New Angus Reid Forum Buys Insights West's Panel

Canadian Pollster Angus Reid and Steve Mossop, the founder of opinion polling and consumer research specialist Insights West, have revived the name Angus Reid Forum for a new company, which has acquired Insights West's 'Your Insights Panel'.

Reid is the founder of Angus Reid Group, which was sold to Ipsos in 2000 for a reported $100m. In 2003, he joined his son Andrew's research software start-up Vision Critical as CEO, and since retiring in 2014 has led his non-profit public opinion research organization, Angus Reid Institute. Mossop set up Insights West in 2012, after eighteen years overseeing Angus Reid's, and then Ipsos-Reid's Western division. Reid will now serve as Chairman of the Board of this new entity, while Mossop will become its President and CEO, leading the team of panel managers, scriptwriters and researchers in Vancouver, with plans to open a Toronto office by the end of the year. The panel, which comprises 30,000 Canadians, has been renamed the Angus Reid Forum and will be grown to 100,000 people through a combination of social media and online advertising, as well as partnerships with vendors and clients.

If the name sounds familiar... 'Angus Reid Forum' was used a decade ago for a panel established by Reid and managed by Vision Critical, while a year ago MARU Group was a partner in a new community called the Angus Reid Business Forum.

Mossop will continue to own Insights West and will divide his time equally between the two companies. The Angus Reid Forum will provide panel sample to Insights West as well as the Angus Reid Institute and other research companies and end clients across Canada. In addition, the new business will provide survey scripting capabilities and data analysis services.

Mossop states: 'I first started with the Angus Reid Group early on in my career and I've always had a tremendous amount of respect for Angus and his leadership within the Canadian market research industry. I'm happy to start this joint venture together to develop Canada's largest and most well-known panel'.

Web sites: www.angusreidforum.com , www.insightswest.com .