Combined Research Capabilities Will Deliver Decision-Ready Customer Experience and Global Market Insights to U.S. and Multinational Businesses
St. Louis, Oct. 4, 2010 – Today, Maritz Research announced it has acquired evolve24, a business analytics and research firm that uses traditional and social media to measure perception, reputation and risk. Through their combined capabilities, both companies will offer business clients customer experience research that is more relevant and actionable, helping companies improve their businesses and their bottom lines.
“The marketing research world is changing,” says Jim Stone, executive vice president and chief research officer of Maritz Research. “Thanks to social media, mobile technology and other emerging technologies, consumers are taking control of the conversation around their brand experiences. evolve24 is truly on the leading-edge of its space, using advanced techniques in both psychology and Web intelligence to capture, analyze and predict reputational risks and opportunities for its clients. As a leader in our industry, Maritz Research is adapting and improving our customer experience research solutions to meet the demands of our clients and their customers in the 21st century, and evolve24 is helping us deliver.”
evolve24 is one of nine companies evaluated in the “The Forrester Wave™: Listening Platforms, Q3 2010” report published in July 2010 by independent research firm Forrester Research, Inc. evolve24 was described as a “strong performer” that excels in data analysis of traditional and social media. The report stated that evolve24 “has deep experience in helping clients design enterprise-scale social media listening platforms for use by multiple business units, and in integrating usage of these tools within client organizations.”
“Maritz Research has a strong reputation as a leading customer experience research provider for Fortune 500 companies,” comments Anthony Sardella, founder and CEO of evolve24. “Maritz Research always has been on the forefront of marketing research sciences and combines this expertise with solid business experience and strategic insight in a wide variety of industries. We’re proud to be joining with a company that recognizes changing market realities, and is poised to deliver customer experience research that addresses the needs of everyone in and around a business, including consumers, client insight teams and front-line employees.”
Maritz Research’s parent company, Maritz Holdings Inc. is a privately-held company. Terms of the acquisition are not being disclosed.
About evolve24
Based in St. Louis, evolve24 is a business analytics and research firm specializing in the measurement of perception, reputation and risk. We analyze traditional and social media to determine our clients’ overall information landscape and provide quantitative metrics that let clients measure and report the value of their marketing and communications efforts. With this information, our clients are able to identify ongoing topics and risks that could become issues without management attention, or could become opportunities if approached correctly. evolve24 is the only provider of a complete, integrated solution based on scientifically peer-reviewed methodology that analyzes existing issues, predicts changes in those issues and identifies the emergence of new issues early in their life-cycle.
About Maritz Research
As one of the world’s largest marketing research firms, Maritz Research, a unit of Maritz, helps many of today’s most successful companies improve performance through a deep understanding of their customers, employees and channel partners. Founded in 1973, it offers a range of strategic and tactical solutions concentrating primarily in the automotive, financial services, hospitality, technology, telecommunications, and retail industries. The company has achieved ISO 20252 registration, the international symbol of quality. It is a member of CASRO, ESOMAR, MRA, and is the official sponsor of the American Marketing Association.
For more information, visit www.maritz.com and www.evolve24.com, or contact us at 1-877-4MARITZ.