written like an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . august 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . may 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message imrb international type subsidiary founded 1970 founder hindustan thompson associates headquarters mumbai maharashtra india services research business consulting and survey number of employees 1200 parent kantar group website official website imrb international formerly indian market research bureau is a multi country market research survey and business consultancy firm that offers a range of syndicated data and customized research services . headquartered in mumbai india with operations in over 15 countries imrb is a part of the kantar group wpp s research insights and consultancy network . 1 established in 1970 imrb was modeled on the lines of the british market research bureau . imrb is now a leading provider of market research and insights across south asia the middle east and north africa with specialist divisions in quantitative qualitative media retail industrial customer satisfaction business to business and social and rural research . imrb s syndicated research offerings include the marketpulse the national food survey web audience measurement wam itops and i cube reports . 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 . 2 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 and has played a key role in the development of market research in india . it has been rated the best market research company by industry body market research society of india mrsi for several years . 3 imrb international s specialised areas are consumer markets industrial marketing business to business marketing social marketing and rural marketing . 4 contents 1 history 2 company structure 3 business divisions and services 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history edit imrb was established in 1970 to provide market research services to the clients of hindustan thompson associates . early clients included fast moving consumer goods companies such as unilever itc pond s and horlicks . the initial decade saw rapid expansion into new areas of business with the first qualitative study being conducted by the end of the decade and imrb pioneering psephology in india through an ongoing series of opinion poll surveys for india today that successfully predicted congress victory in the 1980 general election . subsequent decades saw the development of new verticals with the creation of specialized units and the offering of several syndicated research products . imrb also played an important role in the standardization of market research practice in india and was responsible for the creation in 1983 of the socio economic classification system a method now used across india to define target audiences . in 1987 as a founder member of the mrsi it helped evolve industry wide codes of conduct and standards for survey data collection that are still in use today . 5 with the global acquisition of j. walter thompson by sir martin sorrell in 1987 imrb became a constituent of wpp and continued its pace of growth growing over 25 % per annum through the 1990s under the leadership of ramesh thadani . the 1990s saw the creation of specialized units focusing on development research employee satisfaction loyalty programs technology and media and the acquisition of several new multinational clients . imrb s insights also played a role in the development of several new products for major indian brands such as marico bingo chips godrej and dabur and by this time supported 40 out of top 50 brands in india . imrb s logo and tagline as displayed outside its head office in mumbai . in 2002 as part of a process of rebranding it changed its name from the indian market research bureau to imrb international adopted a new logo and began a process of rapidly expanding its international services . this was accompanied by a shift from its offices at esplanade mansion to its current premises in dadar mumbai . as part of geographical expansion imrb helped set up lmrb in colombo sri lanka in 1981 and amrb in 1999 with headquarters in dubai and offices throughout the middle east and north africa . in 1996 along with the manufacturers association for information technology mait imrb initiated the periodic itops survey which monitors the it hardware market among households and businesses . since 1998 in collaboration with the internet and mobile association of india iamai an industry body imrb also started providing a series of annual syndicated research reports named i cube which surveys the online and mobile landscape in india . more recently in 2010 imrb launched the web audience measurement wam system india s first standardized internet audience measurement system based on a panel . 6 company structure edit imrb is headquartered in mumbai india . its parent company is hindustan thompson associates which in turn is owned by martin sorrell s wpp group plc. within wpp imrb is aligned with the kantar group an umbrella network of global market research companies that together account for over 2 billion in revenues and form the world s second biggest market research conglomerate . a diagrammatic chart representing imrb s ownership structure . in india imrb international operates out of its five full service offices in ahmedabad mumbai delhi kolkata chennai and bangalore and is supported by 15 other regional centers for collection of survey information . overseas imrb functions through its associates amrb mena in the middle east and north africa with offices in algiers dubai jeddah casablanca and cairo ; and lmrb with offices in colombo and sirius headquartered in dhaka . 7 imrb is currently headed by thomas puliyel a market researcher with over thirty years of experience . as the oldest market research company in india it has served as the training ground of many industry leaders including dorab sopariwala ranjit chib and meena kaushik who went on to found their own companies . business divisions and services edit given the specialized nature of its work imrb is organized into several independent business divisions that focus on specific areas of market research . it currently has eight business units in addition to its oldest division the quantitative research division . 8 sign outside imrb s mumbai head office . name of division year of establishment areas of expertise scope of work quantitative research wing 1970 quantitative custom and syndicated research national foods survey responsible for a wide range of data analytics comprises the bulk of imrb s custom research probe qualitative research 1979 ethnographic qualitative custom research integrates insights from anthropology psychology and the social sciences media and panel group 1992 marketpulse tgi custom media research tracks over 70 000 households purchase behavior conducts custom specialized media research business and industrial research division 1994 icube itops wam b2b consulting runs wam india s web audience measurement service brings out industry sector specific reports brand science 1996 new tools that help understand brands and communication in an indian context provides brand and communications consulting and advisory services customer satisfaction management and measurement 1994 customer and employee satisfaction surveys loyalty programs focuses on stakeholder researcher employees vendors shoppers tracks employee satisfaction and stakeholder loyalty levels mindtech systems 2001 market research software data fusion cass computer aided survey systems provides customized software and platforms for data collection and analysis provides software support for television audience measurement and retail purchase data collection social and rural research institute 1991 developmental research public health research all india health survey primarily services aid agencies ngos and the government responsible for the largest unicef survey on polio data collection for national family health survey abacus market analytics 2001 data processing advanced analytics market research software survey programming handles operations in data processing charting statistical analysis database management and updation excel macro creation and quality testing in addition to its eight specialized units imrb also has abacus field offices that are responsible for the recruitment administration and quality control of survey responses . while a significant amount of its work involves customized research such as usage studies branding studies public opinion research concept testing product testing need assessment studies packaging and label research and market segmentation studies imrb also offers a variety of syndicated research products and reports that are widely used as industry bench marks of consumer behaviour such as marketpulse a continuous monthly tracking of household purchases across various fmcg categories . the panel covers over 70 000 homes with 56 000 homes in urban and 14 000 in rural india and is widely used as a benchmark for purchase and pricing behavior . its counterpart the elite household panel tracks information in affluent urban households wam and ram a standardized audience measurement system that samples web and radio audiences and provides real time detailed segmented data on web usage behaviors itops and icube syndicated annual research reports on the landscape of new technology in india tgi india a collaboration with tgi which provides the largest single source of marketing and media information covering data on consumer attitudes motivations media habits and purchasing behavior . see also edit marketing research references edit http www.imrbint.com the hindu business line mr looks for a makeover . thehindubusinessline.in . 2003 07 24 . retrieved 2011 03 07 . imrb international wins the market research agency of the year award for the third consecutive time . marketresearchworld.net . 2008 10 08 . retrieved 2011 03 07 . http www.imrbint.com http www.mrsi.in the hindu business line imrb launches web audience measurement . thehindubusinessline.in . 2010 11 02 . retrieved 2011 03 07 . http www.imrbint.com divisions . imrbint.com . retrieved 2011 03 07 . external links edit official website v t e wpp divisions and subsidiaries advertising bates chi cohn & wolfe essence communications grey global group jwt digitaria ogilvy & mather ogilvy commonhealth asia pacific scholz & friends sudler & hennessey taxi tenthavenue candyspace forward joule tmarc vml wpp scangroup wunderman the united network young & rubicam burson marsteller media investment management groupm mediacom mec mindshare maxus tenthavenue shopper2buyer spafax kantar group graphic kantar added value kantar futures kantar health kantar imrb kantar media kantar media philippines kantar millward brown affectiva kantar retail kantar tns compete.com kantar vermeer kantar worldpanel lightspeed public relations & public affairs dewey square group finsbury the glover park group hill & knowlton penn schoen & berland quinn gillespie & associates branding & identity the brand union fitch lambie nairn landor associates the partners ray and keshavan tenthavenue kinetic worldwide specialist communications hogarth worldwide wpp digital 24 7 real media blue state digital people philip lader martin sorrell category retrieved from https 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