May 2008
"The Advertising Research Foundation has signed twenty-three new members so far this year," it was announced by Bob Barocci, President and CEO. "This is powerful confirmation that our research initiatives are indeed making a difference to marketers today," Barocci went on.
That difference was further affirmed by Byron Lewis, Chairman/CEO of Uniworld Group, who noted that "working with the ARF provides the opportunity to bring fact based clarity to the economic and cultural importance of the African American community."
Recent members include advertisers T-Mobile, Hershey and Discover Financial; agencies Rubin Posteur and Associates (RPA) and Dentsu; and Hispanic media giant Telemundo.
VMS heads a large group of research firms, including Sands Research, Parker Market Research, PhaseOne Communications, Informa Research Services of NY, Harker Research, TRA, Aeffect, Sensomotoric Instruments (SMI) and Masmi Research.
Other new members include Texas Monthly (Media), Fabris Media Services (Consultant), OVAB (Association), and academic institutions University of Missouri-School of Journalism, University of Hartford, Universita Cattolica del Sacre Cuore (Milan) and the Polish Academy of Sciences (Warsaw).
"This broad spectrum of advertisers, agencies, media, associations, researchers, and academics flocking to the ARF demonstrates the universal importance of research," observed Joel Rubinson, Chief Research Officer of the ARF. "Marketing research is cool again because generating consumer foresight is what separates winners from losers in a consumer-led marketing era," Rubinson continued, "as the marketing rules for being customer-centered are changing in an era of fragmented media and web-based social networks. Organizations are increasingly turning to the ARF for knowledge and to anticipate the next move, so they can make the right marketing and media decisions. Consumers are in control and there really is no turning back."
"The bottom line is that the ARF is now widely sought as the 'go-to' source for knowledge with authority," he concluded, "and we are turning up the heat on the research industry to continue to innovate with new metrics and tools that touch every facet of the marketing world."
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