News 2019

Members of the Network will have read of the death in October of John Goodyear, former Chairman of The MBL Group. On 16th December Mary Goodyear hosted a celebration of his life at the East India Club in St James’s Square, London. A description of this of this event and photographs are now available.

Our Christmas Party and AGM was held on 4th December at the splendid offices of Kantar Profiles in Millbank. The wine flowed freely, mince pies and stollen were available in abundance and the atmosphere, as always, was convivial.

After a slow start, we received a number of entries to our caption competition last month. The winning caption for the photo of Frank Winter and Finn Raban was submitted by John Kelly

Three more interviews have been added to the Oral History archive: another three individuals who really helped shape the research industry and who are indeed still closely involved with the Network.

What were Finn Raben and Frank Winter saying to each other in this photo snatched by our roving photographer at the Autumn Lunch? Best suggestion wins a prize.

If you have not yet submitted your entry, there is still time to take part… winning yourself the undying admiration of your friends if your caption is published in the Newsletter, plus a free ticket for a non-member guest to next year’s Spring Lunch or Summer Party for the winner.

The Network’s Autumn Lunch, held at Brasserie Blanc on 17 October, saw the largest attendance at a Network event for some years, with over 70 members and guests present.

The Archive of Market & Social Research (AMSR) has just published its October newsletter, which is full of fascinating information about the contents of the Archive.

A recent ESOMAR meeting in London focussed on the role and impact of Artificial Intelligence in research. Frank Winter reports that these presentations communicated a great deal of very interesting information.

Some 50 members and guests attended the Network’s Summer Party on 2nd July. You can read about the event and view the pictures in the gallery.

The Archive of Market and Social Research (AMSR), which describes itself as “both a history of UK market research and UK history through market research”, has announced the retirement of one of its founding trustees.

The Research Network congratulate Peter Mouncey on being awarded the MRS Gold Medal in recognition his many years promoting and protecting the market and social research sector. Peter is only the 12th recipient of this award, since is was designated as the Society’s highest honour for exceptional service.

Photos of the Spring Lunch (held at Brigade, Tooley Street, on Tuesday 30th April) are now available in the Gallery section of the website. This was our first visit to Brigade and the establishment proved to be a great choice.

Those responsible for designing forthcoming censuses in both the UK and the USA are debating whether to include aspects of identity in the exercise.

Linda Henshall reports that this year’s MRBA fundraising auction was the best ever. The auction smashed its target of £7,000, raising a total of £9,313 thanks to all the generous donors and bidders.

Our second evening meeting was held on 6th March at the IPA, Belgrave Square, excellently chaired by Brian Jacobs and with four panel members representing research insight, data systems and analysis tools:- Stephen Blouet (Kantar), Sabine Cronick (2CV), Helen Rose (the7stars) and Ben Haley (Initiative UK).

The MRBA 2019 Auction runs from Friday 1st March, at 9:00am and finishes at 9:00pm on 18th March. The annual auction raises valuable funds to assist research colleagues who are in real financial distress.

The parliamentary inquiry into ‘disinformation and fake news’ has called for stricter social media regulation, particularly of  Facebook. The investigation covered individuals’ rights over their privacy, how their political choices might be affected and influenced by online information, and interference in political elections

The Archive of Market & Social Research held a prestigious event on 29th January, at the IPA in Belgrave Square. The event highlighted the success story of the Archive and its achievements since its inception.