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UK Research Excellence and Effectiveness Awards – The Winners
A very enjoyable Awards dinner at the Café Royal last night saw some familiar and some new faces carrying off the major gongs. Two were carried off to a noisy Nunwood table, including the 'Best Agency' Award for which they were pipped last year by Flamingo - and two went to the team of Robert Heath at the Value Creation Company and Pam Hyder from Standard Life.
The Awards were hosted by The Market Research Society (MRS), with four of the major prizes awarded by the British Market Research Association (BMRA).
Messrs Heath and Hyder developed a groundbreaking approach to measuring advertising recall more accurately than traditional techniques. Their entry won both the ISBA Award for advertising research effectiveness and the David Winton Award, which was sponsored by TNS, for new technical developments in research.
The winners of the other MRS Research Effectiveness Awards were:- MRS Applications of Research Award - Simpson Carpenter
- MRS Public Policy/Social Research Effectiveness Award - TNS UK & the Scottish Executive
- MRS / ASC Award for Technology Effectiveness - E-Tabs International
- MRS / AURA Insight Management Effectiveness Award - Nunwood Consulting
Unusually, two MRS Gold Medals were presented rather than one. Dr Stephan Buck and James Rothman have between them edited the International Journal of Market Research for 67 years, representing outstanding service to the research industry.
New MRS Fellowships were awarded to Sue Brooker, Simon Burrows, Simon Chadwick, Pat Dowding, Gill Ereaut, Jan Faber, Roddy Glen, Ruth McNeil and Ken Parker.
The BMRA awards went to the following agencies:- Award for People Management (sponsored by SportsViews): RCU
The judges were impressed by RCU's commitment to fostering teamwork. In particular, they praised RCU's decision to make all of its employees shareholders in the business, therefore giving them a direct and personal interest in the company's success.
- Award for Quality & Service Excellence (sponsored by MQA): Flamingo International
Flamingo International's emphasis on quality and service across its full range of business activities made its entry stand out for the judges. The dedication of this rapidly-growing qualitative agency to its service delivery is reflected in its glowing client testimonials.
- Award for Innovation (sponsored by Pulse Train): GfK Media
GfK Media - which specialises in measuring audience ratings - was singled out by the judges for its highly innovative and effective approach to developing technological solutions that deliver significant benefits to its clients' businesses. The company demonstrated an excellent grasp of the possibilities of new technology to give competitive advantage to its clients.
- Award for Best Agency of 2004 (sponsored by Willott Kingston Smith): Nunwood Consulting
Nunwood Consulting - the winner of last year's BMRA People Management Award (smaller agency category) - once again impressed the judges with its forward-looking approach to all aspects of its business. In particular, they praised the agency's proven dedication to staff development and commitment to building strong relationships with clients.
Awards for outstanding contributions to the MRS Conference - Research 2004 - went to:- Best Newcomer - James Holden, BBC News, and Graeme Griffiths, TNS Media for 'The way we live now: the BBC daily life survey'
- Best New Thinking - John Griffiths, Planning Above & Beyond; Siamack Salari, Everyday Lives; John Beasley-Murray, University of Manchester; and Greg Rowland, Semiotics for Brands for 'The Qual Remix
- Best Presented Paper - James Parsons, Flamingo International, for the excellently titled 'PowerPoint is not written in stone', and
- Best Paper - Steve Wills, Strategic Research and Pauline Williams, Nationwide Building Society - Get Well Soon Steve and Thanks for the Guinea Fowl (see other article today)
- Best Contribution to Conference - Anjul Sharma, Synovate
Other awards were made as follows:
- MRS Silver Medal - Barry Leventhal from NCR
- Worshipful Company of Marketors Award - Victoria Lavender, RS Consulting
- MRS Accredited Master Prize - Aisha King, University of Westminster
- Talent Magnet (sponsored by research. magazine) - Sarah Gale, Ipsos
Further information on the Awards is available via the MRS web site at www.mrs.org.uk
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