Toluna Buys 'Agile MR' Firm GutCheck

Consumer insights provider Toluna has acquired US-based 'agile market research' and analytics solutions company GutCheck, for an undisclosed sum.

Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Denver, CO, GutCheck offers a device-agnostic quant and qual platform which can ingest and synthesize data from a wide variety of sources, including respondent data, data management platforms, CRM systems, and other behavioral and attitudinal data. The company helps clients understand their audience, build products and ideas their consumers want, identify the creative that will drive those consumers to purchase, and measure their brand's performance in the marketplace.

So far this year, GutCheck has added an online qual co-creation solution called Agile Creative Think Tank and a conjoint solution called Interactive Concept Developer, which uses a hybrid approach for creating new products or services. Toluna - which is the parent company of UK-based Harris Interactive and China-based KuRunData - says the buy will add GutCheck's solutions, research methods and team to its tech stack and operations infrastructure, while further bolstering the group's presence in North America.

Toluna CEO and founder Frédéric-Charles Petit says GutCheck's research tools and methodologies will be integrated into the end-to-end insights platform Toluna Start, which now offers multimarket research capabilities to enable users to target unlimited markets through a single setup process, and analyze global data through a single reporting link. Rob Wengel, CEO of GutCheck, adds: 'By joining with Toluna, our clients will benefit from the value of a comprehensive insights experience powered by the industry's most advanced insights technology stack, access to a leading global panel, and a vast services infrastructure'.

Web sites: www.tolunacorporate.com and www.gutcheckit.com .