INTEGRAL Buys Majority Stake in SINUS

Austrian full-service agency INTEGRAL Market and Opinion Research has bought a majority share in German psychological and sociological research specialist SINUS Sociovision. Terms were not disclosed.

SINUS's former owners Horst and Dorothy Nowak will retire from the business, but remain with the company in advisory roles.

INTEGRAL founder, branding and communications expert Manfred Tautscher becomes Joint MD of SINUS, alongside the Nowaks' co-founder Berthold Bodo Flaig.

The pair say that the merger will produce 'comprehensive market research know-how and social competence at the highest level'.

Tautscher, who founded INTEGRAL in 1987, took on the additional role of CEO of Millward Brown Germany in 2003, after his firm became a licensee for MW's products and services in Austria, Germany and Switzerland.

'There is hardly another market research firm that understands the people and their needs better than SINUS,' Tautscher commented. 'They have mastered the craft of social research and can translate it perfectly into actionable information.'

His colleague, INTEGRAL CEO Bertram Barth, added that the merger would enable the two firms to offer Austrian and international customers new solutions such as trend research and life-world analysis.

Web sites: www.integral.co.at and www.sociovision.de .