Ipsos Expands into American Political Research

The Ipsos group is planning to open a new US Public Affairs Polling Division, putting to use its recently acquired assets in the form of political pollsters Riehle Research.

Ipsos is already active on the American research scene, operating three separate companies: Ipsos-ASI (advertising research), Ipsos-NPD (marketing and access panel research), and Ipsos-Reid (opinion and marketing research in Canada). This portfolio has not, until now, embraced political research in any significant manner.

Overseeing the company's political research will be Thomas Riehle. He has already been confirmed as President and Chief Operating Officer of the new division, and will manage the staff based in Washington, D.C., New York and San Francisco. Riehle, 45, a graduate of Yale University, has been a leading public affairs pollster for 15 years. He had worked for two other leading Washington polling firms (Patrick Caddell and Hart-Riehle-Hartwig) before successfully setting up his own outfit.

Whilst Riehle Research brings a depth of polling expertise into the Ipsos camp, it also claims a strong track record in a clutch of other research areas. These include food safety, housing, employee relations, public policy, politics, economics and personal finance. However, it is not known how much Ipsos will exploit this varied background at present.

Riehle's polling pedigree is certainly set to boost Ipsos' main opinion and social research activities fairly dramatically. Ipsos believes that it has achieved some 6% of its revenues in this field to date, and as a group, is keen to build on this core research service. In comparison to North America, opinion research within the Ipsos group is already relatively well-established in Argentina, Canada, France, Mexico and in Spain. The latest acquisition also opens up the possibilities of developing the group's international opinion surveys, possibly under the Ipsos-Reid brand name.

All articles 2006-22 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.

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