To increase customer engagement, Verve launches their second annual hackathon. The ideas generated by employees are reviewed by customers to get immediate feedback on market potential.

Fresh on the heels of a partnership with HARMAN, J.D. Power is now also partnering with Nielsen to provide data for Nielsen's new 'Auto Cloud' platform. See the full press release in our show notes.

comScore's revenue is on the mend after losses in 2017. Revenue is up 2%.

Dynamic Yield raises $32 million in Series D funding, which they will use to accelerate the development of their personalization APIs. See the full press release in our show notes. UserTesting grows their c-level executives. Michelle Huff is their new CMO and Carol MacKinlay is the new Chief People Officer.

DRG hires a new Chief Strategy Officer: Davis Walp.

Russell Winer joins GBH Insight's advisory board.

Adjust, a mobile measurement firm, is expanding operations to India where Ashwiny Thapliyal will lead the team.

Toni Green joins Smarty Pants as Research Whiz. Full disclosure: I am wildly jealous of that job title. Also check the link in our show notes for the most adorable picture of Toni when she was little. FIND US ONLINE: www.happymr.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/happymrxp Twitter: @happymrxp Instagram: @happymrxp LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/happymarketresearch/

Kantar published it's Dimension Report which identifies key issues for advertisers. The full report is linked in our show notes.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau questions the validity Nielsen's Digital Content Ratings.

IRI and One Click Retail partner to bring a new predictive analytics platform to CPGs. See their press release in our show notes.

ISG expands their Provider Lens coverage to Australia, Brazil, and the UK. Provider lens gives insights and data on service providers.

Branded Research opens a new office in Boston.

Koski Research changes their name to Logica Research to have the name represent their roots in logic and reason. In the UK, the ICO appoints Simon McDougall as Executive Director.

Mesh Experience hires Mark Thompson to be the Experience Director.

Marketing company, Trone Brand Energy, launches full-service research firm with Scott Layne at the helm.

Adsquare, which uses real-time location data for mobile ad targeting, expands to Chicago where Allyson White will be Sales Director. FIND US ONLINE: www.happymr.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/happymrxp Twitter: @happymrxp Instagram: @happymrxp LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/happymarketresearch/

Sequoia Capital and Coatue Management are the lead investors for Domino Data Lab's 40 million dollar round. The funds will help the company to develop their products and expand internationally. See the full press release in our show notes.

comScore partners with Vizio Inscape to get smart TV data.

Outcome Health partners with Nielsen to leverage their audience measurement tools to provide better content in doctor's waiting rooms.

Kantar joins Google's Measurement Partners Program. They are joining comScore, Research Now, Nielsen, and many others. If you're interested in applying, check the show notes for a link. Clarity Insights adds to their team. Debbie Callahan has been appointed Chief Sales Officer. Paul Sinclair and George Gardner-Serra both join as healthcare partners.

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Massey University endorses using virtual reality for participants in marketing research.

RTi in conjunction with CoreLogic report that 63% of millennials cannot afford a home down payment. See the full article from RISMedia in our show notes.

Join the Dots reports a 12.7% increase in revenue in the first 2 quarters.

RealityMine releases RealLife, which allows users to analyze passively collected data. Their product is linked in the show notes.

A recent interview with Sarah King, CMO of Kantar, highlights both the importance of and lack of brand trust. Apparently, only 25% of brands are trusted by Australians.

On that topic, Emma's Diary, a parenting advice site, has been fined by the ICO in the UK for illegally collecting and selling the personal information of more than one million people.

Dun & Bradstreet is being acquired by an investment group for $6.9 billion.

Simmons Research expands their team, bringing on Dan Zislis as VP, Head of Agency Sales; Jim Laiderman as VP of Product and Custom Analytics; and Abhinav Kothari joins as Senior Director of Engineering.

Research Now SSI, whose EVP of Global Research was recently on our partner podcast, The Happy Market Research Podcast, has moved Christian Dubreuil into a new role: Managing Director of Ad and Audience, EMEA.

Sightly appoints Nichola Karp, formerly of Neilsen, to Chief Product Officer.

Nielsen's Connected Partner Program is now the largest in the fast-moving consumer goods space. A link to their product is available in our show notes.

According to a study released by Kantar, Amazon Prime beats Apple Music in the UK. Spotify, however, is still number one in music streaming.

Hot on the heels of CE-Q, VIGA also launches a new division to provide insights to financial institutions.

Lieberman launches a new division of their own as well. It will provide analytics about digital usage.

SPARK Neuro, which uses neuroscience in ad targeting, receives $13.5 million in Series A funding, partially from Will Smith. We look forward to seeing the fresh prince of MR Tech. See the full press release in our show notes.

4Sight unveils a their new "Drive" team to provide insights into the automotive industry.

Springbot is offering a new "abandonment" tool for SMBs to target customers who visit them but make no purchases.

Marketagent.com has developed new panels in Latvia and Nicaragua bringing their total countries to 52.

Monetate hires Stephen Collins as CEO.

Ipsos appoints Per-Henrik Karlsson as the Head of Business Consulting in Singapore. They also appoint Vivek Gupta as Managing Director in Mumbai.

Davis Walp has joined Decision Research as Chief Strategy Officer.

Eyeota expands their team in Australia and New Zealand. They have appointed George Henshaw as general manager and Laura Widdowson as Senior Manager

MetrixLab hires Clare Chai to be the Senior Client Director for China.

Bryter hires and promotes from within. Katie Aylward, Danielle Patterson, and Dan Riley are all taking on the role of Senior Research Executives.

Lucid, which is slated to be on our partner podcast, The Happy Market Research Podcast, in the coming weeks, has expanded to Australia and New Zealand.

Nielsen launches Media Impact, a media planning tool. It will include their recently released Total Audience View Analytics which incorporates a bunch of different data.

Gfk reveals the results of their first HomeView study on the PC and laptop market.

NDP released a study about toy sales, revealing Toys R Us nostalgia may be contributing to increase in toy sales. The full report is linked in our show notes.

Video streaming is on the rise according to the Office of National Statistics UK. Groundbreaking stuff.

Following the closure of Canada's MRIA, a taskforce of 50 researchers has been assembled for the interim. The team will facilitate communication and transition to a new organization.

GlobaLexicon promotes James Heneghan to Associate Director.

The7Stars, a media agency, appoints Helen Rose to head of data, insights, and analytics. She will be leading a team of 20 in the newly formed department.

ISG reports revenue is up 4% in Q2 and their adjusted EBITDA is up 23% over last year.

Likewise Gartner reports a 14% increase in revenue and an 11% increase in EBITDA.

Media Post reports US Senators are investigating the use of facial recognition technology, questioning accuracy and privacy concerns. This coming after a test run by the ACLU in which 28 Congress members were matched with people from mugshots by Amazon's offering. I do wonder what mugshot my face would be paired with. The full article is linked in our show notes.

Consumer Edge launches CE-Q which integrates credit and debit card transactional data, offering a more complete view of the customer to financial institutes.

Digitab, a Kantar-owned data collection company, is being closed due to a loss in revenue.

Illuminera and DBM merge to increase their global footprint.

On the heels of acquiring Medscape, WebMD has also purchased the Consumer Services Division of Vitals.

Omnicom acquires a majority share of Credera, which provides user experience consulting and analytics services. Find the full press release linked in our show notes.

Ipsos hires Sonul Verdia as Executive Director of its Mystery Shopping Services.

Gfk hires Warren Saunders as General Manager for Northern Europe.

Kelton Global appoints Joey Doney, formerly of Nike, as VP of Insights and Strategy

Lego doubles down on voice. In addition to the two Alexa skills they have already released, they are adding voice advertising to their audio marketing strategy.

Hornet teamed up with Kantar and their study revealed that the LGBTQ community is being underserved. Imagine that. It is being labeled the $1 Trillion blindspot.

A report from The Advertising Association/Warc showed that UK advertising spend is up nearly 6%. See the full report in our show notes.

Cheetah Digital has bought Stellar Loyalty. This merger will boost the data offering of Cheetah Digital. See their announcement linked in our show notes.

Phoenix Marketing International promotes Elizabeth Trachte to CFO.

Zimmerman hires Alisa Ben to be the Senior VP of data intelligence.

Here at MRx News we love to see women achieving higher positions of authority. Look out for an upcoming episode on our partner podcast, Happy Market Research Podcast, on the topic of gender diversity in this sector!

Fundstrat Global Advisors, a market strategy and research firm, will now accept Bitcoin as a payment method.

SIS, which just a few weeks ago launched a beauty division, today opens a new division for FinTech. The full press release is, you guessed it, linked in our show notes.

PRS IN VIVO releases a new AI Pack Screening Model, which uses AI to screen packaging concepts.

CoolTool is also leveraging artificial intelligence. They have released an AI-powered webcam which tracks eye movement to optimize their emotions-based research.

Maru/edr partners with LivingLens to add video data capture and analysis to their line of offerings. Their press release is also linked in our show notes.

Veritonic, an audio analytics firm, secured $3.5 million in seed funding, which it will use to expand its product.

Publicis buys One Digital, a data-driven agency, based in Brazil.

Andrew Farley, formerly the CEO of Epsilon, takes on the same role at V12 Data.

ThoughtSpot, an analytics firm, hires Sudheesh Nair as Chief Executive Officer.

RealityMine hires Billy Grant as product manager.

IPSOS is looking for an Associate Director of EU Evaluation.

Nielsen revamps the Total Audience Report to include both traditional and emerging media. Their new report includes not only television and radio, but time spent on a game console, internet use on a computer, as well as app use on phones and tablets. The full report is linked in our show notes.

Similarly, comScore announces a the release of their own product which measures ad views across platforms like TV and mobile. The new metrics will give insight into streaming services and other online consumption of media. The major networks as well as Hulu have signed on to help detangle the analytics of today's media consumption landscape.

The Fair Vote Project is posed to launch a class action suit against Facebook for misusing user data.

Simon Data, which specializes in big data, raises $20 million in Series B funding, which they will use to develop their data science.

Kantar Millward Brown's "Meaningfully Different Framework" has passed its MASB audit. The framework measures how meaningfully brands connect with their audience, how brands differentiate themselves, and how readily they come to the mind of the consumer.

Simmons, a consumer insights firm, launches a new tool: Brand Catalyst. Brand Catalyst is billed as an advanced psychographics tool to help brands understand consumer perception.

The MRIA a non-profit which represents the survey and market intelligence sector in Canada is closing its doors. Their published memo stated that the "current financial situation leaves no other possible alternative."

FlexMR creates a new helpdesk and promotes from within. Grayling Ferguson will be the manager of three other team members in the new department.

C-Space appoints Gaelle Antoniazzi as quantitative consultant.