Former RI CEO to Lead Online Research Body

In the UK, JICIMS (the Joint Industry Committee for Internet Measurement Systems) has appointed Research International's former Worldwide CEO Mark Cranmer as its first Chairman, heading up its initiative to establish a single online measurement currency.

JICIMS was founded in 2007 to create, administer and fund an industry agreed system for planning ad campaigns using online media. This system is intended to become a recognised planning currency for web-based media, for advertisers, agencies and online media owners, and will be based on a user-centric approach to audience measurement.

In the spring, JICIMS invited media research agencies to submit ideas on the methodology, scope and cost of the project. Cranmer will head the next phase of the body's role, as it issues a formal 'invitation to tender' to selected research companies.

Commented Lynne Robinson, Research Director of ad industry body the IPA: 'JICIMS has already conducted successive surveys of the UK online population and received outline proposals from a range of leading research companies for this contract. JICIMS is therefore very fortunate to have secured such a well-qualified and high-profile figure to lead it towards and through this next, and critical, phase.'

In September, JICIMS is hosting a summit with advertisers, agencies and media owners to resolve outstanding issues and pave the way for the introduction of the new currency. After this, the body will invite formal tenders for the contract, and Cranmer says he hopes the process will reach a definitive conclusion in 2008.

Cranmer joins with more than three decades of experience in the communications industry, having previously held senior positions in advertising, media and research agencies. Prior to leaving RI at the end of last year, he was CEO EMEA of Starcom Mediavest Group and Worldwide Director of Publicis Groupe Media. He has been a member of the IPA Media Policy Group, and now pursues a portfolio of interests inside and outside the communications industry.

Web site: www.jicims.org.uk .

Last March, Peter Bowman, a veteran of joint industry initiatives including the NRS and BARB, was appointed as JICIMS' inaugural General Manager.