MARKET RESEARCH Bureau of Ireland (MRBI) has now officially joined the Ipsos research group and has been rebranded from TNS mrbi to Ipsos MRBI.
Ipsos MRBI is regarded as one of the leading research companies in the country, with particular strengths in areas such as polling, media audience measurement and stakeholder management research. Ipsos, which is headquartered in Paris, is the second largest survey-based research company in the world and operates in more than 60 countries.
It initially entered the Irish market with the acquisition of Mori in 2005.
The opportunity to make another Irish acquisition arose as a result of a European Commission ruling which required WPP (which acquired TNS in 2008) to sell MRBI for competition reasons. Founded in 1962, MRBI was acquired by TNS in 1996.
In July 2009, Ipsos signed an agreement to acquire MRBI, and this deal was “rubber stamped” by the European Commission in late September 2009.
Damian Loscher, managing director of Ipsos MRBI says that the merger represents “the perfect partnership” on a number of levels. As a global survey business, Ipsos has the capacity to invest in new techniques and innovation.
“We have access to that wealth of experience and can bring that to bear in the Irish market,” Mr Loscher said.