The Kantar Group to streamline client offering following TNS deal

The Kantar Group has announced a major re-organisation to strengthen its position

London — The Kantar Group has today announced a major re-organisation to strengthen its position as the world’s leading information, insight and consultancy business and streamline its offer for clients. The re-organisation will simplify the Group’s overall offering through a series of structural changes, building on the acquisition of TNS in October 2008.

Commenting on the changes, Eric Salama, CEO of The Kantar Group, said: “This re-organisation is far-reaching and is all about clients. It’s about how we help clients access the best talents and capabilities we have, when and where they need it. And it’s about a structure which enables us to innovate and roll out offers which are relevant to contemporary client needs. We are keeping a multi-brand structure which encourages the development of best-in-class specialists while dealing with a key client demand to see offers which are more joined-up. We will know that we will have been successful when we see clients getting the best of Kantar everyday, everywhere.”

The re-organisation will see the consolidation of a number of the existing business units into a new streamlined structure, with re-branding to take place over time. Key features are:

• The TNS Custom business and Research International will merge. The new global company will be known as TNS and will be led by Bob Meyers as Chairman and Pedro Ros as CEO. The Research International name will be retained in some markets where the business will be known as TNS Research International. In some markets TNS will maintain its heritage brands. This new business will retain a unique approach to structuring around clients’ industry sectors with a formidable line-up of custom and syndicated offers. A key feature of the new business will be its local market strength across the world.

CEO of TNS Pedro Ros said: “At TNS our clients are at the forefront of everything we do and it is our mission not only to deliver the best service possible, but to challenge and innovate around their evolving business needs. By combining strengths and resources with Research International, we are in an even greater position to do this and we can look to a bright future.”

• The social research team from BMRB will join a network of social and polling teams within TNS to form the strongest network of social, governmental, polling capabilities in the world. In the UK the business will be branded as TNS-BMRB.

• The establishment of four dedicated vertical sector operating units – Kantar Media, Kantar Healthcare, Kantar Retail and Kantar Worldpanel.

- Kantar Media brings together the specialist media capabilities of TNS Media Intelligence, TNS Media Research, KMR and TGI. The business will be organised into four key operations: Kantar Media Intelligence, Kantar Audience Measurement (formerly Media Research), TGI Global (including other single source services) and an integrated company covering all disciplines in the US market. The identity for the new company will be Kantar Media, but it will reference TNS in its branding in acknowledgment of the strength of the TNS brand in the media world. The enlarged unit will have a leading worldwide position in areas such as audience measurement, advertising expenditure tracking, software and news monitoring. It will also be the home for the increased focus on behavioural data from new technologies, return path data and mobile and for developing the infrastructure for addressable advertising.

Kantar Media CEO Jean-Michel Portier said: “It is my belief that our deep level of media expertise and client oriented spirit will allow us to meet our clients’ needs even better in a very challenging environment.”

- Kantar Healthcare combines the existing TNS Healthcare, Ziment Group, Consumer Health Services, imap, MattsonJack businesses, creating the world’s leading healthcare research, insight and consulting specialist. The new business will have a global footprint, strong local capability and an offer which meets the needs of a sector going through radical change in the way that patients and physicians interact, and the role played by digital technologies.

- Kantar Retail consolidates the expertise of Glendinning, Cannondale, Management Ventures Inc, Retail Forward and recently acquired Red Dot. The focus of the business will be on deepening and rolling out digitally delivered intelligence on retailers, extending shopper insights and consulting capability. Two important additions are the consulting capability for retailers provided by Retail Forward and the technologically driven virtual reality platforms developed by Red Dot.

- Worldpanel will be re-branded to Kantar Worldpanel to reflect the business’s ability to work with clients across the Group and will continue to be a stand-alone organisation within the Group. IMRB’s panel in India will also be linked into Worldpanel with the business being the market leader in key emerging markets such as China, India, Mexico, and Brazil. It is a unique business of critical importance in helping clients understand the impact of economic and other changes on consumer in-store purchase patterns.

About The Kantar Group
The Kantar Group is one of the world’s largest information, insight and consultancy networks. By uniting the diverse talents of more than 20 specialist companies – including the recently-acquired TNS – the group aims to become the pre-eminent provider of compelling and actionable insights for the global business community. Its 26,500 employees work across 80 countries and across the whole spectrum of research and consultancy disciplines, enabling the group to offer clients business insights at each and every point of the consumer cycle. The group’s services are employed by over half of the Fortune Top 500 companies. The Kantar Group is a wholly-owned subsidiary of WPP plc. For further information, please visit www.kantargrouptns.com