German Firm Reprimanded for Mixing MR and Marketing

The Council for the Association of German Market and Social Research has reprimanded Leipzig-based Omniphon for what it describes as a lack of distinction between the firm's market research and interactive marketing operations.

Founded in 2001, the Council oversees compliance with generally accepted professional standards and ethics and quality standards in the market and social research sectors. In a statement, it cites Omniphon's MD Jochen Heller as not having made the differences between the firm's research and marketing activities clear to the public.

In a 'public plea' intended to 'prevent damage' to the reputation of Germany's market, opinion and social research sector, the Council has complained about what it sees as the lack of distinction between Omniphon's quant market research services, which include carrying out fieldwork for other agencies, and its range of marketing and communication campaign services.

Telephone marketing is heavily restricted in Germany because of court rulings which are based on fair competition laws rather than data protection laws. Telephone calls to private households for sales promotion or advertising purposes without prior consent are judged to breach competitive practice rules. This does not affect telephone interviews conducted for market research purposes as these are regarded as scientific.

The statement says that Omniphon breaks these rules of maintaining distance between market research and marketing activities, which are in place to enable the general public to identify legitimate research from sales and marketing calls.

Web sites: www.rat-marktforschung.de and www.omniphon.de .