Six battle it out for 'Best Agency' title

Date: 12 September 2006

The new Research Best Agency Award has taken the industry by storm, with a record number of entries being received for this coveted prize.

So high has been the standard that the judges have announced a shortlist of six agencies, who must now wait until the Research Excellence & Effectiveness Awards Dinner on 6 November to hear whether or not they have been successful. These are Flamingo International, Fresh Minds, Nunwood, Opinion Leader Research, Simpson Carpenter Ltd and Synovate.

Marc Brenner, editor of Research magazine and Research Awards Panel Chair, commented: “With Best Agency, the judges were looking for entrants showing financial performance, research innovation and proven business-focused results, alongside a strong sense of brand values and clear evidence of progress. We are thrilled with both the number and excellent standard of entries which has left us with no choice but to shortlist six; whittling this down to one will be a tough task.”

Another addition to the Research Awards portfolio, the Best Research Campaign Award, has been introduced this year to recognise successful joint working between clients and their agencies. The shortlist includes client/agency partnerships that have delivered truly outstanding campaigns in a wide range of sectors. These are: Acritas with Lloyd’s of London; GfK NOP with Simplyhealth Group; Research International and Oxford Strategic Marketing with Vodafone; and Simpson Carpenter with Honda UK.

The popular and much sought after MRS Public Policy / Social Research Effectiveness Award has once again attracted a wide range of key projects that demonstrate the positive impact of research on decision making within the public policy and social arenas. The final shortlist of three is:
Alan Cooper, HPI Research Group for ‘Branding the Isle of Man’; QA Research for ‘Young people, support services & the transition to adulthood’; and Opinion Leader Research for ‘Deliberative consultation – your health, your care, your say'.

Professor Michael Thomas, Chair of the MRS Awards Panel, commented: “This is always a very interesting category to judge, recognising research projects that have influenced life-changing campaigns. This year it has attracted an even broader scope of very high quality entries, reflecting the increasing importance of research in this crucial sector. Producing a shortlist was a difficult task.”

The winners of these awards will be announced by Channel 5 broadcaster and ex-BBC news presenter Kate Gerbeau, during the Research Excellence and Effectiveness Awards – the industry’s annual celebration of success - which is taking place on 6 November 2006 at The Royal Lancaster Hotel, Hyde Park, London.

This year’s ceremony will also reveal the winners of the Research 2006 Conference Awards (shortlists announced in March), as well as the full range of MRS and Research Awards.

For more information on the Research Excellence and Effectiveness Awards visit http://www.mrs.org.uk/awards/2006/index.htm.

***

Full shortlist for MRS Research Excellence & Effectiveness Awards and Research Awards:

Research Award for Best Agency

Flamingo International
Fresh Minds
Nunwood
Opinion Leader Research
Simpson Carpenter Ltd
Synovate

Research Award for Best New Agency

Charterhouse Research
Essential Research
Promise
Spring Research

Research Award for Best Research Campaign

Acritas with Lloyd’s of London
GfK NOP with Simplyhealth Group
Research International and Oxford Strategic Marketing with Vodafone
Simpson Carpenter with Honda UK

Research Award for Innovative Employer

Fresh Minds
Hall & Partners Europe
Research International
Saros Research Ltd

Research Award for Newcomer of the Year

Louise Cameron, Incisive
Paul Dennis, GfK NOP Technology
Ruth Buchanan, Royal Mail Group
Ruth Stevenson, The Audience Business
Sarah Robinson, QA Research

MRS Applications of Research Award

Rachel Baynes & Drew Halliwell, Abbey, and Mark Turner, GfK NOP: Delivering results through insight – Abbey’s ISA campaign
Accent and Royal Mail: Quality of service and pricing survey
Gillian George & Mikhail Gerchuk, Vodafone, and Juliet Strachan, HPI Research Group: How research influenced the conception and design of a radically new mobile proposition
Opinion Leader Research: National Pensions Debate
Quaestor / GMPTE: Total Journey
Vodafone, Oxford Strategic marketing and Research International: Vodafone DPS

MRS Public Policy/Social Research Effectiveness Award

Alan Cooper, HPI Research Group
QA Research
Opinion Leader Research

MRS / AURA Insight Management Effectiveness Award

Rachel Baynes and Drew Halliwell, Abbey: Joining up insight to drive action at Abbey Board level
Nunwood and the Post Office: Using technology and partnership to increase the influence of insight across your business
Visit Britain: From intuition through research to insight
Vodafone, Oxford Strategic marketing and Research International: Vodafone DPS

MRS/BIG Business Research Effectiveness Award

Conrad Persons, Research International: Creativity in Business: Getting a shot at the big ideas
Vicki Tanner, Maitland, Tanner & Associates: Using investment-based techniques to prove the ‘bottom line’ value of research and give CEOs what they want
Alex Johnston, Jigsaw Research: Applications of ethnographic techniques in a b2b context
David Skelsey, Synovate: Watching the advisor at work: how to be a fly on the wall

ISBA Award (Advertising Effectiveness)

Chloe Salmon & Caroline Whitehill, Acacia Avenue, and Rene De Coning, BP: Oil and water: How to cross the divide between corporate energy companies and global environmental issues
Jem Fawcus, Firefish Ltd: Courvoisier – earning respect
Catherine Wilkerson, Helen Law & Caroline Bates, Hall & Partners: Bringing research together
Karen Swan, Trinity Mirror Regionals, and Joanne Wilbraham, GfK NOP Media: Beamer

David Winton Award (Technical Excellence)

Andrew Zelin & Roger Stubbs: Cluster Sampling: a false economy?
John May: Ladders, stars & triangles
Ron Johnston & Richard Harris: Do survey respondents & non-respondents differ?

Silver Medal (Best paper in IJMR 2005)

Andrew Zelin & Roger Stubbs: Cluster Sampling: a false economy?
Bobby Duffy, Kate Smith, George Terhanian & John Brenner: Comparing data from online & face-to-face surveys
Klaus Backhaus, Robert Wilken, Markus Voeth & Christina Sichtmann: An empirical comparison of methods to measure willingness to pay

Notes to editors

With members in more than 70 countries, MRS is the world’s largest association representing providers and users of market, social, and opinion research, and business intelligence.

MRS serves both individuals and organisations who identify with its core values of professionalism, excellence, and effectiveness. It has a diverse membership of individual researchers within agencies, independent consultancies, client-side organisations, the public sector and the academic community – at all levels of seniority and in all job functions.

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