ISA Buys Community Insight Platform icanmakeitbetter

In the US, MR and data analytics firm LRW (Lieberman Research Worldwide), has announced that its sister company ISA has acquired Austin, Texas-based community insight platform icanmakeitbetter (ICMIB) and its parent company Sentient Services. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Founded in 2003 by former Gallup Research Director Paul Janowitz (pictured), ICMIB offers an online community platform for customer feedback, focus groups, discussion forums, live chat, ideation and panel management; and helps clients with product and service development, innovation, sales, marketing and branding.

Following the acquisition, ICMIB will operate largely independently, working alongside ISA's online sampling division SoapBoxSample, and both LRW and ISA will offer online communities to their clients. Janowitz and the current management team will continue in their current roles at Sentient, with some SoapBoxSample staffing integration and infrastructure support from ISA.

LRW says this is the first in a planned series of acquisitions the group of companies will make related to its mid-2015 decision to partner with and take on growth capital from Tailwind Capital Partners. Dave Sackman, Chairman and CEO of LRW, comments: 'Marketers need insight at the speed of the market to help them survive and thrive in our fast paced, hyper-competitive world. The icanmakeitbetter software platform delivers against that need with what we believe is the most advanced and sophisticated communities platform in the industry'.

Web sites: www.lrwonline.com , www.isacorp.com , www.soapboxsample.com and www.icanmakeitbetter.com .