Nielsen's product innovation service releases Bases Product Quick Use. The new offering is based on agile methodology so marketers can get rapid feedback during the innovation process. It also incorporates predictive analytics to help FMCG marketers develop forecasting models.

Infogroup receives $53.6 million in damages after a federal jury found that DatabaseUSA.com had stolen their intellectual property.

Opinion.Life launches Omnibus which offers a range of reporting tools. As part of that launch, Ben Leet will oversee commercial activities for them. The Lab Insight and Strategy Group has appointed a slew of senior consultants in Australia. In the role of senior strategy consultant, the company is bringing on Rebecca Brody, Daniel Bluzer-Fry, Mandy Abel and Katie Lucas. In the role of strategy director, they have hired Nikki Dahlgren, Mark Hobart and Simone Gair. Congratulations to all of you!

Michael Beebe takes on the role of CEO at Dstillery, a audience targeting firm.

David Hooper will join the team at Strategic Research Insights as the Principal Head of Qualitative Research.

Angela Pack is hired to be the Director of Business Development for FUEL, which offers qualitative field management. FIND US ONLINE: www.happymr.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/happymrxp Twitter: @happymrxp Instagram: @happymrxp LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/happymarketresearch/

Aeroplan buys back Aimia, a loyalty analytics company, for $450 million. Previously Aimia rejected a $250 million dollar offer from Aeroplan.

The Global Ad Trends report by Warc predicts a nearly 30% increase in digital ad spend over last year. The majority of this spend is directed to social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube. Your editor (that's me) believes this is only the start of the shift in ad spend.

Tobii releases Pro Lab VR 360 which enables researchers and academics to use 360 video and biometrics when tracking eye movement in virtual reality. Researchers are able to place people in immersive scenarios for behavioral studies. They also include biometric data to measure emotional responses like fear and excitement.

The7Stars partners with LivingLens and Peek Content to offer video insights through their new platform, Lightbox Illuminates. The product has features such as video diaries and video capture for qualitative research.

FiscalNote, which tracks legislation data, acquires CQ Roll Call, which focuses on political news, for $180m.

Questback promotes John Wilkinson to UK General Manager. FIND US ONLINE: www.happymr.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/happymrxp Twitter: @happymrxp Instagram: @happymrxp LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/happymarketresearch/

LinkedIn is opening up its data to researchers and academics. The goal is to create economic opportunities globally with the data. Their blog post also notes that the data will be de-identified to preserve the privacy of their members.

Gartner's EVP of research and advisory, Peter Sondergaard, steps down from his role. According to the SEC, Sondergaard resigned due to behavior "inconsistent with [Gartner's] code of conduct." For Gartner's part, there was reportedly no disagreement between himself and the company around the business practices. Michael Harris will replace Sondergaard.

Another new application using Blockchain: earn tokens for real reviews. Petar Slovic and Ivan Ciric launch the blockchain version of Yelp, called Review.Network. They are initially onboarding companies who will use the market research component of their system.

ResearchBods reports a 41% growth in revenue through acquiring some large, new contracts with the Telegraph, Hearst and others. Former Nielsen CFO, Jamere Jackson, takes on the same role for Hertz Global Holdings.

Brian Kober will now serve as SVP and Chief Strategy Officer for Neustar.

Steve Livingstone will lead Nepa's new Global Sports Division as Practice Lead. Nepa is a brand tracking research firm.

Brennan Lake will now be Program Director of Cuebiq's "Data for Good" initiative. FIND US ONLINE: www.happymr.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/happymrxp Twitter: @happymrxp Instagram: @happymrxp LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/happymarketresearch/

Welltok releases DataWise, a platform which provides data and predictive analytics for the healthcare industry. DataWise is aimed at addressing the ever-increasing need for big data and predictive analytics in healthcare.

Telaria, a video advertising management software, integrates Nielsen's digital ad ratings. The integration will allow Telaria customers to access comprehensive, next-day data of digital audience performance. This means TV-comparable industry standards for digital video advertising. Which is great, since I stopped watching TV ten years ago.

Facebook is being sued for "vastly inflating" the potential reach of it's advertisements, inducing people to spend money on ads that could never deliver. Danielle Singer, who is bringing the class action suit, alleges that Facebook reported to her that her ads could reach 1.9 million people between 18 and 34 in Chicago, while census data showed that only 800,000 people fit that demographic. This may have implications for automated panel companies.

After a successful launch in the US, Experian rolls out Ascend Analytics on Demand to the UK. Ascend allows Experian's clients to access a full range of their anonymised trended data in real time. The platform allows users to build their own predictive models with machine learning and Artificial Intelligence techniques, which in turn help businesses make decisions.

MartizCX adds nine tools to their customer experience platform. Their new suite of tools includes reporting, monitoring, workflows and emotion analysis of text. Engine hires Kasha Cacy, formerly of IPG Mediabrands, as Global CEO to oversee its offices in North America, the UK, Europe, and Asia Pacific.

Medallia hires a new President and CEO: Leslie Stretch will now lead the company.

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Ipsos hires Suresh Ramalingam to be the CEO of South East Asia.

Weber Shandwick launches a new centralized hub, called X Practice, which combines all of their offerings in one place so clients in all sectors can leverage their technology, data intelligence and innovation. See the full press release in our show notes.

Hartman releases a study on Gen Z, emphasizing the disruptive power of this diverse group that is more socially and politically engaged than ever. They're basically super millennials.

Eyeota partners with TwentyCi to deliver real estate data on all stages of the home purchasing cycle.

Active Measure gets $13.5 million in Series A funding and changes their name to DISQO.

Socialleads, which provides AI and machine learning insights to financial services companies about their professional and personal social networks, closes $750k in seed funding.

Lexalytics announces new features: their clients can now decide where their data is processed from among the US, the EU, or Australia. In addition, they have added native language analysis for Romanian.

MarketCast, Insight Strategy Group and Fizziology have merged under one, new parent company: The MarketCast Group.

Egg Strategy Inc adds to their leadership team in New York, Boulder, and Chicago. Jennifer Sagawa, Jonathan Schumann, and Jennifer Straussburger join the New York team, while Michael Chiasson will be in Boulder and Julia Goldhammer will lead in Chicago. Congrats to all of you.

Angelene Falk will serve as Australia's Information and Privacy Commissioner for the next term.

Clarivate Analytics hires Timothy Neely to be the Managing Director of Japan.

Adam Guilfoyle has been promoted to head of agency sales for Merkle Periscopix.

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A recent report from Nielsen outlines six factors in consumers' desire for convenience. See their full report.

NPD projects 50% sales growth in voice-activated speakers by 2019.

Gracenote, which is owned by Nielsen, releases a new mobile video analytics solution, which gives insights into mobile streaming analytics, such as engagement and retention.

Viant releases two new tools today, one for sales tactics and one for the purchase cycle. Both are intended to help CPG marketers.

New research from Publicis and Salesforce reveals that more shoppers than ever research products they want to purchase online.

V12 releases new data that identifies consumers who are about to buy a new car. Greg Dale, formerly of comScore, takes on the role of COO at Shareablee, which specializes in social media measurement,.

SRAX, a digital marketing and consumer data management platform, brings on George Stella to manage SRAXshopper, whose photo included with the press release could intimidate anyone into using their products.

MarketVision promotes from within. Frank Gutowski takes on the role of VP of qualitative research, while Tricia Sypniewski, Abby Miller and Shannon Murphy have been promoted research manager positions.

Cello Health adds to pharmacy industry experts to their board: Clifford Tompsett and Jo LeCouilliard. FIND US ONLINE: www.happymr.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/happymrxp Twitter: @happymrxp Instagram: @happymrxp LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/happymarketresearch/

The BBC are looking for new research partners, especially to provide insight into young audiences. A link for details and instructions regarding the supplier opportunity is in our show notes.

The Stagwell Group has raised $260 million in investment to support building on their $400 million consolidated net revenue this year.

Political polarization and social turmoil lead a massive change in 58% in brand leadership, according to Brand Keys' Customer Loyalty Engagement Index. The full report is linked in our show notes.

TVSquared, an ad measurement and optimization firm, opens an office in Miami to support its Latin American clients.

Marketing Evolution adds Michael Cohen as SVP Chief Data Science and Analytics Officer.

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Happy Market Research interviews Melanie Courtright, SVP at Research Now SSI – Live Tomorrow!

Our partner podcast, The Happy Market Research Podcast, drops their first new episode today. Hear an exclusive interview from Edwin Wong, SVP of Research and Insights of Buzzfeed. The show is available on Apple and everywhere else you listen to podcasts.

Elliott Management Corp has acquired an 8.4% stake in Nielsen and pressures the Nielsen Board to sell the company. See the full article from the New York Post in our show notes.

SurveyMonkey adds Erika Hayes James to their board as the first academic advisor bringing the gender split to an even 50/50. Happy Market Research is also 50/50.

WPP is moving out of it's Mayfair Headquarters. New location is still to be decided.

Sam Dawson and Rob Browton launch a new business: feedback.works. The first product is an an employee survey tool for SMBs. Research Now SSI acquires DMA-Institute, which is a digital media measurement company.

Respondi promotes Irena Hempel to VP of Sales for the UK

Jim Ehrlich joins GFK as SVP and account manager for their automotive clients.

Cuebiq hires Shane Wiley to be the Chief Privacy Officer.

Microstrategy appoints Marge Breya as Senior EVP and CMO.

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Jamin shares with us an announcement of our latest episode on the Happy Market Research Podcast