US-based fieldwork group Schlesinger Associates has announced two key hires. Robert Ramirez joins as SVP, Strategic Development for the US-based Global Management Solutions service, while Tim Holley is appointed as Director, Specialty Panels and Recruiting. More

In the UK, fieldwork division ICM Direct has expanded its Bedford Call Centre by 20 percent, responding to ‘increased client demand for fieldwork services’. More

US firm Civicom Marketing Research Services has launched a mobile app through which consumers can ‘dial in’ and record their thoughts while out shopping. More

Marcoms group Chime Communications has acquired London-based shopper marketing agency WARL from its shareholders Marcus Wilcox, Kerry Bateman and Brian Lloyd, for an initial consideration of £4.5m. Chime has also acquired Shanghai sports marcoms agency People Marketing. More

In the UK, a partnership between Ipsos MORI and mobile phone company EE is in the public eye after the Sunday Times said data on EE customers was being offered to the Metropolitan Police. Both EE and MRS Code-compliant Ipsos MORI have confirmed that the data is aggregated and anonymised. More

GfK has issued an ad hoc statement on preliminary figures for the first quarter, showing organic sales growth of only 0.6 percent, and adjusted operating income and margin down on Q1 2012. However the global group says order levels are good and it should meet annual forecasts of 3-4 percent sales growth. More

US-based mobile big data analytics firm Zettics has opened new offices in London and Singapore, where it has appointed Ken Parkinson and Paul Ash to lead sales in EMEA and APAC respectively. More

Singapore-based YFind, which helps brick-and-mortar retailers track and analyze movement in any indoor or urban environment, has launched a shopper analytics dashboard called TheRetailHQ, which pinpoints shoppers’ specific locations inside a store. More

Online research community specialist Vision Critical has recruited four new execs for its Media and Entertainment team, and says it expects revenue from the division to nearly double in North America within the next year. More

In Australia, supermarket giant Woolworths has taken a 50% non-controlling stake in customer data analytics firm Quantium, which in return will gain access to Woolworth’s customer data and provide insights to the retailer’s packaged goods suppliers. More

Technology research specialist Gartner has reported a 10% increase in first quarter total group revenue to $406.8m - with the Research division posting an impressive 13% increase to $310.3m. More

UK-based business-to-business agency B2B International has posted what it describes as its ‘best ever’ start-of-year figures, with first quarter revenue of £1.7m, up 108% from Q1 2012. More

Technology specialist Forrester Research has announced a slight increase in first quarter revenues to $71.5m, compared with $70.3m in the prior year period. Net income meanwhile fell from $2.3m to $0.9m. More

The team behind start-up Behavio, which collects and uses mobile phone data to predict users’ future behavior, has joined search giant Google. More

IT network Spiceworks has introduced a service called SpicePanels, which brings together technology vendors and beta testers from its Spiceworks Community of 2.4 million IT professionals, and tasks them with testing and trialing new products, services and marketing campaigns. More

Just three months after raising $30m in an investment round, big data analytics firm Guavus has secured a further $9m from new investors, which it will use to continue to expand its core products, scales its operations, and pursue ‘select’ acquisitions. More

In the UK, shopper and leisure sector research consultancy Touchstone Partners has appointed former Johnson & Jonson director Sarah Lacey as Head of its Shopper Consultancy division. More

US-based consumer intelligence specialist The NPD Group has appointed four new market research analysts at its flat panel display specialist NPD DisplaySearch in the US, Korea and Taiwan. More

Shangahi-based qual and quant agency Insight Focus has appointed two former employees of WPP's brand development and insight consultancy Added Value - Alvin Huen as General Manager in the General China Region, and Isabella Chan as a Director. More

UK-based consumer insight and strategic consulting firm The Future Foundation has expanded to the US with the opening of an office in New York, where it has relocated Heather Corker in the role of VP, Consumer Trends, North America. More

eBay has hired Zoher Karu, formerly VP of Marketing Analytics at Sears, for the new position of Vice President, Customer Optimization & Data, tasked with using analytics to target customers. More

Shopper marketing specialists Jim Cusson and Jared Meisel have set up a new agency called Theory House in Charlotte, North Carolina. More

In Singapore, competitive intelligence specialist Current Analysis has appointed former IDC leader Amit Gupta as Managing Director, APAC, to further expand its operations across the region. More

Custom research firm TLE (formerly The Leading Edge) has appointed shopper research specialist Karen Sandrault as Director of Strategy at its Sao Paolo office. More

San Francisco-based Internet ratings firm Quantcast has introduced an app to provide insights into cross-platform usage by digital audiences. More

US customer intelligence provider Market Force Information has sold its general merchandising and in-store audit services to retail merchandising specialist The SPAR Group. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. More

GfK has confirmed a 10.2% increase in 2012 sales to EUR 1.5 billion, exceeding its target of 9%. ‘Strong’ organic growth of 3.1% is cited as a key reason for beating the target. More

Nielsen has launched a solution for measuring the ‘resonance’ of brand advertising within mobile apps. The tool forms part of the Brand Effect product suite. More

UK-based researcher SPA Future Thinking has appointed former TNS ops leader Sue Homeyard as Director of Operations. More

A group of US industry associations - the IAB, MMA, and MRC - have issued a draft version of their ‘Mobile Application Advertising Measurement Guidelines’, in a bid to address concerns about measurement and consumer transparency across apps. More

Los Angeles-based full service agency Vital Findings has appointed former Nielsen and Maritz exec Mary Rubin as Vice President, to work closely with founder Jason Kramer to grow the business and expand its intellectual assets. More

Experian Marketing Services has announced the launch of Hitwise Mobile, which will provide clients with ‘comprehensive data and insights’ about mobile consumer behaviour. More

Ipsos has reported 2012 revenues of EUR 1.8bn, up from EUR 1.4bn in 2011, but disappointing given the addition of Synovate. Accustomed to rapid growth, the group blamed the stall on politicians, the integration process and competitor poaching of senior staff. Profits however remained solid. More

Consumer specialist The NPD Group has reorganized its senior management team as part of its strategy to ‘accelerate growth and innovation’. More

US-based Centris Marketing Science, which specializes in providing market intelligence to the entertainment sector, has named Steve Ennen as President, with a remit to develop new markets, products and services, while delivering consumer behavior insights. More

Mobile advertising and data specialist Millennial Media is to acquire San Francisco-based mobile user data and ad targeting platform Metaresolver, just a year after it was set up by M:Metrics co-founder Seamus McAteer. Terms of the all-cash deal were not disclosed. More

US provider Strategy Analytics, which focuses on clients in the technology sector, has opened a new Consumer Insights Practice (CIP) led by Motorola Mobility’s former Head of Consumer Insights Joy Ganvik. More

Shopper analytics specialist Euclid has closed a $17.3m round of financing, which it will use to further service its growing customer base. More

Here are the best set of mean salary stats for the UK MR industry you’re ever likely to see. Best as in good, solid bases and careful compilation; and the average rise is not bad either. But there’s one shocker, and it doesn’t take a great analyst to spot it. MrWeb's Nick Thomas continues our celebrations for job no. 100,000. More

US-based technology specialist Forrester Research has reported annual revenue up six percent to $202.9m for its Research arm (from $191.5m in 2011). However, its Advisory services business declined two percent to $89.9m, and the firm is planning to make 30 staff redundant. More

App analytics firm MobileWalla has raised $4m in venture capital to help develop a system for measuring mobile audiences. More

Market research was once said to be ‘recession-proof’, but we don’t hear that quite so often these days. Are we in a ‘double-dip’? And in our new, more cautious mode, who are we recruiting and how many of them? Nick Thomas looks at the stats for 2005-12 as we celebrate our 100,000th job ad this week. More

UK-based B2B media company UBM has sold its portfolio of Data Services businesses to private equity fund manager Electra Partners, for a consideration of £160m including a £40m vendor loan note. More

Technology specialist Gartner saw revenues in its Research division rise 14% to $300.2m in the three months ended December 31, 2012, while for the full year, they climbed 12% to $1.13 billion. More

Google has acquired retail sales tracking firm Channel Intelligence (CI) for $125m in cash, from holding company ICG Group. The transaction is expected to close this quarter. More

GfK has named four senior leaders for its operations in the CEE-META (Central and Eastern Europe Middle East, Turkey and Africa) and APAC (Asia and the Pacific) regions. More

UK-based business research specialist B2B International has reported its best ever year, with 2012 turnover up 28% to £5.1m. North America and Europe led the way. More

App measurement and advertising platform Flurry has added two new analytics services to its portfolio. User Acquisition Analytics, available now, helps track the effectiveness of acquisition campaigns, while Crash Analytics, still in beta, helps developers improve app quality and reliability. More

In the US, the FTC has issued advice on how the mobile device sector can better inform consumers about their data privacy practices; but the MRA’s Howard Fienberg says it and other agencies should ‘chill out’ and let an ongoing White House review run its course. More

US-based product innovation specialist InsightsNow has appointed former NPD Group LatAm President Mark Turim as Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer. More

Technology testing firm uTest has launched a service called Applause, which it claims provides analysis of more than 50 million reviews across one million iOS and Android apps, to enable brands to measure how an app stacks up against the competition. More

Preliminary results indicate that GfK’s full-year revenue rose 10.2% in 2012, to approximately EUR 1.5bn, with organic growth of 3.1%. More

Consumer information publisher Mintel has launched a new trend forecasting tool called ‘Mintel Futures’, which draws on a set of six key trends to identify the largest areas of business opportunity. More

Consumer, retail and healthcare specialist SymphonyIRI has promoted Piyush Chaudhari to the newly created role of President of the Americas, with a focus on driving performance and growth for domestic and select global clients. More

Finnish off-line shopper analytics company RapidBlue Solutions has announced an app providing its analytics direct to mobiles. Mobile Retail Store Analytics promises store owners and managers the ability to collect data and view analysis without the need for extra in-store hardware. More

In the UK, mobile network O2 has lost its Marketing and Consumer Director Sally Cowdry to National Lottery operator Camelot, where she will take the same title, with a role including consumer insight. She joins her new employer in ‘a few months’ after helping O2 with the transition. More

Consumer insights specialists Cristina de Balanzó, Siemon Scamell-Katz and Rafal Ohme have set up a new London-based neuroscience consultancy called The Walnut Group. More

In the US, GfK has introduced a new service called Location Insights, to help retailers understand the movements and demographics of crowds around specific shopping environments. More

Miami-based sales performance agency The Retail Outsource Companies has launched a new sister company called ‘The Consumer Insight’ (TCI), which will offer a range of mystery shopping, customer surveys, compliance audits and competitive intelligence services. More

Big data analytics firm Guavus, which focuses on helping telecoms companies make more sense of their streams of network data, has raised $30m for the expansion of its core products. More

Mobile advertising network InMobi has acquired UK-based mobile analytics technology developer Overlay Media for an undisclosed sum. More

Global customer and employee research agency ORC International has acquired Cincinnati-based consumer specialist MRSI (Marketing Research Services Inc.) from market research network the MVL Group. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. More

Helsinki, Finland-based RapidBlue Solutions has announced a new metric, ‘Gross Shopping Hours’ (GSH), which it says is based on the discovery of ‘a significant relationship between the brick-and-mortar shopping behaviour of shoppers and retail sales.’ More

In the US, audience measurement firm Rentrak has announced a deal to provide local market mobile broadcast TV ratings to twelve major broadcast networks operating the Dyle mobile television service. More

In the US, technology researcher the Yankee Group is to be acquired from private equity firm Alta Communications by The 451 Group, parent of 451 Research and Uptime Institute. More

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