GfK Expands Comprehensive Insight Offerings With Social Media Through Strategic Alliance With NetBase

NEW YORK, April 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- GfK Custom Research North America, an industry leader in innovative market research tools and services, today announced a strategic alliance with Social Media Insight & Analysis company, NetBase, to provide enhanced online conversation tracking and sentiment analysis that will support GfK's research capabilities.

Through this strategic alliance, GfK will use the NetBase platform, social intelligence warehouse, analytic tools and scorecards to provide clients with insights that integrate advanced social media "listening" with other market research methodologies. GfK's analysis of consumer conversations and sentiment occurring across the spectrum of social networks and other digital platforms will enhance GfK client engagements, providing a deeper understanding of the dynamics and drivers of brand affinity including brand health, customer experience, and corporate reputation to guide current and future marketing initiatives.

"The conversations that consumers have online are increasingly influencing their perceptions of brands and companies which, in turn, impacts shopping behavior," said Thomas J. Finkle, Co-President, GfK Custom Research North America. "Understanding how to leverage conversations through the meshing of traditional research and online sentiment analysis gives marketers the next level of insight that is crucial to impactful marketing initiatives and product launches."

NetBase's solutions tap into ConsumerBase, a social intelligence warehouse that tracks billions of conversations in real-time from more than 95 million sources. Its state-of-the-art natural language processing (NLP) engine goes beyond simple keyword search or text analytics to give marketers a deeper understanding of the emotions, behaviors, passions, tone and sentiment of conversations as they relate to a product's sector, brand and competition.

"We are excited to have been selected to partner with GfK, one of the world's leading research firms," said Jonathan Spier, Executive Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Co-Founder, NetBase. "The combination of GfK's premier research capabilities with NetBase's powerful Social Media Insights & Analysis technology, will offer unprecedented value to global brands in a world where the social media consumer voice must be understood."

About NetBase

NetBase Social Media Insight & Analysis helps marketing teams make smarter business decisions faster.  We deliver tools and scorecards that give market researchers and brand managers a reliable way to understand online brand equity, analyze and compare consumer passion, and generate deep insights that answer their "why" questions. Serving hundreds of corporate customers, our products were developed in partnership with five of the top 10 CPG companies, including Coca-Cola and Kraft, and are used by five of the top 10 market research firms, including GfK. Based in the heart of Silicon Valley, NetBase is a privately held company. For more information, visit: www.netbase.com or follow us on Twitter @Net_Base

About GfK Custom Research North America

Headquartered in New York, GfK Custom Research North America is part of the GfK Group. The GfK Group offers the fundamental knowledge that industry, retailers, services companies and the media need to make market decisions. It delivers a comprehensive range of information and consultancy services in three business sectors — Custom Research, Retail and Technology and Media. The no. 4 market research organization worldwide operates in more than 100 countries and employs over 10,000 staff. In 2009, the GfK Group's sales amounted to EUR 1.16 billion. For more information visit www.gfkamerica.com. Follow us at www.gfkinsights4u.com or on Twitter @gfkamerica.

SOURCE GfK Custom Research North America