Kantar Group
Kantar Group Ltd is a British market research company that was founded in 1992. It has more than 30,000 employees working in 100 countries in various research disciplines, including social media monitoring, advertising effectiveness, consumer and shopper behavior and public opinion. It has been majority owned by Bain Capital Private Equity since 2019, and was previously part of WPP.[1] Its global headquarters are in London, England. Major competitors include GfK, GlobalData, Nielsen and Ipsos.
Type | Private limited company |
---|---|
Industry | Market research |
Founded | 1992 (as the Market Research, Insight and Consultancy division of WPP) |
Headquarters | London, England |
Key people | Alexis Nasard (CEO) |
Products | Market research Data investment management consultancy |
Owner | Bain Capital (60%) WPP Group (40%) |
Website | www |
In April 2019, Kantar unified all its legacy brands,[2] such as Kantar TNS, Kantar Millward Brown, Kantar Media and Kantar Worldpanel, into Kantar. In July 2019, owner WPP sold a 60% stake of Kantar to Bain Capital Private Equity. Kantar's valuation was about $4.0bn.
History
Acquisitions
British Market Research Bureau Limited – BMRB which was established in 1933, London were acquired by the group in 2009 and merged into Kantar Public in 2016.[3] The subsidiarie TGI – Target Group Index of BMRB which was established in 1969 was split and merged into the Kantar Media brand in 2009.[4]
On 24 October 2018 it was announced that the WPP board approved plans to sell Kantar Group.[5]
In 2020, Ian Griffiths (former CFO and COO at ITV) was named Chief Financial Officer[6] of Kantar, while Adam Crozier was appointed Chairman.[7] In October 2020, Kantar announced the appointment of Alexis Nasard as Chief Executive Officer, effective 30 December 2020.
Office locations
Kantar has offices in 90 markets, including the UK & Ireland,[8] North America,[9] Spain,[10] France, Italy, China and Brazil. Its global HQ is in London.
Former brands
Kantar Consulting
Kantar Consulting was formerly[11] Kantar Vermeer, Kantar Added Value, Kantar Retail and Kantar Futures, and was a marketing and sales consultancy.
Kantar Added Value
In October 2004, three Kantar companies – Added Value, Icon Brand Navigation and Diagnostic Research – combined under the "Added Value" name.[12] Kantar Added Value focused on brand marketing, consumer insight, innovation and communications optimisation.
Kantar Retail
Kantar Retail was headquartered in London and has over 400 employees and offices in 15 markets around the globe.
Kantar Futures
Kantar Futures offered subscription services and consulting regarding future trends. Formerly known as The Futures Company, Kantar Futures was formed through the integration of The Henley Centre, HeadlightVision, Yankelovich and TRU.[13]
Kantar Health
Kantar Health (now Kantar's Health Division) provides data, analytics, and research to the life sciences industry. as of Dec 2020, Cerner announced that it will acquire Kantar Health, acquisition is expected to close in the first half of 2021[14]
Kantar IMRB
Kantar IMRB (formerly "IMRB International" and "Indian Market Research Bureau") is a multi-country market research, survey and business consultancy firm established in 1970 that offers a range of syndicated data and customized research services. With over 1200 employees, IMRB is one of the largest providers of market research in India in an industry estimated to be worth a minimum of $187 million. As the oldest extant market research company in India, IMRB has been responsible for establishing the first and only household panel, the first television audience measurement system and the first radio panel in the country. IMRB International's specialised areas are consumer markets, industrial marketing, business-to-business marketing, social marketing and rural marketing.
Kantar Media
Kantar Media (now Kantar's Media division) offers a range of media insights and audience measurement services through the analysis of print, radio, TV, internet, cinema, mobile, social and outdoor media worldwide. Kantar Media was formed from WPP Group's acquisition of TNS Media and KMR Group in 2010. Kantar Media became Kantar's rebranded insight, media evaluation and audience measurement company.[15] In 2014, Kantar Media acquired a majority stake in the issued share capital of Precise Media Group Holdings Limited ("Precise") in a £70m deal.[16] In the same year, Kantar Media acquired IBOPE Media, the main TV audience and ad investment measurement company in Brazil.[17] Kantar Media has within it organizational subsidiaries, such as Kantar Media North America, which are legal corporate entities in their own right.[18]
Kantar Millward Brown
Kantar Millward Brown was founded in Warwick, England in 1973 and acquired by WPP Group in 1990. Kantar Millward Brown, now part of Kantar's Insights Division, is a global research agency specialising in advertising, marketing communications, media and brand equity research. Kantar Millward Brown works across a range of industries and categories, and has a number of specialist practices.
Kantar Public
Kantar Public works with clients in government, the public sector, global institutions, NGOs and commercial businesses to advise in the delivery of public policy, public services and public communications. It has offices in 12 countries worldwide.
Kantar TNS
In 2008, Kantar TNS (Taylor Nelson Sofres) was acquired by WPP and included in Kantar. In February 2009, Kantar merged TNS and Research International.[19]
Kantar Worldpanel
Kantar Worldpanel runs continuous consumer panels and specializes in shopper behaviour.[20]
Lightspeed
Lightspeed was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in Warren, New Jersey, United States. The company operates in North America, Europe and Asia. It provides online market research services, specializing in using the Internet as a data collection platform to provide research through building and maintaining panels subject to quality and representative sampling standards.
Specialty panels range across industry sectors such as financial services, health care, business-to-business, automotive, family and more. Lightspeed also provides custom panels to address specific client needs. In 2007, it conducted over 20 million online surveys for clients.
References
- "WPP Annual Report 2013 – Our companies & associates". WPP. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
- "Kantar merges all brands under single name - Exchange4media". Indian Advertising Media & Marketing News – exchange4media. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
- "About us". Kantar Public. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
- "TGI (Target Group Index)". DJS Research. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
- Crisp, Wil (24 October 2018). "WPP board approves plan to sell its Kantar data division". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
- "Kantar appoints Ian Griffiths as chief financial officer". www.campaignlive.co.uk. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
- Reuters Staff (11 February 2020). "Kantar appoints ex-ITV chief Adam Crozier as chairman". Reuters. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
- "Kantar UK & Ireland". kantar.com. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
- "Home". kantar.com. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
- "Home". kantar.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 28 September 2020.
- "WPP's Kantar merges four brands into one consultancy". www.campaignlive.co.uk. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
- "Angus Porter to head Added Value – WPP". www.wpp.com. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
- "Two leading research consultancies merge to form The Futures Company". WPP. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
- "Clinical Publications". www.kantar.com. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
- "Kantar is launching Kantar Media". WPP. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
- "WPP's Kantar buys Precise Media Group in £70m deal". The Telegraph, 10 Jun 2014. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
- "Kantar, do grupo WPP, adquire controle do Ibope Media". Midia e Marketing (in Portuguese). 17 December 2014. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
- Fry, Erika (1 February 2018). "Super Bowl Ads Can't Save TV". Fortune (print mail distribution): ppg. 10–11. ISSN 0015-8259.
...explains Manish Bhatia, CEO of Kantar Media North America.
- "TNS and Research International combine strengths in custom research". WPP. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
- "Consumer Panels - Kantar Worldpanel". www.kantarworldpanel.com. Retrieved 5 April 2019.