JD Power Buys Online Community Researcher

JD Power and Associates has acquired Umbria, a consumer market research company that analyzes intelligence gathered from social and consumer-generated media. Terms were not disclosed.

Founded in 2004, Umbria collects and analyzes consumer product opinions, attitudes, and behaviors from blogs, message boards and social networks. Umbria's technology converts the unstructured data of the online community into actionable insights by identifying important themes and topics of interest by demographic profile.

Explained JD Power President Steve Goodall: 'Umbria's unique ability to track consumer opinion online will complement our mission to represent the voice of the customer, and will allow us to listen to that voice throughout the incredibly rich flow of information available in web commentary.'

All 40 of Umbria's Colorado-based employees will remain with the firm. Its Chief Executive Janet Eden-Harris (who joined the firm in 2006 from IRI www.mrweb.com/drno/news5554.htm ) said the acquisition is a good fit for both companies, with Umbria providing JD Power with the ability to analyze tens of thousands of conversations online about products and services.

Headquartered in Westlake Village, California, JD Power and Associates is a business unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies. Web sites: www.jdpower.com and www.umbrialistens.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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