In 2010 we saw a lot of agencies consolidating resources and services via acquisition and it appears that 2011 will be no different. European social monitoring and research company, Attentio, just announced they’ve acquired 365Research, a market research technology company. According to Attentio, the move strengthens their technology and product proposition.
“It’s great to have this team joining Attentio, they are such a sharp and creative group” said Attentio CEO Simon McDermott. He added “As most people in marketing and communications know, the market for social media insight has grown exponentially in the last couple of years but this is just the beginning, especially in Europe. Our clients need access to real customer insights from these sources (Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Forums and Comments) and we look forward to continue building a great Software as a Service (SaaS) dashboard for this purpose”
With social media as a marketing channel becoming a multi-billion dollar industry, more and more companies are making moves to add talent and technology to their stables. It’s a trend which will continue to gain momentum as more companies leverage the power of automation tools to monitor social media and listen to and learn from customers.
Said 365Research founder and now Attentio Chief Product Officer, Colin Sanders “I’ve been in market research for 20 years and the impact of social media is the greatest change in the landscape in that time. This doesn’t mean that the other market research methodologies are obsolete but now there is a new way to make better decisions by listening to freely forming conversations in social media and accurately analyse them. At 365Research we developed our own dashboard and we have had increasing demand from clients to add this social media component”
Both companies are based in Brussels and the 365Research team has already relocated to Attentio HQ. Attentio plans to launch a new version of their “Brand Dashboard” in the spring.