Author: Bob Lederer

Two important legal stories in the research marketplace: 1) Ipsos SA is suing Aegis Plc in its acquisition of Synovate back in 2011. Ipsos is alleging Aegis overstated Synovate’s profits, failed to disclose legal and financial information and exaggerated the number of Synovate customer contracts. 2) Thomson Reuters is cooperating with the New York Attorney General’s Office regarding its early release of semi-annual results from the University of Michigan Consumer Survey. The Conference Board is investigating financial benefit by some from early release of two pieces of its widely used data.

Google Consumer Surveys Product Manager Paul McDonald explains how Brand Lift, which he spoke about on Monday’s RBDR, will benefit advertisers. And he discusses two other areas of particular interest to Google.

Google Databoard wants to break available Google data into bite-sized chunks, then turn them into data. Google Consumer Surveys founder and Product Manager Paul McDonald updates RBDR on what’s new.

The troubles Google Glass is having–volunteered by a Google developer. Strong market research results have guided Kroger to maintain several discount programs and have counseled ABC Television’s attempt to re-energize “The View.” A U.K. Interactive Advertising Bureau study shows social media positively shifts consumers in four key ways, which can make it a core marketing element. Nielsen Holdings joins the S&P 500. Why Thomson Reuters is discontinuing its practice of releasing information from the University of Michigan Survey of Consumers two seconds early for clients willing to pay for it.

Honomichl Top 50 insights about lackluster 2012 sales results include commentary about government spending, focus groups and online research. Copernicus and Carat NA brought together their consumer and analytics expertise. And Kantar merged its Dynamic Logic and Compete digital businesses into the new Millward Brown Digital division.

RBDR News Notes: Hotspex President Shane Skillen reports on his Google Consumer Survey experience… a CareerBuilder survey shows 43% of hiring managers find reasons on social media to alter their decisions… and a paper in the Journal of the American Medical Association claims confidentiality of consumer’s online health searches are threatened by third parties that are watching.