plans, select the patient and physician populations that will derive the greatest clinical benefits from specific therapies, deliver information about medicines to prescribers to enhance treatment decisions for patients, and allocate and measure the effectiveness of pharmaceutical marketing and sales resources.

IMS’s market research products include:

•Pharmaceutical Audits measure the sale of pharmaceutical products to pharmacies, supplemented in some countries by data collected from dispensing physicians, retail chains and discount stores.

•Prescription Audits contain projected national estimates of the rate at which drugs move out of the pharmacy and into the hands of consumers.

•Medical Audits are based on information collected from panels of practicing office-based physicians and contain projected national estimates of the number of consultations for each diagnosed disease with details of the therapy prescribed.

•Hospital Audits contain data projected to national and regional estimates, and show the sale of pharmaceutical products to hospitals by therapeutic class.

•Promotional Audits contain national estimates of pharmaceutical promotional activities for individual branded products, including sales force promotion and journal and mail advertising, based on information received from panels of physicians and from monitoring medical journals and direct mail.

•MIDAS is an online, multinational, integrated analytics technology platform that clients use to assess and analyze global trends in multiple markets. It provides online access to pharmaceutical, medical, promotional and chemical data that IMS compiles.

•Consumer Health information provides detailed product movement, market share and pricing information for over-the-counter, personal care, patient care and nutritional products.

•Oncology Analyzer audits collect longitudinal patient infor-mation regarding the diagnosis and treatment in the critical area of Oncology across the major pharmaceutical markets.

•Market Research Publications support market assessment, competitive intelligence and forecasting activities at all stages of the product lifecycle. They feature analyses on pharmaceutical companies, countries, markets, therapies and products.

* research only. ** The growth rate includes the 2010 and 2011

research-only revenue for the 2010 acquisition of Brogan inc. in Canada in July, and excludes the 2011 revenue for the acquisition of medical and promo-tional audits of sdi health llC in the united states in October. Total research and nonresearch revenue in 2011 was $2,371 million.

*** estimated.

7 Westat Inc.Westat.com

James E. Smith, 62 TiTle presidenT and CeO

eduCaTiOn ph.d., universiTy Of sOuThern CalifOrnia

2011 WOrldWide revenue

$506.5 milliOn

Change frOm 2010 +11.2%

revenue OuTside hOme COunTry:

$3.1 milliOn

frOm OuTside hOme COunTry:

0.6%

emplOyees WOrldWide 1,947

Westat Inc. in Rockville, Md., is an employee-owned company founded in 1963.

Westat combines a reputation for high-quality surveys with a constant effort to innovate and build new capabilities. Its corporate capabilities include statistical design and analysis, research methodology, survey operations, scientific and clinical research, program evaluation, systems development, and other survey and information services. The firm’s professional staff has significant experience in a broad range of subject and program areas, including health and medical studies, education, social services, transportation and environmental protection, among others.

The firm’s clients are the agencies of the U.S. govern-ment, as well as businesses, foundations, and state and local governments. Its projects serve a broad range of needs: assessing students’ educational achievement, understanding health and environmental risks, gaining new knowledge of the causes and treatment of disease, providing public health communications, evaluating the performance of social programs, and supporting the development of policy and regulations in many areas of government. Westat also performs clinical trials work for the U.S. government and for pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients, both domestically and through its international operations.

Westat continues to expand its methods research and information dissemination capabilities. The firm operates a behavioral research facility specializing in Web usability, along with cognitive research and focus group facilities. It also manages websites and call centers supporting federal agencies’ public information programs.

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Westat surveys are increasingly multimodal, often including in-person, telephone, Web, mail and mobile device modes. It operates telephone research centers across the United States, a national network of home-based telephone interviewers, and a nationwide staff of field data collectors for in-person and institutional data collection. To support these large, distributed operations, Westat maintains an extensive, secure, nationwide multimodal computer and communications infrastructure.

Its global portfolio includes health and education projects in more than 60 countries worldwide. Westat provides extensive experience in a diverse portfolio of international health research issues, including HIV/AIDS, TB and other diseases, STDs and nutrition. It has been a player in global health research for more than 30 years.

Westat has participated in international student assessment and literacy research since the early 1990s. It conducts many international education studies and international adult literacy assessments, with samples sometimes covering more than 60 countries and including more than half a million students.

The firm also provides consulting in statistical design and analysis to statistical organizations and government agencies throughout the world including in Canada, Australia, France, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway, Finland and South Africa.

Westat distributes and provides user training and support for Blaise, a commercial off-the-shelf software system for computer-assisted telephone interviewing and complex survey processing. Blaise was developed by

Statistics Netherlands and is used internationally. Westat supplemented its WesVar statistical processing software with the WesDaX module for online data analysis and tabulations, and other software for data and metadata dissemination and use.

Westat’s telephone interviewing, field interviewing and data editing staff averaged about 1,600 during 2011. It maintains research offices in five U.S. cities and in five international locations.

8 intaGe inc. INTAGE.co.jp

Kenji Miyakubi, 53 titLe President And

rePresentAtiVe direCtOr

eduCAtiOn eHiMe uniVersity, JAPAn


$459.9 MiLLiOn*

CHAnge FrOM 2010 -0.2%* **


$15.4 MiLLiOn*


3.3%*


INTAGE Inc., based in Tokyo, was founded in 1960 and listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in November 2001, and was listed on its First Section as of March 2009.

INTAGE addresses manage-ment strategy and issues through marketing and busi-ness intelligence in consumer markets, service industries and healthcare sectors in four areas:

•Marketing Tracking: INTAGE provides syndicated data services through its data delivery systems. Information details retail sales trends, consumer buying behaviors, sales promotion activities and other market indicators. Market tracking services offered include syndicated POS retail panel services (SRI, SDI); syndicated consumer panel services (SCI, SLI, SCI-personal); syndicated promotion effectiveness measurement panel services (SPI, IFI); Kitchen Diary; MR (medical representative) activities effectiveness panel service (Rep Track); integrated marketing research data delivery systems (Partner & Brains, RESME); and Web-based tool for clients to integrate panel data (i-Canvas).

•Customized Services: INTAGE addresses needs for customized services in management, strategy and strategy implementation evaluation, and business process efficiency. The

firm leverages technology and systems, as well as marketing research resources and capabilities, to optimize marketing activities and business processes via customized research, global research, Internet-based marketing research, medical marketing research, eye-tracking survey, MROC survey and tabulations, and searches research data from Internet and mail surveys (Lyche-Pro, Lyche-Web).

•Research and Analysis Models: These models include price and store sales promotion analysis packages (price optimizer, APRiCOT), and analytical tools and applications (Shelf-Choice, brand management tables, brand ROI analysis, single-source campaign effectiveness analysis).

•Strategic Solutions: INTAGE fuses information tech-nology, system development capabilities and marketing intelligence to construct business application systems to address strategy issues and operating environments. Data-base services apply data utilization and analysis tools for decision-making support systems that maximize the value of existing client information resources. The firm offers integrated services (INTAGE-CRM, data mining and customer portfolio management tools), BPR and BPO services, drug development services (CRO services), SCM services (supply and demand planning and logistics plan-ning), micro-area marketing applications (AreaManager) and business application products (Job Hunter).

In 2011, INTAGE and NTTdocomo in Japan estab-lished a joint venture, Docomo Insight Marketing Inc., to develop research and communication services by leveraging mobile devices such as smartphones where market data will be accumulated in real time and provides research based on a variety of information obtained from the smartphone platform. Also, FTA Research and Consultant in Vietnam became a consolidated subsidiary of INTAGE to strengthen its operation base in that country.

* For the fiscal year ended March 2012. ** the growth rate excludes the fiscal year 2011 and fiscal

year 2012 revenue from the acquisition of research dynamics Co. in Bangkok in June 2011.

9 arbitron inc.Arbitron.com

William T. Kerr, 71 titLe President And CeO

eduCAtiOn M.B.A., HArVArd Business sCHOOL


$422.3 MiLLiOn



$6.4 MiLLiOn


1.5%


Arbitron Inc., based in Columbia, Md., was founded in 1949 and in 2001 became a public company listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Arbitron is a leading media and marketing research firm primarily serving radio broadcasters, advertisers, advertis-ing agencies, cable and broadcast TV, retailers, out-of-home media, online media, mobile media, telecommunications providers and print media.

Arbitron has four main services:

•Radio Audience Measurement: Arbitron estimates the size and composition of radio station audiences by periodically conducting surveys of radio listeners in



AMA083112_INI.indd 24 8/6/12 3:42 PM

approximately 284 U.S. markets. The company uses its Portable People Meter (PPM) ratings system in 48 of the top U.S. radio markets and its diary-based system in the remaining markets.

It also surveys audiences for radio networks and syndicated programs through its two national ratings services, RADAR and Nationwide. The RADAR service provides estimates of national radio audiences and of audiences to the programs and commercials of more than 50 separate radio networks.

•Measuring Audiences for Media Other Than Radio: Arbitron offers services estimating the size and demographic composition of audiences for media other than radio, such as smartphones and tablets, television viewed out-of-home and content distributed on multiple platforms.

Arbitron Mobile provides custom and syndicated mobile research panels, plug-and-play mobile media measurement tools, and software building blocks for smartphone and tablet measurement to companies in the research, wireless, Internet, media and marketing industries.

ARB-TV uses the Arbitron PPM service to report the consumption of broadcast and cable TV in locations outside of the PPM respondent’s home.

Arbitron Cross Platform services provide a more complete view of consumers’ interactions among multiple media. By leveraging the mobility and utility of its PPM technologies, Arbitron is developing cross-platform services that can complement existing

data services, offer media greater insight into what constitutes their total audience and help advertisers plan how to reach that audience.

•Surveying Consumers in Local Markets: Arbitron compiles profiles of radio listeners, broadcast TV and cable television viewers, newspaper readers and consumers reached by outdoor and out-of-home advertising displays. These profiles contain detailed socioeconomic data and information about what consumers buy, where they shop and what other forms of media they use. Arbitron provides these measure-ments in local markets across the United States through its Scarborough service and through two other services that conduct ongoing consumer surveys.

•Providing Application Software: Arbitron provides software applications that give customers access to media and consumer information from the company and from other research providers.

Portable People meter serviceArbitron’s PPM technology is capable of measuring audiences for broadcast and satellite radio, broadcast, cable and satellite television, Internet audio and video, and in-store audio and video broadcasts.

Arbitron has commercialized its PPM radio ratings service in 48 of the largest U.S. radio markets. Arbitron is gradually deploying the new PPM 360 device, which uses wireless cellular technology to transmit media exposure

data directly from the meter to Arbitron.

Cross-Platform media measurementArbitron is exploring opportunities to use PPM technology to measure audiences for many types of media. In September 2011, ESPN signed a new three-year agreement that contin-ues cross-media measurement of the NFL and college football games broadcast on television and radio.

In February 2011, the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement chose Arbitron for a three-screen pilot proj-ect to measure consumption of content and advertising across TV, the Internet and mobile media.

Digital radioAs radio follows its audience onto new digital platforms, Arbitron is working to expand its measurement services to include estimates of the audio consumption across all of radio’s broadcast and digital channels.

The proposed service would offer estimates for over-the-air radio audiences based on PPM ratings, and audiences for Internet streaming services based on a combination of PPM ratings for encoded broadcast streams and server-side measures for both streamed radio broadcasts and pure-play Internet audio outlets.

arbitron mobileIn July 2011, Arbitron purchased Zokem Oy, a Finland-based mobile audience measurement company, which now operates as Arbitron Mobile Oy.

Arbitron Mobile has developed a mobile software



AMA083112_INI.indd 25 8/6/12 3:42 PM

meter compatible with most mobile devices offered by major manufacturers, mobile device operating systems and wireless service provider protocols. The software meter can measure consumers’ mobile experiences, online and offline, and includes the ability to measure the incidence and duration of software application usage and methods of processing mobile datasets.

Its customer base includes media measurement companies, wireless service providers, Internet service providers, software service providers, wireless device manufacturers, media content owners, and advertising agencies and advertisers in countries worldwide.

Outside of the United States, Arbitron has agreements with media information services companies in specific countries to use its PPM technology in their audience ratings services. This includes Kantar Media and BBM Canada. Its PPM technology currently is being used for media ratings in seven countries in addition to the U.S., with five countries using PPM technology for measur-ing both television and radio. Kantar Media will use a new Arbitron electronic radio measurement service in Sweden beginning in August 2012.

The firm also currently operates a wholly owned subsidiary in India, which provides software develop-ment and testing services.

In addition to its headquarters, Arbitron has five regional sales offices located in the metropolitan areas of New York; Atlanta; Chicago; Dallas; and Los Angeles; and operations offices in Dallas; Birmingham, Ala.; Espoo, Finland; and Kochi, India.

* The growth rate includes 2010 and 2011 U.S. revenue from the 2010 acquisition of Integrated Media Measurement Inc. in June in the U.S. and excludes revenue from the 2011 acquisition of Zokem Oy in June in Finland.

10 The NPD Group Inc.NPD.com

Tod Johnson, 67 TITle ChaIrMan and CeO

edUCaTIOn M.S.I.a., CarnegIe MellOn UnIverSITy

2011 WOrldWIde revenUe

$265.3 MIllIOn

Change FrOM 2010: +9.9%*

revenUe OUTSIde hOMe COUnTry

$76.4 MIllIOn

FrOM OUTSIde hOMe COUnTry

28.8%

eMplOyeeS WOrldWIde 1,256

The NPD Group Inc. (NPD), based in Port Washington, N.Y., is a privately held corporation founded in 1967.

The NPD Group is a group of businesses offering consumer and retail tracking, custom solutions, advanced analytics and analyst services for a wide range of industries that help clients identify high-value opportunities and measure performance.

Information is available for the following industry sectors: apparel, appliances, athletic footwear, commercial technology, consumer technology, displays, fashion accessories, fashion footwear, food and beverage, foodservice, housewares, home improvement, home textiles, mobile phones, music, office supplies, software, solar, sports apparel, toys, video, video games, watches and jewelry, and wireless accessories.

NPD’s national retail tracking services are based on point-of-sale store movement information collected from more than 900 retail partners representing about 150,000 doors worldwide. It also offers market- and store-level tracking and advanced analytics at various geographic levels, including designated market areas, census regions and custom areas such as client retail trading areas in the United States and Europe. LGI International, an NPD Group company, tracks fine watches and branded jewelry. The firm’s consumer tracking services in the U.S. are based on information collected from the NPD Online Panel of nearly 2 million registered members. Due to NPD’s extensive experience in managing panels and its emphasis on continuous tracking, the NPD Online Panel is optimized for tracking studies.

NPD also offers custom research services and analytics that complement NPD’s data assets. Its solution-oriented product portfolio addresses opportunity identification, pricing, marketing evaluation, assortment planning, new products and forecasting.

The firm’s analyst businesses are concentrated in the technology sector, providing trend information, forecasts and analyses developed by a global team of experienced analysts with extensive industry knowledge and resources. NPD DisplaySearch provides market research on the flat-panel display supply chain. NPD Solarbuzz offers analysis on the emerging photovoltaic/solar cell industries. NPD In-Stat analyzes the mobile Internet and digital entertainment ecosystems.

In Canada, NPD offers POS and consumer panel information on the entertainment, fashion, food,

technology, video games and wireless industries. In Mexico and Brazil, NPD serves the technology and sports industries, respectively.

In Europe, NPD offers information for the beauty, food, sports and toys industry sectors. Tracking services are provided in 12 European countries and are composed of both consumer and retail tracking services.

In Asia Pacific, NPD offers tracking services for food, toys, video games and sports. Services are available in Japan, China, Australia and New Zealand. Services also are available in China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan through NPD DisplaySearch.

NPD continued to develop its analyst business in 2011 with the launch of Connected Intelligence, a suite of NPD products offering analysis on the connected world, covering devices, content and services. It signed an agreement with Sam’s Club and SamsClub.com to receive point-of-sale information.

In early 2012, NPD signed an agreement with Wal-Mart to receive additional point-of-sale information from Wal-Mart and Walmart.com. DecisionKey, NPD’s new Web-based tool for data delivery and manipulation, will be rolled out to clients throughout the year.

NPD has 27 offices in 14 countries worldwide.

* The growth rate excludes 2010 and 2011 revenue from the U.S. acquisitions of Solarbuzz in March 2010, lgI network in May 2010 and In-Stat in January 2011.

11 Video Research Ltd. VideoR.co.jp

Soichi Akiyama, 62 TITle preSIdenT and CeO

edUCaTIOn B.a., FaCUlTy OF leTTerS, TOkyO UnIverSITy. TOkyO.

2011 WOrldWIde revenUe

$240.9 MIllIOn*

Change FrOM 2010 +3.2%*

eMplOyeeS WOrldWIde 392

Video Research Ltd. (VR), based in Tokyo, was founded in 1962 by a consortium of Japanese broadcasting companies, major advertising agencies and advertisers.

VR is a media and marketing research firm whose major clients are in the broadcasting, advertising and CPG indus-tries. It is the only firm providing advertising statistics for six major media in Japan, including four major media plus tran-sit media and the Internet. Several data sources are from its alliance companies.

VR’s main service is TV audience measurement (TAM). It is based on a sample of 6,600 households equipped with set meters for household TV ratings in 27 markets throughout Japan. In the Kanto (including Tokyo) and Kansai (includ-ing Osaka) markets, VR reports both household and individ-ual ratings using the VR People Meter. The firm has obtained ISO 9001:2006 certification for its meter-based system as well as for the diary method used in individual ratings research.

Radio ratings research is conducted in the Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya metropolitan areas four to six times per year with samples of 3,000 per wave.

The firm releases a number of media-related reports:

•The Nationwide Newspaper Readership Survey (J-READ) gathers and organizes standardized data on newspapers throughout all 47 prefectures of Japan. This one-week survey of newspaper browsing is designed to measure items such as media contact, lifestyle, consciousness and product use to shed more light on how advertisements’ target readers interact with newspapers.

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•The MAGASCENE report is a single-media survey implemented every October in seven major regions in Japan. It provides information such as how people read each magazine; reader profiles with information such as basic attitude, awareness in daily life and media involvement; and a magazine quality category that includes magazine image, frequency of read, place of purchase and reading attitude.

•The SOTO report, called the Out-of-Home Media Integrated Survey, improves and enhances the exist-ing survey for out-of-home media in Tokyo within a 30-kilometer radius. The survey covers railroad usage, automobile usage, visits to the major towns and their vicinities, and purchasing behavior. SOTO started in the Kansai area in 2009.

•The Audience and Consumer Report (ACR), is VR’s syndicated research, started in 1972. It is designed to study consumer trends and media contacts in the Japanese market through a single-source approach. Because VR conducts its research periodically, changes in purchasing behavior, brand share and so forth can be recognized chronologically.

•The Media Contact Report (MCR), started in 1985, provides insight into the daily “media lifestyle” of a target audience.

A subsidiary of VR, Video Research Interactive Inc., conducts various types of Internet-related marketing research such as website contact status by panel survey, visitor profile analysis and mobile website surveys.

VR has launched new syndicated services: the Communication Drive report, Campaign Karte and TV-CM Scope for measuring and evaluating TV commercials. Its Data Cupid-Age File is a marketing analysis tool of VR-syndicated services that provides easy analysis of communication targets in detail.

VR has nine office in Japan, and offices in New York and Bangkok, Thailand.

* For the fiscal year ended March 2012. revenue has been provided in a Vr public release and has not been confirmed independently.

12 iBoPe Group IBOPE.com.br

Carlos Montenegro, 58 titLe President

eduCAtiOn B.s., eCOnOMiCs, uniVersity OF gAMA FiLHO, riO de JAneirO, BrAZiL


$239.9 MiLLiOn*

CHAnge FrOM 2010 +4.6%* **


$60.2 MiLLiOn*


25.1%*


IBOPE Group in São Paulo, Brazil, was founded in 1942 and is privately held.

IBOPE is a Brazilian multinational research company and the largest private media and market research group in Latin America. The firm specializes in media, public opinion, voting intention, consumption, brand, market and behavior.

IBOPE is composed of four business lines:



AMA083112_INI.indd 28 8/6/12 3:42 PM

•IBOPE Media, a joint venture between IBOPE and WPP Group (a minority shareholder), is the business line serving the advertising industry, including media owners, media and advertising agencies and advertis-ers. Its primary services include advertising expendi-ture, media audience measurement, and the correlation between consumption habits and media exposure.

IBOPE Media partners with Nielsen Holdings N.V. through the joint venture IBOPE Nielsen Online, and provides measurement of the Internet landscape and, with Kantar Media Research (a WPP firm), for the Target Group Index, a single-source multimedia survey in Latin America.

•IBOPE Inteligencia is a full-service market research business line, providing knowledge and understanding of the society and markets in which clients operate, for decision making, developing business strategies and innovation processes. It specializes in political and opinion polls, market research focused on the services sector, FMCG, retail and geo-business.

IBOPE Inteligencia offers studies in behavior and perception, satisfaction and evaluation, branding and communications, retail and shopper, public opinion and geo-marketing, among others. It also offers consulting services, and innovation and intelligence tools.

•IBOPE Educacao trains professionals involved in strategic decision making through executive education to help them improve analytical skills and increase their competitiveness. It integrates current academic content with information from both IBOPE and the client.

•IBOPE Ambiental, launched in 2011, provides services aimed at environmental sustainability, offering both consulting and certification services.

The firm has offices in 14 cities in Brazil and 13 countries in Latin America, and also has offices in the United States and branch offices in 15 countries.

* research only.** the growth rate excludes revenue for 2010 and 2011

from the 2010 acquisitions of Zogby international research LLC in the united states and iBOPe inteligencia Chile, and the 2011 acquisitions of time Media s.A. Chile, Media research s.A. Chile and Mediaguru Costa rica s.A. revenue and growth rates exclude research companies in which iBOPe owns 50% or less. Also excluded are nonresearch companies, including Megadata in Brazil and Markdata in europe.

13 comScore inc.comScore.com

Gian M. Fulgoni, 64 titLe eXeCutiVe CHAirMAn And

CO-FOundereduCAtiOn M.s., MArketing, uniVersity

OF LAnCAster, united kingdOM


$232.4 MiLLiOn

CHAnge FrOM 2010 +23.5%*reVenue Outside HOMe COuntry

$60.1 MiLLiOn


25.9%


ComScore Inc. (cS), based in Reston, Va., was founded in 1999 and was listed on Nasdaq in June 2007.

cS continuously measures the digital behavior of a global cross section of 2 million Internet users (including 1 million in the United States) who provide their browsing and transaction behavior, including online and offline purchasing. Its panelists also participate in survey research that captures their attitudes, lifestyles, product preferences



AMA083112_INI.indd 30 8/6/12 3:42 PM

and purchase intentions, which can be integrated with their observed online behavior.

cS services fall into three primary segments of digital analytics:

User analyticscomScore Media Metrix (CMM) provides Internet audience measurement for advertising agencies, publishers, market-ers and financial analysts. CMM reports details of online media usage, visitor demographics and online buying power for the home, work and university audiences across 100 local U.S. markets and around the world, including detailed reporting for 40 countries. Its syndicated measurement is based on the Unified Digital Measurement methodol-ogy, which combines both panel-based and website-census measurement.

CMM offers tools for reach and frequency analysis, day-part planning, online and offline local market analysis, and emerging applications. Other services in the CMM suite include comScore Video Metrix for measurement of online video viewing; qSearch for measurement of search behav-ior; comScore Ad Metrix, for measurement of online display advertising; Segment Metrix, which describes the online behavior of various consumer segments, including those defined by Prizm and PersonicX; and comScore Marketer, a search marketing intelligence tool.

comScore Marketing Solutions (CMS) combines the cS Internet user database with the experience of comScore analysts to deliver insight into the online behavior of consumers for clients in the automotive, consumer

packaged goods, entertainment, financial services, media, pharmaceutical, retail, technology, telecommunications and travel industries.

CMS also integrates online behavior with offline purchase and product ownership data. cS matches its online database with offline buying databases (such as Kroger’s loyalty card database) to create large datamarts that allow measurement of the impact that online marketing has on offline buying behavior. In conjunction with Symphony-IRI’s Consumer Network panel, cS also has the capability to measure the impact of online marketing campaigns across retail channels.

CMS offers a full range of custom and syndicated survey research services for a variety of industries, using the cS panel with offline and online applications. CMS survey services address business issues such as consumer segmentation, customer satisfaction, product and advertising evaluation, and brand performance tracking. It also integrates survey responses with online behavior passively captured for the same respondents.

cS data and services support numerous applications, including market and competitive intelligence for any online category; benchmarking and opportunity gap/SWOT analysis; customer profiling and segmentation models; the integration and study of online behavioral data with offline purchase data; choice models based on pricing, taxes and promotions, among other factors; controlled measurement of the effectiveness of interactive marketing programs; and scoring of customer files for direct marketing programs using markers and propensities derived in aggregate within

the comScore database and applied using shared attributes.

The firm also recently announced the launch of Digital Analytix, an analytics service that features the inte-gration of user demographic data, as well as an agile and flexible data architecture.

advertising analyticscS offers several services under the Advertising Analytics umbrella, including advertis-ing planning tools, advertising effectiveness measurement and ad creative copy testing.

This service provides an understanding of audi-ences and verification that a campaign actually reached its intended target, and also quantifies the impact of digi-tal advertising on attitudes and behaviors as well as on online and in-store sales. The suite of products for both digital and cross-media campaigns allows for in-flight optimization and overall improved campaign ROI. It also includes a variety of optimization tools designed to provide a predictive evalua-tion of an ad’s creative quality.

mobile & network analyticscS uses both passive on-device measurement and surveys of mobile users, and works with handset manufacturers and network operators worldwide.

The services currently offered under cS’s Mobile Analytics umbrella include: MobiLens, a mobile market

intelligence service that connects consumers’ use of mobile devices, content merchandising, and the capabilities and characteristics of the devices; Mobile Metrix, passive measurement of mobile Web browsing using cS’s patented software application residing on mobile devices; Ad Metrix Mobile, tracking of mobile Internet display advertising; and GSMA Mobile Media Metrics, anonymized census-level reporting of mobile media behavior in the United Kingdom. The Nexius Xplore product suite provides mobile analytics for carriers in order to help them analyze and optimize their network and customer service experience.

cS has offices in seven U.S. cities and in 22 countries worldwide.

* includes currency effects. the growth rate excludes 2010 and 2011 revenue from the 2010 acquisitions of Arsgroup in February in the u.s., the products division of nexius solutions inc. in July in the u.s., and nedstat B.V. in August in the netherlands, and the 2011 acquisition of AdXpose inc. in August in the u.s.

14 J.D. Power and associatesJDPower.com

Finbarr O’Neill, 58 titLe President

eduCAtiOn J.d., FOrdHAM uniVersity LAW sCHOOL


$228.5 MiLLiOn*

CHAnge FrOM 2010 -0.6%**


$73.5 MiLLiOn*


32.2%*

eMPLOyees WOrLdWide 720*

J.D. Power and Associates (JDPA) in Westlake Village, Calif., was founded in 1968. In April 2005, it was acquired by The McGraw-Hill Cos., New York.

JDPA is a global marketing information services company that conducts independent consumer surveys of product and service quality, customer satisfaction and buyer behavior. Services include industry-wide and client-commissioned research, B-to-B consulting, automotive forecasting and media research.

Annual syndicated studies are based on survey responses from millions of consumers and business customers worldwide. The firm does not review, judge or test products and services; it relies on the opinions and expectations of consumers who have actually owned the products and used the services being rated.

JDPA is best known for its work in the automotive industry, for which its metrics have become the industry standard for measuring quality and customer satisfaction. A team of associates worldwide conducts quality and customer satisfaction research across industries including automotive, telecommunications, travel, real estate, finance, insurance, healthcare, utilities and consumer electronics.

The firm’s clients include many Fortune 500 companies in the United States and many internationally. JDPA has eight offices worldwide.

* estimated. ** the growth rate excludes 2010 and 2011 revenue

from the sale of its Automotive Forecasting division in november 2011.



AMA083112_INI.indd 32 8/6/12 3:42 PM

15iCf international inc.ICFI.com

Sudhakar Kesavan, 57 titLe CHAirMAn And CeO

eduCAtiOn M.s., teCHnOLOgy And POLiCy, MAssACHusetts institute OF teCHnOLOgy


$227.5 MiLLiOn*



$49.6 MiLLiOn*


21.8%


ICF International Inc. (ICF), based in Fairfax, Va., was founded in 1966 and acquired Macro International in 2009. It was listed on the Nasdaq stock market in 2006.

ICF provides survey research services to international organizations and multinational corporations, as well as to U.S. government agencies. Th e fi rm serves the aviation, climate, community development, defense, education, energy, environment, families and communities, health, homeland security and transportation markets.

Th e fi rm’s products and services are in seven areas of specialization:

•International Research and Evaluation: ICF provides training and technical assistance to assist national governments, in-country organizations and interna-tional donor agencies with developing indicators and metrics, monitoring and collecting data, formulating policy and disseminating fi ndings to target audiences.

•Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Research: Th e fi rm addresses the full life cycle of experimental and quasi-experimental research services, including methodology and study design, quantitative and qualitative data analysis, database and systems develop-ment, and reports and the publication of results.

•Monitoring and Evaluation Capacity Building: ICF builds program monitoring and evaluation capacity with services that include managing change and communicating developments to grantees or awardees, adjusting data collection systems or indicators to refl ect program changes, producing report snapshots to show continued progress, and leveraging existing resources to expand capacity in monitoring and evaluation.

•Performance Measurement: Th e fi rm’s life cycle approach supports U.S. federal agencies, nonprofi ts and commercial fi rms with performance measurement tools and techniques, including: developing meaningful and measurable indicators, creating dashboards and balanced scorecards, setting targets and goals for continuous quality improvement programs, and designing and implementing Web-based data management and reporting systems.

•Program Evaluation: ICF applies traditional and analytic methods and tools including randomized control trials, propensity score matching, quantitative analysis of designs, ethnographic studies and social network analysis.

•Quantitative Methods and Analysis: ICF provides a range of quantitative methods and analysis, including: Web, telephone, paper and mail, in-person and hybrid surveys; cell phone data collection; sampling and

weighting; database development and data manage-ment; proprietary modeling of complex systems and analytic methods; and cost benefi t analysis.

•R&E Surveys and Analysis: Th e fi rm’s surveys incorporate emerging methodologies and generate defensible response rates. Services include questionnaire and manual development, quality control, FISMA-moderate data security capacity, soft ware development, and the analysis and dissemination of fi ndings.

ICF has 38 full-service offi ces in the United States and international offi ces in China, India, Russia, the United Kingdom, Brazil and Canada.

* research only.

16maritz researchMaritzResearch.com

Michael Brereton, 52 titLe President

eduCAtiOn M.B.A., BOWLing green stAte uniVersity


$187.5 MiLLiOn



$29.5 MiLLiOn


15.7%

eMPLOyees WOrLdWide 830

Maritz Research, based in Fenton, Mo., was founded in 1973 and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Maritz Holdings Inc.

Maritz Research provides services that improve performance by understanding the integrated dynamics between customers, employees and channel partners. Its specialized divisions focus on the automotive, fi nancial services, hospitality, technology and retail sectors.

Th e fi rm designs, launches and operates customer experience intelligence programs related to the customer voice. Its approach allows better listening to and acting upon whatever customers say, wherever they say it. Customer voice is further understood through the integra-tion of multiple voice-of-the-customer (VOC) sources, tying insights to business outcomes and distilling fi ndings to core messages that drive meaningful customer experi-ence improvements.

In 2012 and beyond, the company will continue its investments to elevate its customer experience intelligence programs.

Th e fi rm’s research fi ndings can be acted on through the other Maritz businesses. Th ese businesses combine to off er synergy to develop loyalty and motivation programs that deliver brand-enhancing customer experiences.

Maritz Research offi ces are located in Chicago; Detroit; Hamburg, Germany; High Wycombe, U.K.; Kansas City, Kan.; Kirksville, Mo.; Lorrach, Germany; Los Angeles; Minneapolis; Ontario, Canada; Shanghai, China; St. Louis; Toledo, Ohio; and Wiesbaden, Germany.

* the growth rate excludes 2010 and 2011 revenue from the acquisition of evolve24 in the u.s. in January 2011 and imagin Ag in germany in september 2011. Maritz Holdings’ u.s. revenue in 2011 was $1.2 billion.

17harris interactive inc.HarrisInteractive.com

Al Angrisani, 62 titLe President And CeO

eduCAtiOn A.P.C, ACCOunting, neW yOrk uniVersity


$160.7 MiLLiOn

CHAnge FrOM 2010 -3.7%


$67.5 MiLLiOn


42.0%

eMPLOyees WOrLdWide

566

Harris Interactive Inc. (HI), based in New York, was founded in 1975 as Gordon S. Black Corp. and together with Louis Harris and Associates, which was founded in 1956, it became a public company in 1999, listed on the Nasdaq.

Th e fi rm is widely known for Th e Harris Poll, one of the world’s longest-running, independent opinion polls, and for pioneering innovative research methodologies. HI serves clients in more than 215 countries and territories through its North American and European offi ces, and through a global partner network of independent market research fi rms.

Th e fi rm off ers experience in a wide range of industries including healthcare, technology, public aff airs, energy, telecommunications, fi nancial services, insurance, media, retail, restaurant and consumer package goods. It also off ers consultative services in areas such as market assessment, product development, brand and communications, stake-holder relationships, reputation management, and youth and education.

HI has offi ces in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Germany.

18macromill inc. Macromill.com

Tetsuya Sugimoto, 45 titLe CHAirMAn And

President

eduCAtiOn B.s., sOCiAL sCienCe, WAsedA uniVersity, tOkyO


$159.7 MiLLiOn

CHAnge FrOM 2010 -1.4%*


$0.2 MiLLiOn


0.1%

eMPLOyees WOrLdWide

594

Macromill Inc., based in Tokyo, was founded in 2000 and listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2004. It moved to the exchange’s First Section in 2005.

Macromill specializes in research services using the Internet. Th e fi rm has developed its Automatic Internet Research System (AIRs), which automatically manages all of the research processes, including creating Web question-naires, sampling targeted panelists, sending requesting mail to respondents, collecting data, tabulating data in real time and creating a report fi le.

Th e fi rm’s main service is QuickMill, a low-priced, high-speed Internet research service that uses AIRs and a



AMA083112_INI.indd 34 8/6/12 3:42 PM

1.1-million-member research panel. Macromill also provides a variety of services, such as customized research, MobileMill (Internet research using mobile phones), GlobalMill (international Internet research), M3Mill (Internet research targeting the medical industry that works with M3 Inc., the largest medical portal site in Japan) and more.

The firm has three subsidiaries:

•M-Cube and Associates Inc. is a majority-owned joint company that collects purchasing pattern and lifestyle behavior data, and creates and manages consumer research panels.

•Macromill Warp Inc. is a majority-owned company that develops and provides services based on smartphone application.

•Brand Data Bank Inc. collects the data of 30,000 people’s property or preferences, such as brands purchased in 130 categories, and conducts analysis of this data.

The firm also has a minority interest in Macromill Korea Inc. and a majority interest in Macromill China Inc.

* the growth rate includes 2010 and 2011

revenue from the 2010 acquisition of the marketing research business of yahoo Japan Value insight Corp. in tokyo in August.

19 abt SrBi inc.AbtAssociates.com

Kathleen L. Flanagan, 51 titLe President And CeO OF

ABt AssOCiAtes

eduCAtiOn M.s., PuBLiC POLiCy, uniVersity OF rOCHester

Mark A. Schulman, 65 titLe CeO OF ABt srBi, tHe

surVey suBsidiAry OF ABt AssOCiAtes

eduCAtiOn PH.d., rutgers uniVersity


$158.0 MiLLiOn*

CHAnge FrOM 2010

+22.1%


$30.6 MiLLiOn*


19.4%

eMPLOyees WOrLdWide

1,264

Abt SRBI Inc. in New York is the survey research subsidiary of Abt Associates Inc. in Cambridge, Mass., an employee-owned company founded in 1965.

Abt Associates is a global firm in research and program implementation in the fields of health, social and environmental policy, and international development. Known for its approach to solving complex challenges, the firm has program offices in nearly 40 countries.

Abt SRBI (SRBI.com) is a full-service global research and consulting firm whose survey research capabilities range from

sample design and instrument development, through data collection (telephone, in-person, IVR, Web) and data management, to analysis and market strategy.

Abt SRBI has nine divisions and groups:

•The Analytic and Consulting Division has specialized practice groups in banking and finance, insurance, healthcare and media research. Its domestic and global B-to-B research is conducted here.

•The Marketing Insights Division provides customer insights, loyalty and branding evaluations, and new product develop-ment. The division focuses on integrated strategic research approaches, particularly in the CPG, restaurant and retail sectors. It includes Abt SRBI’s large-scale customer satisfac-tion surveys using innovative methods and technologies, including IVR.

•The Health Policy Division conducts large-scale surveys and tracking studies for many U.S. government agencies. They



AMA083112_INI.indd 35 8/6/12 3:42 PM

include surveys on epidemiology, healthcare, military veterans, immigration and domestic violence, as well as program evaluations.

•The Public Policy and Public Affairs Division conducts large-scale public policy and public opinion surveys for university researchers, foundations, research institutes and the media. This division is responsible for Abt SRBI’s public opinion polling for Time magazine and other media.

•The Transportation and Regional Planning Division provides passenger and customer research to leading public transit authorities, transportation planners and engineering firms. This includes house-hold travel surveys, origin and destination studies, new product and service testing, pricing and passenger satisfaction research.

•The Utilities Division serves the electric utility industry. Studies include customer satisfaction and loyalty, marketing issues and the impact of industry deregulation.

•The Banking, Finance and Insurance Group works with financial institutions on client satisfaction, new product development, branding and positioning issues.

•The Interviewing Services Division conducts telephone, mail, Internet, IVR and in-person interviewing for other

marketing research firms. Abt SRBI has five centralized, fully supervised CATI facilities with nearly 450 stations.

•The Advanced Methods Group provides consulting support in areas such as complex sample design, nonresponse error, cell and dual-frame sample designs, weighting and geographic information systems.

* research only. total worldwide research and nonresearch revenue in 2011 was $431 million.

20 médiamétrieMediametrie.com

Bruno Chetaille, 57 titLe CHAirMAn And MAnAging

direCtOr

eduCAtiOn M.B.A., HeC PAris


$109.6 MiLLiOn



$14.3 MiLLiOn


13.0%


Médiamétrie, in Paris, was founded in 1985 and is a media research company owned by French radio and TV media, advertisers and their advertising agencies.

Médiamétrie provides audi-ence measurement services in France, including TV, radio, cinema, Internet and mobile telephone.

The firm continues to develop its range of services and is extending its scope by working on new media, mobile, new multimedia prac-tices, cross-media, etc. It offers products designed for specific users and has offerings on the international market regarding consumers’ listening and view-ing habits.

Médiamétrie also provides consulting and engineering services in all audience measurement fields, and offers its services to all international audio-visual markets.

Bringing together representatives of radio, TV, advertisers, advertising agencies and media brokers contributes to the development of research tools used to measure the emergence of new stations and broadcasters as well as the development of new markets. Among them are:

•Médiamétrie //NetRatings offers the Médiamétrie //NetRatings Panel that provides agencies, publishers and marketing professionals with

Internet audience measurement in France. The MegaPanel offers a panel of Internet surfers, combining surveys of surfers with their Web usage.

•Médiamétrie and eStat, a joint company created in 2003 and since 2008 a 100% Médiamétrie subsidiary, provides website traffic measurement in France. It offers a range of site-centric measuring tools: CybereStat, with its Cyber'Streaming, Cyber'Podcast and Cyber'Clics modules; and eStat'Pro, with its eStat'Cibles, eStat'Clics, eStat'Track, eStat'Multicritères and eStat'eCommerce (ROI) options.

•MarketingScan, created in 1993 with GfK SE, provides measurement in three areas: tests under real conditions, measuring the effectiveness of advertising and promotions on sales, and shopper analysis.

•Médiamétrie and the Netgem Group have jointly devel-oped measurement of the digital TV market, providing information about households that have digital decoders, particularly Netgem terminals. The information, which is collected by feedback from the decoders, complements Médiamétrie’s TV audience measurement operations.

21 orC internationalORCInternational.com

Marc Litvinoff, 51 titLe President

eduCAtiOn B.B.A, Business AdMinistrAtiOn And FinAnCe, HOFstrA uniVersity


$101.3 MiLLiOn



$37.0 MiLLiOn


36.5%


ORC International (ORC), based in Princeton, N.J., (formerly Opinion Research Corp.) was founded in 1938 and acquired by Lake Capital in July 2011.

ORC provides research services that specialize in research related to customer equity, employee engagement, business and market expansion, and product development and innovation. Through its Integrated Intelligence framework, the firm offers research capabilities that include:

•People: Research professionals offering industry knowl-edge and experience in financial services, consumer packaged goods, healthcare and pharmaceutical, industrial/manufacturing, technology/emerging markets and public sector research. An expert network includes 15,000 industry and subject matter specialists for technical insight.

•Methods: The linkage of insight sources, including primary and secondary methodologies, social analytics, expert network and competitive intelligence, that support a 360-degree view of business issues.

•Technology: Reporting tools, dashboard services and portals that support ease of access to information, together with data management services.

•Insights: Services for business issues concerning markets, customers and employees, insights from analytics to mine information databases, and focused reporting.



AMA083112_INI.indd 36 8/6/12 3:42 PM

The firm also offers a suite of products to complement its Integrated Intelligence offering:

•Customer Equity provides insight into the needs and expectations of customers. It helps identify loyal customers and the drivers of their behavior.

•Employee Engagement is a suite of capabilities to help measure and improve engagement throughout the employee life cycle.

•Engage is a cost-effective, flexible employee engagement survey service for mid-size companies.

•Strategic Intelligence Solutions/On-Demand Research helps clients meet business information needs including industry monitoring, market sizing, competitive analysis, adjacency analysis, new product opportunities and more.

•Social Buzz is a suite of products integrating social media tools with traditional research methodology, including social listening and social communities.

•iPortal is a Web-enabled customized portal providing dashboard technology to integrate multiple streams of information resulting in insight for impact on business success.

•CARAVAN is a shared-cost, multi-client omnibus approach to survey research for quick answers at a fraction of the cost of an ad-hoc study.

•Private Label Panels combine a platform with panel development experience to create online panels.

ORC has been a partner of CNN since 2006 on the CNN/ORC International poll and has partnered with NYSE Euronext on its annual CEO Report for a fifth consecutive year.

The firm has eight offices in the U.S. and six internationally.

22 youGov plcYouGov.com

Stephan Shakespeare, 55 titLe CeO

eduCAtiOn M.s., OXFOrd uniVersity


$93.7 MiLLiOn



$69.8 MiLLiOn


74.5%


YouGov plc, based in London, was founded in 2000 and in April 2005 was listed on the AIM section of the London Stock Exchange.

YouGov is a research and consulting firm, and was one of the early users of the Internet and information tech-nology to collect high-quality, in-depth data for market research and stakeholder measurement, providing a view of client employees, customers, brands and investors, as well as assessing opinion among the general public and the media.

The firm has developed its engagement with people and online market research activities into an international research network with online panels of 2.8 million people in more than 30 countries.

YouGov geographic coverage includes the following countries:

•United Kingdom: YouGov’s U.K. operation is a full-service research firm primarily using online panels to provide quantitative and qualitative research across a range of markets, including consumer, financial services, technology and telecoms, media, and politics and the public sector. Its service offerings include added value consultancy, syndicated and product offers, and omni-bus, field and tab services.

•Middle East and North Africa: YouGov Middle East is a full-service research firm with a boutique philosophy and regional experience. It operates in the Gulf Co-oper-ation Council area, Levant, North Africa and Turkey, offering both qualitative and quantitative research.

•United States: YouGov America provides corporate, academic and government clients with a combination of reliable data, analysis and experienced staff. In 2011, the firm expanded its U.S. footprint with the acquisition of Definitive Insights in Portland, Ore. YouGov America

has offices seven U.S. cities.

•Germany: YouGov Deutsch-land provides the full range of techniques for market and organizational research and consultancy services. The firm works across a range of markets, specializing in the insurance and finan-cial services sectors, includ-ing comprehensive annual tracking studies and frequent surveys analyzing key markets, segments and customers.

•Nordics: YouGov Nordic & Baltic covers the whole Nordic region and offers

consulting services as well as data collection services, qualitative research and standard software services.

YouGov Group has a range of syndicated products that complement its geographic coverage. In 2011, YouGov launched SixthSense, a market intelligence reports service, in the U.K. The firm’s core syndicated product, Brand-Index, is available in all YouGov territories and it offers a comprehensive brand tracker that continuously tracks public perception of thousands of brands across many sectors simultaneously for a picture of a brand’s own and competitor brands’ health, as well as whole sectors.

In 2012, YouGov will be launching several new prod-ucts, including a social media analysis tool (SoMA) which measures what a target audience is hearing, rather than saying. By overlaying demographic data with comments made on social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, SoMA provides meaning to the noise of social media.

* the growth rate excludes 2010 and 2011 revenue from the 2010 acquisition of the Harrison group in the united states in August, the 2011 acquisition of definitive insights inc. in the united states in April and the 2011 sale of great Places to Work deutsch-land in germany in January.

23 lieberman research WorldwideLRWonline.com

David Sackman, 54 titLe President And CeO

eduCAtiOn B.A., uniVersity OF CALiFOrniA At LOs AngeLes


$90.2 MiLLiOn

CHAnge FrOM 2010

-10.5%


$15.3 MiLLiOn


17.0%

eMPLOyees WOrLdWide

390

Lieberman Research Worldwide (LRW), based in Los Angeles, is a privately held corporation founded in 1973.

LRW is a full-service custom market research firm with experience across a wide range of industries, including entertainment, pharmaceutical technology, automotive, healthcare, retail, food service, financial and business services, consumer goods and more. Through its main offices and affiliate network of more than 60 companies, the firm conducts research in more than 80 countries.

LRW uses a research-based “So What?” consulting model to drive business impact. Its staff consists of senior executives from consulting, advertising, marketing, academia and marketing research. Its Marketing Science team is experienced in conjoint, choice, latent class, maximum difference modeling and Hierarchical Bayes and Agent Based modeling, fusion, price testing and optimization, demand forecasting and modeling, market segmentation, brand equity modeling and other custom techniques.

LRW emphasizes six core areas of research experience:

•Brain Science: Working with a team of academics, LRW has developed a paradigm that allows the understanding of the emotional and non-conscious underpinnings of consumer choice and brand perceptions. The paradigm incorporates techniques related to cognition.



AMA083112_INI.indd 38 8/6/12 3:42 PM

•Strategy Development featuring Segmentation Research: Strategy experience is LRW’s core strength. In segmen-tation research, the firm determines targets, optimizes marketing mix and develops strategies to maximize performance within target segments. It also deploys tech-niques and analytic processes to understand where value resides within brands, along with the implications for brand building. LRW uses both Fusion and Segmenta-tion by Optimization for reaching unique segments and gaining a clearer understanding of needs. Blending the two segmentation approaches with trade-off analyses enables the firm to optimize product coverage and line demand for target segments.

•Brand Strategy and Tracking: LRW contin-ues to expand its brand practice with its LRW Brand Health Optimizer, an approach to brand measurement that integrates survey and non-survey data to understand and monitor the rational, emotional and non-conscious underpin-nings of brand choice. A key component is the Relevant Clarity brand paradigm, which links brand equity directly to finan-cial performance, helping to manage the contribution of brands to changes in sales and profitability.

•Customer Satisfaction Diagnostic Evaluation and Tracking: LRW’s experience in analyzing consumer attitudes and behavior has enabled the firm to successfully link customer satisfaction to financial performance. It provides continuous improvement and feedback delivered directly to stakeholders via intuitive dashboards and other online analytical tools.

•New Product Development: Using analytical techniques, LRW provides product optimization studies with actionable deliverables. The firm uses methodologies including Ideation and Evolution to generate approaches to new product development.

•Advertising: ImpliCT is LRW’s approach to improve the effectiveness of advertising by evaluating the core centers of brain deci-sion making through the use of traditional survey methods combined with facial recognition software, rapid choice response, WOM emulation and delayed memory recall to understand the emotional, non-conscious and rational reactions to advertising.

In 2011, LRW launched LRW Moving Targets, which employs data-capture meth-odologies and multi-modal research to more effectively access consumers via mobile tech-nology. This year, LRW unveiled its Shopper Insights Suite, which offers industry-chang-ing methodologies that help to better under-stand the experiential and emotional triggers that most impact consumers during their shopping excursions, in order to enhance retailers’ and manufacturers’ ability to capture attention and purchase at retail. The firm’s Marketing Science team introduced Agent-Based Modeling, a modeling tool that predicts the probability of success of potential marketing or strategic plans that uses track-ing data to simulate how consumers make

brand decisions, and how both consumers and competi-tors might react to market changes.

In the United States, LRW’s data collection capabilities include Web hosting of 2,000-plus simultaneous surveys, 740-plus IVR ports across 15 servers at multiple locations, and five telephone centers with 525 CATI stations and the capability to conduct interviews in more than 67 languages.

The firm has five U.S. offices and offices in London and Shanghai, China.



AMA083112_INI.indd 39 8/6/12 3:42 PM

24 Cello research & Consulting CelloGroup.co.uk

Jane Shirley, 45 titLe CeO And JOint grOuP

MAnAging direCtOr

eduCAtiOn M.A., MArketing, neWCAstLe uniVersity, united kingdOM


$87.4 MiLLiOn*



$43.3 MiLLiOn*


49.5%


Cello Research & Consulting (CR&C), based in London, is the research unit of Cello Group plc that was founded in 2004. In November 2004, Cello was listed on the AIM section of the London Stock Exchange.

CR&C is a global market research and advisory business with a dominant area of focus on healthcare research and qualitative research focused largely on CPG, retail and the branded goods areas.

Seven businesses contribute to market research in CR&C:

•Insight Research Group (InsightRG.com) focuses on healthcare, offering research and consulting aimed at global pharmaceutical clients with products at all stages in the product life cycle. IRG has led in the use of MROCs (eVillage), soft outcomes, behavioral econom-ics and other new observation, simulation, qualitative and quantitative methodologies in this sector.

•RS Consulting Group (RSConsulting.com) provides research-led consulting to global, national and local organizations. It comprises three separate brands: RS Consulting, which delivers insight to major companies within FMCG, tech, logistics and charity sectors as well as producing opinion leading reports for the U.K. government; Consensus Research, which partners financial and professional services organizations needing relevant information on where they are, and independent informed advice on where they can go; and mruk, a regional market research agency, which conducts research on behalf of the third sector, retail, health, transport, environment, and leisure and tourism.

•Leapfrog Research & Planning (LeapfrogResearch.co.uk) is a consumer market research and planning consultancy offering qualitative and quantitative research in the U.K. and internationally. Its client base includes some of the largest and best-known U.K. brands, from retailers to food manufacturers, media companies to financial service providers. LR&P in the U.S. also is part of the group.

•2CV (2cv.co.uk) is a multidisciplinary team specializing in new product development, and brand and commu-nications research using traditional and new media marketing and research methodologies to understand the decision-making process in the diversifying media landscape. Whether it’s custom international ethno-graphic research, tracking studies, digital anthropology or data science projects, collected information is analyzed to provide meaning and direction for business and marketing decisions.

•Face (FaceGroup.co.uk) is a co-creation agency using a mix of cutting-edge methodologies and proprietary tools to enable the direct and active involvement of consumers with brands to deliver a range of insight, brand, innovation and communication objectives. The team consists of researchers, planners and technologists as well as thousands of networked consumers and experts within its co-creation communities. Face also includes Rosenblatt, a brand and communication research agency.

•The Value Engineers (TheValueEngineers.com) delivers strategic brand consultancy to clients in the U.K., Europe and worldwide. Its purpose is to engineer value creation for brands and brand owners through practice areas of branding, strategy, innovation and insight. TVE has developed a number of processes and tools, including segmentations, brand visioning and positioning development, fast-track concept and proposition development, and creative communi-cations development.

•Leithal Thinking (LeithalThinking.com) is an insight and planning consultancy based in Scotland. The sector’s specialization includes public health, financial services, food and drink, and arts, culture and leisure. A large part of its client base features ‘multi-stakeholders’ with working practices focused on capturing staff and management representation alongside external audience insight.

*research only.

25 market Strategies internationalMarketStrategies.com

Rob Stone, 47 titLe CeO

eduCAtiOn PH.d., CuLturAL studies, COLuMBiA uniVersity

2011 WOrLdWide reVenue:

$75.3 MiLLiOn

CHAnge FrOM 2010 -7.3%


$3.5 MiLLiOn


4.6%


Market Strategies International (MSI) in Livonia, Mich., was founded in 1989. In 2006, Veronis Suhler Stevenson acquired a majority stake.

MSI is a market research consultancy that drives business decisions through traditional methodologies; new social media, ethnographic and community research platforms; and the application of advanced analytics to behavioral, financial, attitudinal, demographic and firmographic information.

The firm focuses on five industries, including the telecommunications and media world, technology and financial services. It researches and consults on all facets of the healthcare industry, from pharmaceutical and medical device companies to health insurers and providers. An energy practice includes 20 of the top 30 regulated energy utilities and a nationally based benchmarking service.

MSI’s senior staff experience is based in the industries served, as marketers, communications practitioners, customer experience advocates, and market research and competitive intelligence experts. The firm’s 100 client-facing consultants bring a holistic approach to providing

research-based conclusions and recommendations to clients, drawing upon primary and secondary data, predictive modeling and their own industry experience.

The traditional studies that MSI conducts include customer experience research to drive satisfaction and advocacy, communications research to design and track communications through traditional and new media channels, brand research to build equity from brand positioning and messaging, product development research from concept to launch, and segmentation research to select optimal targets for products and services. MSI engagements rely on leading research methodologies and advanced analytics provided by its Marketing Sciences Group.

MSI has invested in its own research infrastructure, which includes four data collection centers in North America, supporting the research lifecycle from sample design, through data collection and processing, to analysis. Its extranet portal becomes the data repository and analytical center for the firm to interact with clients to mine and report the findings from every study.

MSI also has invested heavily in quality processes and procedures. It is certified in SAS 70 and ISO 20252, the global standard for organizations conducting market, opinion and social research. In 2011, the firm conducted research in more than 70 countries across eight global regions. It is a partner and part owner of Link Analytics, a “big data” analytics firm that serves the same clients and industries as MSI.

The firm has regional offices in four U.S. cities, and in Toronto and Hong Kong. m

•comto access a digital flip-book version of this issue, visit MarketingPower.com/marketingnews.



AMA083112_INI.indd 40 8/6/12 3:42 PM

Note: The following information was supplied by display advertisers in this issue to provide readers with additional details about their companies. All of these Profiles are paid advertisements.

august 31, 2012 | marketing news 41

{ paid advertisements } 2012mr profiles

AMR – Advanced Market Research GmbH

Poststrasse 7

40213 Düsseldorf, Germany

Phone: +49 211 865 87 0

Web: www.amr-research.com

email: [email protected]

ContaCt: Mr. Ulrich Buchholz

Headquartered in Germany and operating in 5 continents, AMR is one of the best market research agencies worldwide that provides the full spectrum of qualitative and quantitative data collection available at your fingertips. We deliver innovative fieldwork solutions fine-tuned to your budget in a timely manner.

AMR is the leading GLOBAL data collection agency offers the MIXED MODE approach of offline and online methodologies to top-up web interviews. With advanced, fully equipped CATI-CAWI call centers, available 24 hours a day in New York, Dusseldorf and Hong Kong, we assist you with your market research studies to achieve added value and, at the same time, immediate and permanent cost savings, increased profitability, and a reduced length of time in field.

B2B International707 Westchester Avenue,

White Plains, NY 10604

Phone: (914) 761-1909

fax: (914) 761-1503

email: newyork@

b2binternational.com

Web: www.b2binternationalusa.com

ContaCt: Julia Cupman, Director,

North America

additional ComPany loCations:Illinois

Phone: (312) 204-7201

email: chicago@


Web: www.b2binternationalusa.com

U.K.

Phone: +44 (0)161 440 6000


Web: www.b2binternational.com

China

Phone: +86 (0)10 6515 6642

email: beijing@


Web: www.b2binternational.com/china

B2B International is a specialist business-to-business market research consultancy that provides customized b-to-b market research and intelligence studies on a global scale from its offices in North America, Europe and Asia.

Our b-to-b expertise covers all industry sectors—from manufacturing to engineering, chemicals to construction—throughout the world.

Areas of specialization include:

• Acquisition research

• Advertising research

• Branding studies

• Competitor intelligence

• Customer satisfaction

• Employee satisfaction

• Market assessment

• Market entry

• Market tracking

• Pricing strategy

• Product development

• Segmentation studies

We pride ourselves on turning the information we gather into clear, actionable findings, providing insights that will add value to any business.

Burke, Inc.500 West 7th Street

Cincinnati, OH 45203

Phone: 1-800-688-2674fax: (513) 684-7500email: [email protected]

Web: Burke.comContaCt: Diane Surette

Burke capitalizes on its state-of-the-art research execution, advanced analytical techniques, and leading edge technology to provide decision support solutions to companies across all major industry sectors. Burke’s reputation derives from expertise in defining problems, developing research designs, executing complex quantitative and qualitative studies, analyzing data, and interpreting results to enable clients to make the most informed decisions possible. Burke has expertise in a broad range of industries, both domestic and international, and across many data collection methods, including online and mobile. All of Burke’s core competencies are supported by an active commitment to internal research and development programs.

Burke’s primary areas of focus include:

• Brand Assessment

• Product/Service Development

• Customer Loyalty/Employee Engagement

• Linking Data Sources

• Market Segmentation

• Shopper Research

• Research Education

As further evidence of Burke’s outstanding quality in marketing research, Burke has recently attained ISO 20252 certification.

Burke Institute500 West 7th StreetCincinnati, OH 45203

Phone: 1-800-543-8635fax: (513) 684-7733email: [email protected]

Web: BurkeInstitute.comContaCt: Jim Berling

For over 35 years, 80,000+ marketing and marketing research decision makers worldwide have turned to the Burke Institute, the premier provider of state of the art marketing research training, for their professional development needs. We have developed a structured learning environment, using real world case studies, delivered by seminar leaders with advanced academic credentials, who work in the field. Visit our website and learn more about our seminars, certificate of proficiency programs, and onsite training options.

GfK75 Ninth Avenue

5th floor

New York, NY 10011

Phone: (212) 240-5300Web: www.gfk.com

email: [email protected]: David Krajicek, CEO, Consumer

Experiences North America

GfK is one of the world’s leading market research companies, with more than 11,500 experts working to discover new insights into the way people live, think and shop, in over 100 countries, every day. GfK is constantly innovating and using the latest technologies and the smartest methodologies to give its clients the clearest understanding of the most important people in the world: their customers. In the US, GfK offers access to several of the world’s largest databases combined with a full range of ad hoc research services. With its acquisition of Knowledge Networks in January 2012, GfK obtained consumer, Hispanic, physician, and loyalty card panels, as well as expertise in key industries and practice areas. GfK uses these resources to deliver proven solutions developed from a 360-degree view of our clients’ markets and tailored to the new realities of the digital age.

GMI (Global Market Insite, Inc.)1100 112th Ave NESuite 200

Bellevue, WA 98004

Phone: (206) 315-9300

fax: (425) 637-6926


Web: www.gmi-mr.com

ContaCt: Kathy Miller

GMI (Global Market Insite, Inc.) provides access to the right people at the right time to deliver the right results, empowering researchers and marketers worldwide to generate reliable, consistent and actionable information that enhances their decision-making capability. GMI's industry-leading technology, including, GMI Interactive, GMI Ad Tracker and a host of survey services, plays a central role in their ability to deliver, representative and engaged respondents around the globe quickly and reliably. GMI also offers one of the world’s largest, highly profiled, double opted-in online panels, which reach millions of consumers in 200+ countries and territories, as well as specialty panels for hard-to-reach demographics. When you're moving fast and you need it done right, GMI delivers. Founded in 1999 with global headquarters in Bellevue, Washington, GMI has operations in America, Europe and Asia Pacific and serves 4,000 customers in over 70 countries. For more information visit www.gmi-mr.com.

INTAGE Inc.INTAGE Akihabara Bldg.

3 Kanda-Neribeicho

Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-8201 Japan

Phone: +81-3-5294-0111

Web: www.intage.co.jp


ContaCt: Saeko Uemura

With over a half century of experience, INTAGE offers tailor-made solutions to the important marketing challenges facing companies today. We cater to a wide range of clients operating in numerous consumer industries.

The INTAGE Group boasts Japan’s largest marketing information network. Our exclusive, trusted syndicated data services provide accurate and detailed information through proprietary data delivery systems. Information through those systems details retail sales trends, consumer buying behaviors, sales promotion activities, etc.

It allows clients in a timely manner to find out what is occurring in the markets with which they deal and why it is occurring, so they can respond confidently to the rapidly shifting dynamics of today’s consumer demands.

We offer client-specific customized services in management, strategy and strategy implementation evaluation, and business process efficiency.

marketing research

coMpANy pRofIlEs

the Profiles continue on the following page

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Marketing research company profiles

42 marketing news | august 31, 2012

Kinesis survey Technologies™8140 North Mopac

Building One

Suite 120

Austin, TX 78759

phone: (512) 590-8300, ext. 3

fax: (512) 857-0918


web: www.kinesissurvey.com

ContaCt: Gene Filipi

Kinesis Survey Technologies is the industry leader for future-proof market research software solutions. Kinesis provides a multimode survey and panel management product suite that enables seamless execution using any web-enabled device: mobile phones, desktop/laptop PCs, and tablets/iPads are all supported. Kinesis Survey™ is an online survey programming application with cutting-edge functionality and an intuitive user interface for rapid training and minimal programming time. Kinesis Panel™ is an advanced query, sample distribution, and invitation solution that supports communities of all sizes. Both are fully scalable and available in hosted or self-hosted versions, with a customizable Panelist Portal for creating panel and community websites, and APIs for extending to third-party and in-house applications. Comprehensive reporting tools provide visibility to all aspects of survey launch and panel management, with branded options for third-party access.

language logic, llc600 Vine Street

Suite 2020

Cincinnati, OH 45202

phone: (513) 241-9112

fax: (513) 241-5833

web: www.goascribe.com


ContaCt: Kevin Grimmer, VP Sales

Advanced technology to improve your research productivity.

Language Logic focuses on the work required to process, analyze, manage and retrieve multilingual verbatim data in ways that make this rich information more actionable than traditional methods, for your project staff, coders and your clients. Importantly, Language Logic offers its Internet application, Ascribe™, as an Application Service Provider (ASP), hosted on a globally available web server network infrastructure. Your staff and customer base may access Ascribe™ anytime, anywhere via the Internet — securely. No hardware to buy, no annual maintenance fees and no “seat license” limitations. If you prefer, Language Logic offers its Ascribe™ Services Network where you may outsource coding,

translation and transcription of all your verbatim survey responses – including recorded audio files and scanned images of handwritten responses. Of course, you may use BOTH services in combination.

“Unleash the power in your Verbatims”.

luth research1365 4th Avenue

San Diego, CA 92101

phone: (619) 234-5884

fax: (619) 234-5888

web: www.luthresearch.com


ContaCt: Candice Rab, Vice President of

Business Development

Founded in 1977, Luth Research provides both qualitative and quantitative market research while leveraging our global online panel, SurveySavvy™, and web tracking capabilities using ZQ Digital Tribe™.

Dedicated to excellence and innovation, Luth Research continually develops new ideas and adopts cutting edge technologies to meet the needs of today’s market research industry.

m/a/r/c® research1660 North Westridge Circle

Irving, TX 75038

phone: 1-800-884-MARC (6272)

fax: (972) 983-0444

web: www.MARCresearch.com


ContaCt: Merrill Dubrow, President & CEO

additional loCations: Greensboro, Nashville,

St. Louis, New York

M/A/R/C® Research is a custom marketing research firm dedicated to helping our clients create, evaluate, and strengthen their brands. Our teams design and execute qualitative and quantitative, traditional and online solutions while adhering to a client-service ethic built on being easy to work with and delivering what is promised.

Our core competency is measuring attitudes and behaviors to accurately explain and predict market share, revenue, and bottom line impact of a client’s actions. M/A/R/C has been successfully designing, executing and analyzing studies to help clients across a range of industries since 1965. We deliver research answers with a business perspective in the language of decision-makers.

We help our clients address consumer, channel, and B2B marketing issues to launch better products and services, attract and retain valuable customers, and build stronger brands. Our continuum of proven, marketing-issue focused solutions support clients’ brand building efforts.

maritz research1355 North Highway Drive

Fenton, MO 63099

phone: 877-4MARITZ

fax: (636) 827-5874


web: www.maritzresearch.com

About Maritz ResearchAs one of the world's largest marketing research firms, Maritz Research, a unit of Maritz LLC Inc, helps many of today's most successful companies improve performance through a deep understanding of their customers, employees and channel partners. Founded in 1973, Maritz Research offers a range of strategic and tactical solutions concentrating primarily in the automotive, financial services, hospitality, technology\telecommunications, and retail sectors.

Maritz Research leads the industry in creating Customer Experience Measurement solutions and we apply these solutions to our client's business so they can attract, retain, and grow profitable customers.

Maritz Research has operations in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Shanghai, China. All research projects are carried out in compliance with the International Standard: ISO 20252. Member CASRO and ARF.

market probe2655 N. Mayfair Road

Milwaukee, WI 53226-1310

phone: (414) 778-6000

fax: (414) 778-3730


web: www.marketprobe.com

ContaCt: Dr. T.R. Rao

Market Probe is a full-service global marketing research and consulting firm specializing in stakeholder measurement engagements as well as a wide array of custom research assignments. The firm strives to build long-term partnerships with our clients, based on our team of professionals with research savvy, industry knowledge and technical experience. Market Probe’s Voice of Customer, brand and employee satisfaction expertise reaches businesses around the globe. In addition to our corporate headquarters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, we have full-service research offices in the U.S., Canada, the UK, Belgium, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, India, Singapore, Hong Kong and China; and we have formed strategic partnerships with field agencies around the world. We employ over 350 full-time employees worldwide, and as many as 1000 part-time employees. In October of 2011, Market Probe acquired Richard Day Research Inc.,

Evanston, Illinois. RDR is a highly respected custom market research firm specializing in Financial Services and Pharmaceutical research.

marketing systems Group755 Business Center Drive

Suite 200

Horsham, PA 19044

phone: 1-800-336-7674 or (215) 653-7100

fax: (215) 653-7115

web: www.m-s-g.com


ContaCt: Alan Lambert

Marketing Systems Group provides innovative products and services designed for the survey research industry. MSG products include GENESYS Sampling, PRO-T-S Dialers and ARCS Panel Management IVR and Web recruiting. GENEYS Sampling provides full-service sampling capabilities including RDD, listed samples, business samples, screening services, online/Web sample, address-based sample, sample/list enhancement services including telephone lookup and data appendage as well as cell phone samples. PRO-T-S is a research predictive dialing system designed to improve productivity and quality while reducing costs. ARCS is an all-in-one tool created for panel management, Web/IVR recruiting and data collection. Other MSG resources include database development, management and analytical capabilities.

mindfield online1012 Kanawha Blvd. East

Suite 301

Charleston, WV 25301

phone: (304) 343-9650

fax: (304) 343-6522


ContaCt: Jay Mace, Vice President

The McMillion Companies provide 30 years of experiencee across all phases of data collection technology. Our online panel, Mindfield Online, uses the latest proprietary software integration for the best panel and programming experience available. Breakthrough Healthcare Research combines a multi-method approach to physician and patient surveys using technology as the filter to provide the most representative approach to Healthcare data collection. Our web development team continually provides stunning data collection tools (now including Mobile and Facebook Apps) for online and general surveys to give not only the respondent but your clientele the most advanced means of data collection. The sky is truly the limit for your research projects when using The McMillion Companies.

2012mr profiles { paid advertisements }

Hono_2012.indd 42 8/8/12 6:39 PM

marketing research

company profiles


{ paid advertisements } 2012mr profiles

morpace inc. market research and consulting31700 Middlebelt Road

Farmington Hills, MI 48334

Phone: (248) 737-5300

Fax: (248) 737-5326


Web: www.morpace.com

ContaCt: Duncan Lawrence, President

Morpace Inc. is one of the fastest growing market research firms in the U.S., according to the 2011 Honomichl Top 50 Report. With offices in Detroit, Los Angeles, London, and Shanghai, we are a leading provider of large-scale global quantitative and qualitative research and consulting. Our research professionals use innovative research solutions to provide clients with the information they need to make strategic decisions.

Morpace works with clients in Automotive (including agricultural, lawn and garden and heavy equipment), Financial Services, Healthcare, Retail & Consumer Goods and Technology. Our experts address the unique challenges specific to these industries as many of them have worked on the client side during their career.

We offer leading-edge, analytics and modeling and dynamic reporting solutions customized to fit individual client needs. Our portfolio includes several unique qualitative research protocols that complement the quantitative analytics. Innovative solutions include: Choice Modeling Simulator, eCommunity online panel, Dynamic Reporting including Dashboards, Design Network and industry-specific Regulatory Research.

Morpace also uses state-of-the-art tablet technology to gather respondent information efficiently while in the field and have a full-service focus group facility in Detroit.

Specializing in Brand and Communications; Consumer Choice; Market and Product Development; and Customer Experience Management, our solutions are enhanced by innovative proprietary tools including Lighthouse™, SOCO™, B-Link™ and PROM™.

Review our latest Morpace Omnibus Reports to learn how consumer feedback affects your industry; and receive high-level results from our syndicated studies by visiting us at www.morpace.com.

research now5800 Tennyson Parkway

Suite 600

Plano, Texas 75024

Phone: 1-888-203-6245

Fax: (214) 782-2900


Web: www.researchnow.com

ContaCt: Research Now

Research Now, the leading digital data collection provider, powers market research insights. We enable companies to listen to and interact with the world’s consumers and business professionals through online panels, as well as mobile, digital and social media technologies. Our team operates in 24 offices globally and is recognized as the market research industry’s leader in client satisfaction. We foster a socially responsible culture by empowering our employees to give back. To find out more or begin a conversation with us, visit www.researchnow.com.

sis international research11 East 22nd Street

2nd Floor

New York, NY 10010

Phone: (212) 505-6805

Fax: (212) 505-0284

email: research@

sisinternational.com

Web: www.sisinternational.com

ContaCt: Ruth Stanat, President

SIS International is a leading Full-Service market research and market intelligence firm, established in 1984. Our coverage is global, including Europe,

Latin America, Asia, US, Canada and MENA. SIS provides the recognized expertise, integrated research and global resources to provide full insight into the entire business landscape customers, competitors, supply chain and global market intelligence.

We practice Consumer, Medical, B2B research, Industrial, Low Incidence and Strategic Research. We conduct research on customer insights, satisfaction & loyalty, usage & attitude, branding, product testing, car clinics, channel management, competitive intelligence, pricing research, sales intelligence, emerging markets, stakeholder audits, key opinion leaders, events, market entry/sizing and other specialties.

Some of our qualitative and quantitative research methods include CATI, focus groups, online research, ethnography, intercepts, social media methods, secondary research, neuro methods, modeling and analytics.

Toluna

21 River Road

Wilton, CT 06897

Phone: (203) 834-8585

Fax: (203) 834-8686


Web: www.toluna-group.com

ContaCt: Janice Caston

Toluna enables organizations to generate valuable customer insight by combining its online market research panel and industry leading technology. Toluna provides a comprehensive proven, scalable solution that enables companies to answer questions of their target audience quickly and efficiently.

Toluna leverages a unique approach to respondent recruitment and engagement with its online ‘community’ and proprietary respondent engagement methodologies and guarantees that the data clients receive is of the highest quality. Recently, the company launched SmartSelect™ which is a respondent-level methodology designed to ensure more representative, reliable market research data.

Further, Toluna provides the industry’s leading technology suite, enabling hundreds of market research organizations and agencies worldwide to create surveys, manage panels and build online communities. Toluna’s products include PanelPortal™, AutomateSurvey™, QuickSurveys™.

Toluna has offices in the US, Canada, UK, France (headquarters), The Netherlands, Romania, Germany, India, Australia, Japan and Hong Kong.

usamp 16501 Ventura Blvd.

Suite 250

Encino, CA 91436

Phone: 1-888-828-1612

Web: uSamp.com

uSamp™ is a premier provider of technology and survey respondents used to obtain consumer and business insights. uSamp's solutions and SaaS platform transform the way companies gain intelligence to make better, faster decisions about their products and services by tapping into uSamp's 9 million global panel of survey respondents. Through uSamp's proprietary technologies for self-serve sampling and survey authoring, companies have on-demand access to millions of profiled survey respondents. uSamp is based in Los Angeles, with five offices throughout the United States, Europe and India. uSamp ranked #11 in the 2011 Forbes America's Most Promising Company List.

Voxco inc.1134 Ste. Catherine St. West

Suite 600

Montreal, QC, H3B 1H4

Canada

Phone: (514) 861-9255

Fax: (514) 861-9209

Web: www.voxco.com


ContaCt: Vincent Auger, Sales Director –

North America

About Voxco

Voxco is a global provider of software solutions that enable enterprises, market and social research firms, governments and other public institutions to make better decisions by providing superior tools to collect, process and analyze data from their environments. Voxco's offering includes Acuity4 Survey, leading-edge online survey software, Acuity4 Social, a next-generation social media monitoring and insights solution whose analytics tools extract insights from millions of posts and comments gathered from the social web. This sits alongside Voxco Command Center™, the industry-leading multimode data collection platform for all types of surveys (web, phone, face-to-face, mobile and IVR). Voxco is headquartered in Montreal, Canada, with subsidiaries in the USA, France, UK, Germany and Australia servicing hundreds of customers spread over more than thirty countries.

To obtain additional information on how Voxco can help your business, visit us at www.voxco.com.

Note: The following information was supplied by display advertisers in this issue to provide readers with additional details about their companies. All of these Profiles are paid advertisements.

September 30 Companies Service Roll Ad deadline: 8/20/12 Research Marketing Research

Issue Cover Dates & Specialized Ad Order Deadlines Directories

November 30 Net ResearchAd deadline: 10/22/12 Services

October 31 Customer Satisfaction Ad deadline: 9/17/12 Firms

2012 Marketing News Upcoming DirectoriesEvery issue of Marketing News is designed to expand the marketer’s expertise on the subject and deliver targeted advertising opportunities.

Hono_2012.indd 43 8/8/12 5:01 PM

Freelancers available

Videography SerViceS: Let an expert videographer, also an experienced moderator, capture the results of your next qualitative research study. We create clips, highlight reels, and video reports bringing the voice of the customer to life. Travel anywhere. Call Helen @ (610) 489-0509.

Freelancer aVailable! Quality & affordable MR services including: tabulations, SPSS programming, coding, data entry, report proofing, discount business reply, CATI & online surveys. A la carte or full service. UGA Graduate, 14 years experience, references. Call

Jeanne Eidex at (770) 614-6334.

poSitionS open

academic Faculty

the college oF buSineSS

adminiStration, the

uniVerSity oF miSSouri –

St. louiS seeks an individual for a tenure-track position at the level of assistant professor in marketing for Fall 2013. Applicants must have strong training in one of the following areas: Marketing Strategy, Business to Business Marketing or Product Management. Applicants should possess a Ph.D. in Business with an emphasis in Marketing (or a related area) or be close to completion. The position requires strong research potential and a commitment to teaching. Salary is very competitive. The University of Missouri-St. Louis is an urban public university located in suburban St. Louis. The College of Business Administration is accredited by AACSB. The University provides a supportive environment for research, teaching and service. Active researchers enjoy reduced teaching loads. Applicants should send a letter of interest, curriculum vita, and three letters of recommendation to Dr. Haim Mano, Chair, Marketing Department, College of Business Administration, University of Missouri-St. Louis, One University Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63121-4499, or to marketingpositions@ umsl.edu. The application and recommendations should make clear the courses and research activities that define the

candidate’s area of expertise. Review of applicants will begin on July 20, 2012. Interviewing of candidates will be scheduled for Summer AMA in Chicago and will continue until the position is filled. The University of Missouri is an affirmative action, equal employment opportunity employer committed to excellence through diversity.

Faculty poSition department oF marketing at texaS a&m uniVerSity. Mays Business School at Texas A&M University invites applications from qualified candidates with a demonstrated record of excellence in scholarly research and teaching in consumer behavior for a faculty position in the Department of Marketing at the associate professor or advanced assistant professor level. Applicants currently enrolled in doctoral programs with an outstanding research record will be considered for the position at the assistant professor level. The position is open for fall 2013. Applications should be sent to Kelly Haws, Chair of Faculty Recruiting Committee at [email protected]. Texas A&M University is an equal opportunity employer.

the JohnS hopkinS carey buSineSS School invites applications from faculty candidates who are motivated by the unique opportunity to participate in the building of a world class business school at a premier private university. Multiple, tenure track, full-time positions at all ranks are currently available in Marketing. Qualified candidates must possess a doctoral degree and a strong record of academic research and excellent teaching skills. Candidates whose research addresses healthcare issues are of particular interest. Qualified candidates for these positions are requested to apply electronically, by submitting a cover letter, curriculum vitae, a list of publications and appropriate letters of reference. The names, addresses and phone numbers three references should be included with the application. The successful candidate(s) will be subject to a pre-employment background check and degree verification. The cover letter

should be addressed to Dr. Phillip Phan, Executive Vice-Dean, c/o Craig Medlyn, Director of Human Resources. Document(s)s should be in Word or PDF format and e-mailed to [email protected]. Johns Hopkins is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. Minorities and women are strongly encouraged to apply.

Faculty poSition – department oF marketing – penn State uniVerSity. The Marketing Department in the Smeal College of Business, Penn State University (University Park, PA), is looking to fill one tenure-track faculty position beginning in Fall 2013. Qualified candidates should have a Ph.D. or be in the final stages of their dissertation and demonstrate a willingness and capacity to conduct high quality scholarly research as well as teaching competence. We are particularly interested in candidates with several years of experience. Faculty members are expected to pursue an active research program, perform undergraduate and graduate teaching, supervise graduate students, and engage in service activities. We will conduct interviews with potential candidates either at the August AMA Conference or on campus. Faculty rank is open depending on qualifications. Please send a cover letter, CV and letter of recommendation in electronic form to [email protected] or hard copy to 455 Business Building, Smeal College of Business, Penn State University, University Park, PA 16802-3007, addressed to Professor Duncan Fong. Penn State is committed to affirmative action, equal opportunity and the diversity of its workforce. We encourage applications from individuals of

diverse backgrounds.

marketing reSearch

market reSearch analySt:

M-F/40hr/wk. Provide strategic

acct. support for CTDI products

division; market analyses in local,

regional & nat'l areas to determine potential sales of FTTH, CPE & other telecomm. equip.; gather info. on competitive industry data & develop business cases & product strategies; identify new strategic product lines and/or

corporations & assist w/due

diligence for potential M&A's;

expand presence in existing

markets & identify new business

development opp.; analytical

market feasibility studies of

projects; gather market info.

& intel.; research & analysis;

prepare & submit proposals or

tenders; negotiate vendor

contracts; proficiency in

Access, Excel, PowerPoint,

CRM, Adobe Photoshop, Oracle,

FTTH networks & access

technologies. Req.: MBA. Submit

resume w/ ad copy to: Lindsey

Hammond, Communications Test

Design, Inc., 1373 Enterprise Dr.,

West Chester, PA 19380.

int'l market reSearch analySt (Vernon, CA) needed by seafood co. F/T. Req. Master's degree in International Business. Knowl. of seafood industry in US & Japan. Reply: True World Foods Los Angeles LLC, 4200 S. Alameda St., Vernon, CA 90058.

product/marketing

SpecialiSt (F/t) wanted in Peachtree City, GA. M-F, 40 hrs/wk. Bachelor's deg or equiv in International Studies, Science or related & fluency in Japanese language (speaking, reading &

writing). Send resume to: TDK

Components USA, Inc., Michelle

DeFeo, HR Mgr, 1 TDK Blvd,

Peachtree City, GA 30269.

recruitment classifieds

44 marketing news | august 31, 2012

the recruitment claSSiFiedS section accepts both display and straight classified advertising. Marketing News reserves the right to reject any ad at any time. Questions about advertising? Just call 312-542-9063 or email [email protected]. adVertiSing rateS

straight classiFieds:

$140 for up to 50 words (minimum charge); $280 for 51–100

words; $560 for 101–200 words; $840 for 201–300 words.

Straight classified ads are set in text in standard classified

recruitment style with limited bold face type.

all straight classified ads must be prepaid by check or

american express, visa or Mastercard.

Position wanted:

$2.10 per word for AMA members; $3.10 per word for

nonmembers. 25-word minimum.

Blind box number: $50 per insertion; replies mailed daily.

all position wanted ads must be prepaid by check or american

express, visa or Mastercard.

disPlay classiFieds:

$125 per column inch; minimum one inch. 15% discount to

advertising agencies on space only. Column widths for camera-

ready copy: 1 column = 1 3/4 inches; 2 columns = 3 3/4 inches;

3 columns = 5 3/4 inches.

all display classified ads must be prepaid by check or american

express, visa or Mastercard.

mailing inFormation

send ad, insertion order, & check or credit card number

(with expiration date) to:

Marketing NewsAdvertising Department

311 S. Wacker Drive, Suite 5800

Chicago, IL 60606

or fax to: (312) 922-1394 or 922-3763.

Ads may also be emailed to [email protected].

Any company or university logos to be included in print ads must

be high resolution and sent by email.

all blind boX rePlies to print ads should include the number

on the envelope and be sent to the above address for forwarding

to the advertiser.

The Belk College of BusinessUniversity of North Carolina at CharlotteThe Cullen Endowed Chair in Marketing

(Associate/Full Professor)Assistant/Associate Professor of Marketing

The Belk College of Business at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte invites applications for two full-time tenure track positions in Marketing. The first position is at the rank of Associate or Full Professor of Marketing. The successful candidate for this position will be the holder of the Cullen Endowed Chair (or Scholar for the Associate Rank) in marketing and will be a dynamic and collegial individual with a record of sustained excellence in research and teaching. The second position is at the rank of Assistant or Associate Professor of Marketing. A PhD degree in Marketing or closely related discipline from an accredited school is required for both positions. A strong commitment to excellence in high-quality, innovative research and teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels is expected. Candidates at the associate or full professor levels must have an outstanding research record commensurate with the level of appointment. Successful candidates for both positions will be expected to have strong research records and/ or research agendas involving consumer analytics, consumer data mining or related areas, and teach courses in “Consumer Analytics” and “Consumer Data Mining and Marketing Metrics” at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Teaching load and salary are competitive with similar positions at research universities. The starting date is August 2013. The positions are contingent on final budgetary approval. All applications will be considered strictly confidential. The University of North Carolina at Charlotte is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer. Women, members of minority groups, and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply. The review of applications will begin immediately and applications will be accepted until the positions are filled. All applicants are subjected to a criminal background check.

TO APPLY: Apply electronically at https://jobs.uncc.edu. If you have any questions concerning these positions, please contact Professor Sunil Erevelles, Chair of the Department of Marketing at [email protected] or (704) 687-7681. Only electronic submissions of applications will be accepted. Please attach the following documents with your electronic submission: application letter and vita. Finalists will be asked to forward official transcripts, letters of reference, and other supportive materials as requested by the search committee.

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AMA Whitepapers ................................p. 30Ph. 1-800-AMA-1150URL: http://www.marketingpower.com/Whitepaper

AMR (Advanced Market Research) .............................................p. 21Ph. +48 211 865 870URL: http://www.amr-research.com

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Burke Institute ..........................................p. 2Ph. 1-800-543-8635URL: burkeinstitute.com

GfK ........................................................... p. 23Ph. 212-240-5300URL: http://www.gfk.com

GMI (Global Market Insite) ................... p. 25Ph. 206-315-9300URL: http://www.gmi-mr.com

Inside Research ..................................... p. 36Ph. 847-576-0707URL: http://www.insideresearch.com

Intage ...................................................... p. 27Ph. +81 3 5294 8304URL: http://www.intage.co.jp

Kinesis Survey Technologies, LLC ............................. p. 32Ph. 512-590-8300, ext. 3URL: http://www.kinesissurvey.com

Language Logic .................................... p. 28Ph. 1-877-241-9112URL: http://www.goascribe.com

Luth Research ....................................... p. 37Ph. 1-800-465-5884URL: http://www.luthresearch.com

M/A/R/C Research ................................ p. 35Ph. 1-800-884-6272 URL: http://www.marcresearch.com

Maritz Research ..................................... p. 33Ph. 1-800-446-1690URL: http://www.maritzresearch.com

Market Probe, Inc. ................................. p. 24Ph. 414-778-6000URL: http://www.marketprobe.com

Marketing Systems Group ....................p. 19Ph. 1-800-336-7674URL: http://www.m-s-g.com

Mindfield ................................................ p. 29Email: [email protected]: http://mindfieldonline.com/client

Morpace Market Research & Consulting .......................................... p. 39Ph. 248-737-5300URL: http://www.morpace.com

Research Now ..........................................p. 17Ph. 212-790-9599URL: http://www.researchnow-usa.com

SIS International Research .................. p. 38Ph. 212-505-6805URL: http://www.sisinternational.com

Toluna .....................................................p. 48Ph. 1-866-296-3049URL: http://www.toluna.group.com

USamp ...................................................... p. 7Ph. 1-888-828-1612URL: http://www.usamp.com

Voxco ........................................................p. 15Ph. 514-861-9255URL: http://www.voxco.com

ADVERTISERS’ INDEXQuick source for contacting the suppliers in the 08.31.12 issue of Marketing News.

advertisers’ index

Hono_2012.indd 45 8/8/12 5:37 PM

expert perspectives ama’S 75 yearS in marketing hiStOry

By JaCkie huBa [email protected]

From word of mouth to Customer evangelism

W ord of mouth arguably has been the most effective form of market-ing in history, and as with most

marketing practices, it has evolved. That brand-related comment from a friend or neighbor—spoken over a white picket fence, legend has it—used to be just a fact of life for marketers. Now it’s a strategic linchpin.

Reams of research have shown that a comment from a friend or colleague is more infl uential than traditional forms of advertising. Nielsen’s recent study called “Global Trust in Advertising and Brand Messages” fi nds that 92% of consumers around the world say that they trust earned media, such as word of mouth (WOM) or recommendations from friends and family, above all other forms of advertising—an increase of 18% since 2007. Even WOM from strangers is infl uential. Online consumer reviews are the second most trusted source of brand information and messaging, with 70% of global consumers (surveyed online) indicating that they trust messages on this platform, an increase of 15% in four years.

Th e challenge for marketers over the years has been how to leverage this trusted commentary about their brands and scale it. Th e Word of Mouth Marketing Association—an association dedicated to WOM marketing professionals—outlines some of the most common WOM marketing techniques (the examples are mine).

•Buzz marketing: Using high-profi le entertainment or news to get people to talk about your brand. Example: Old Spice records more than 100 YouTube video responses to tweets in 24 hours.

•Viral marketing: Creating entertaining or informative messages that are designed to be passed along in an exponential fashion, oft en electronically or by e-mail. Example: Offi ce Max developed its successful holi-day “Elf Yourself ” digital campaign.

•infl uencer marketing: Identifying key communities and opinion leaders who are likely to talk about products and have the ability to infl uence the opinions of others. Example: Ford loaned its new Focus cars out to local infl uencers for the fi rst six months of its launch.

•Community marketing: Forming or supporting niche communities that are likely to share interests about the brand (such as user groups, fan clubs and discus-sion forums); providing tools, content and information to support those communi-ties. Example: Fiskar’s Fiskateers program engages the scrapbooking community.

•Grassroots marketing: Organizing and motivating volunteers to engage in personal or local outreach. Example: Th e Obama 2008 presidential campaign set the pace, at the time, for grassroots marketing online.

•Referral programs: Creating tools that enable satisfi ed customers to refer their friends. Example: Th e long-running MCI Friends and Family program off ered customers discounts on calls to other MCI customers.

But there is more to word of mouth than trying to get customers talking by launching campaigns or short-term marketing tactics.

Customer evangelism“We are encouraging our clients to fl y Southwest Airlines. We are buying more stock ... and we stand ready to do anything else to help. Count on our continuing support.” Th at’s what Southwest Airlines customer Ann McGee-Cooper wrote in an October 2001 letter to Southwest Presi-dent Colleen Barrett aft er the 9/11 attacks had crippled the airline industry. She said that she was persuading clients, friends and family members to fl y Southwest Airlines. She was purchasing tickets on their behalf. She bought the company’s stock. Perhaps most tellingly, she included a $500 check with her letter, saying that the airline needed the money “more than I do.”

She is more than someone who engages in word of mouth; she is a customer evangelist.

In research that my co-author and I did for our fi rst book, we have found that customer evangelists not only buy a brand’s products or services, but also believe in them so much that they are compelled to spread the word, and voluntarily recruit their friends and colleagues on the brand’s behalf. Customer evangelists aren’t just buzz spreaders, infl uencers, “sneezers” or mavens; they are, by nature, passionate people who are extroverted loyalists. Th eir loyalty is demonstrated by their actions:

•Th ey passionately recommend a company to friends, neighbors and colleagues.

•Th ey believe in the company and its people.

•Th ey purchase the company’s products and services as gift s.

•Th ey provide unsolicited praise or suggestions for improvement.

•Th ey forgive occasional sub-par seasons or dips in customer service.

•Th ey do not want to be bought; they extol the brand’s virtues freely.

•Th ey feel part of something bigger than themselves.

Customer evangelism is the payoff for organizations that focus on the long-term loyalty of their most passionate and demonstrative customers. But what does “loyal” mean?

For some companies, it’s a repeat purchaser. For others, it’s a customer who makes a referral. But smart companies are focusing on the holy grail of customer engagement, which is ownership. Owner-ship happens when a customer feels like she is part of the organization and will do unexpected and surprising things, like sending a public company money in times of upheaval, to support the brand. m

JaCkie huBa is the co-author of two books on word of mouth and customer loyalty: Creating Customer Evangelists: How Loyal Customers Become a Volunteer Sales Force, and Citizen Marketers: When People are the Message. She also is the co-author of the Church of the Customer blog. her upcoming book, Monster Business: Loyalty Lessons from Lady Gaga, will be released this fall. follow her at twitter.com/jackiehuba.

LOYALTY LADDER

OWNERSHIP: Feels responsible for the continued success of the organization

EVANGELISM: Convinces others to purchase/join

WORD OF MOUTH/BUZZ: Puts reputation on the line to tell others about you

REPEAT PURCHASE: returns to company to buy again

SATISFACTION: sticks with your organization as long as expectations are met

Source: Jackie Huba & Ben McConnell, ChurchoftheCustomer.com


AMA083112_INI.indd 46 8/6/12 3:42 PM

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Today’s aMa! the 2012 ama/amaf nonprofi t marketing conference brought together nonprofi t marketers in Washington, D.c., for three days in July. above: todd cohen, author of Everyone’s in Sales, who delivered the opening keynote, interacts with attendees in the exhibit hall.

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