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In South Africa, Habari Firms Combine for New Digital Agency

mrweb.com reports: In South Africa, Adrian Hewlett [pictured], the CEO and founder of media and marketing business Habari has combined the group’s below-the-line (BTL), market research, digital, and social media businesses to launch a new integrated ad agency called Machine.

Taking the role of CEO of Machine, Hewlett plans to reposition his firm as a more integrated agency with a key digital competency. A new senior client services team will oversee the various specialist units - such as research, digital, and BTL - and work across channels, with specialist project teams below them.  More…

In APAC, Media Monitors Group Has A New Name - Sentia Media

The 8th of February 2012 marks the launch of Sentia Media, the new corporate parent for the group of companies previously operating as part of the Media Monitors Group.

Sentia Media CEO John Croll [pictured] said: "Ours is a company with a long and proud history in media monitoring, with a record of industry leadership, providing ever faster and more accurate media information to our clients.

Sentia Media now owns: Media Monitors, the leading media information supplier in the Asia-Pacific with 12 offices across Australia, New Zealand, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore; MediaBanc, South East Asia's largest monitoring company with offices in six countries; Brandtology, one of the world's leading online business intelligence companies, headquartered in Singapore and experiencing exponential growth; 360m, our advisory and analysis company providing research-based insight and unrivalled experience; China Clippings, the leading provider of monitoring services to communications agencies across China; and Slice Media, Australasia's most effective and comprehensive budget monitoring solution.  More...

In Europe, BuzzBack Announces New Nordic Initiative

February 7th, 2012. BuzzBack has announced its expansion into the Nordic region, with Marie Hayling [pictured, left] now leading its introduction of innovative online techniques to this area. Formerly of TNS, Marie brings more than 20 years of traditional market research experience, and will be responsible for business development, based in Gothenburg, Sweden. She will help extend BuzzBack’s visual techniques to top consumer product, pharmaceutical and financial service companies in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland.

“We are excited to have Marie on board,” says Martin Oxley [pictured, right], Managing Director of BuzzBack Europe. “As our European business continues to grow, we look forward to introducing our unique tools, such as eCollage, Concept Focus, Verbatim Viewer and more, to clients looking for new ways to engage consumers and facilitate emotional learning online. The Nordic region represents significant opportunities for us.” More...

Rooting Out Worst Practices

Sherrill Mane, Senior Vice President, Research, Analytics, and Measurement for the Interactive Advertising Bureau, writes at MediaPost :

Welcome to one of our first New Year’s reminders. Perhaps we can make 2012 the year when “Best Practices for Conducting Online Ad Effectiveness Research” become standard operating procedures. And, in a year of action, let’s encourage the vendors to do the research on research that the esteemed Dr. Paul Lavrakas recommended in his 2010 “An Evaluation of Methods Used to Assess the Effectiveness of Advertising on the Internet.”  More...

Viacom Promotes Kurz for Wider Insights Role

mrweb posts: Multimedia entertainment group Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) has promoted Christian Kurz [pictured], to the post of Vice President of Research, Insights & Reporting, expanding his current management of Nickelodeon’s international research to cover all VIMN brands.

He is based in New York and reports to Willem Schelling, SVP, VIMN Brand Management & Operations, who comments: ‘Research is an integral part of everything we do, and the expansion of Christian’s role reflects our on-going commitment to knowing our audience and better serving them across every demo and platform around the world.’ More...

In US, Hill+Knowlton Strategies Launches Research+Data Insights

NEW YORK – Hill+Knowlton Strategies announced today the creation of a new organization, Research+Data Insights (R+D Insights). R+D Insights is designed to provide the firm’s clients with data analytics and primary research to establish strategic and effective communications to their key stakeholders.

“In addition to offering H+K Strategies’ messaging, communications and reputation research, R+D Insights adds a new emphasis on data analytics that stems from the growth of social media and the need for analysis and insights into this growing communications platform,” said Global Vice Chairman Peter Zandan [pictured], Ph.D. More...

In US & UK, Research Now Announces Executive Appointments

DALLAS, January 23, 2012 - Research Now, the leading global online sampling and data collection company, today announced the appointment of Craig Stevens [pictured, left-most] to Chief Revenue Officer for the Americas as a direct result of the reorganization of the company’s executive management team.  In his new role, Stevens is responsible for the United States, Canada and Latin America. Stevens will also oversee the Americas’ marketing function and directly manage the business analytics function, responsible for sales and pricing analytics.  More...

Martin Filz [pictured, center] has been promoted to Managing Director for EMEA and APAC, overseeing and managing the corresponding client development leadership teams while assuming responsibility for client development activities across both markets. In this new role, Martin will also oversee EMEA and APAC’s marketing function.

Konstanze Just [pictured, right-most] has been promoted to Senior Vice President of Global Marketing, responsible for coordinating and developing the marketing and branding strategies of the e-Rewards group and Research Now worldwide. In this new role, Konstanze will also oversee global public relations, and will continue to lead marketing across EMEA.  More...

In US, Qualvu Raises $1.85m for European Expansion

Deepening customer relationships, increasing mobile technology adoption, and European expansion portend 70%+ employee growth for four-year-old Qualvu

DENVER – January 13 – Qualvu, the online qualitative research company that counts as its clients many of the world’s top brands, announced today that it has raised $1.85 million through a Series B round to finance expansion in people, places, and processes.

In response to his new role as member of the Board of Directors, Chris Marks [pictured] said, “Qualvu’s pioneering success and impressive roster of global Tier 1 clients demonstrates to us the company has the right technology and management to transform the global qualitative research space. With a huge technology head start and some impressive innovations slated for early 2012, Qualvu is poised for an even bigger impact as brands continue to migrate to innovations to drive consumer insights.” More…

In Saudi Arabia, Ipsos Launches Middle Eastern Panel

MrWeb News: Ipsos has launched its first online panel for the Middle East, in Saudi Arabia. The new panel has been 18 months in the planning and will be called Rewarding Panel.

Edouard Monin [pictured], Ipsos’ CEO for the MENA region, said: ‘Internet in the Middle East has undoubtedly started to be significant and the client needs for online research there is growing. Online is increasingly the data collection method of choice amongst international research buyers, because it offers many advantages, and enables to go beyond the limits encountered by the other data collection modes.’  More...

Studying market’s online audience – from the very beginning

Grażyna Jakubowska, PR & Marketing Specialist at Gemius writes at meauretheweb.com blog: Online audience study… gemiusAudience… comprehensive measurement… socio-demographical data and preferences of the internet users… media planning tool… – surely most of measuretheweb.com readers are acquainted with these concepts to some extent. But just as many scientists would like to witness the Big Bang, the origin of the universe, many of those interested in the online reality would like to gain more information on how a comprehensive internet audience measurement is introduced on a given market.   More...