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MRA and CMOR Merge
 In the US, industry associations the MRA (Marketing Research Association) and CMOR (the Council for Marketing and Opinion Research) have merged. The new body will be known as MRA.
Discussions to amalgamate grew from concerns raised by industry members that there are too many associations separating the services required and increasing the cost of companies to receive the professional support they need.
'We believe that by combining the missions and deliverables of our two organizations, we have created one organization that will meet almost all the profession's needs,' stated Jon Last, MRA's President.
The new entity, which will have a single dues structure, will maintain the MRA name, with CMOR services being labeled as such with the clarification that they are a division of MRA. Services that CMOR previously charged for, such as the Compliance Guide and Respondent Cooperation Studies, now become core member benefits.
The combined organization promises open involvement to other profession representatives on key industry efforts through the CMOR leadership structure, which will maintain some autonomy in advancing the government affairs and respondent cooperation/quality issues of the profession.
'Whether a client company or researcher this move is a great response to the desire of the profession's members who believe that productivity and cost savings can be realized by the associations coming together,' said Diane Kosobud of IPSOS, Co-Chair of the CMOR Board of Directors.
The full merger of memberships will occur on December 31, 2008.
MRA is the US's second oldest research association, representing more than 3,000 corporate and individual members in the US and around the world. CMOR was founded in 1992 to serve the industry's needs in the areas of government affairs and respondent cooperation.
Web sites: www.mra-net.org and www.cmor.org .
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