GfK and Kantar Combine for Online Quality Drive

Two of the research industry's top four firms, Kantar and GfK, have announced an initiative aimed at promoting and assuring online data quality. The firms will seek 'broad industry participation' in their not-for-profit consortium, the Promedius Group.

The partners - who not so long ago were in competition to buy TNS - say the move is a response to concerns expressed by leading clients including P&G, Microsoft, Coca-Cola and General Mills. Promedius will use technology jointly developed by the two firms and fellow global group Ipsos, and will license it to other research companies for their own internal use at no cost. The software includes a suite of tools to validate the physical address of online respondents, identify respondent uniqueness and overlap across sample sources and prevent duplicates in studies. It also provides automated reports using common industry metrics.

The consortium also aims to develop standards and conduct further research to enhance online data quality. Initially operating in the US, it will expand into other key markets during 2011 with the aim of getting global consistency in measurement and reporting practices.

'Achieving the highest level of online data quality standards is essential for our clients and for the marketing research industry', states Kantar CEO Eric Salama. 'By making the tools we have jointly developed available to the entire industry, marketing research suppliers will be able to meet the client need for open, transparent reports that contain consistent quality metrics, allowing them to make cross-supplier comparisons.' Debbie Pruent, COO and Member of the Management Board GfKSE says Promedius' independent, non-commercial approach 'creates the opportunity for broad industry acceptance... This in turn results in greater quality consistency and even lower costs - the benefits accrued as more sample providers opt to use the shared service.'

The services are already being used on a number of selected client studies, while Promedius Group organizers are in ongoing discussions with other sample providers who may wish to collaborate.

GfK's involvement is led by its Custom Research North America business, online at www.gfkamerica.com . Kantar's home page is at www.kantar.com .