Brainjuicer Share Discussion Threads

[longshanks] 20/6/2011 13:02

Which Of The GRIT Top 50 Market Research Companies Are Perceived To Be Most Innovative By Clients?

This was a question raised by MR Industry Leader, Leonard Murphy.

The answer - unsurprisingly - is BrainJuicer by quite a significant lead with almost twice the score of its nearest competitor. Ipsos are fifth in the list, YouGov don't even feature.

Note this isn't a measure of how innovative or successful a company is - it is a pure measure of how innovative the MR company is perceived by the industry and, more importantly, its clients. BrainJuicer have no monopoly on innovation but are quite obviously one of the more successful businesses at marketing themselves as being innovative.

The next wave of GRIT is due towards the end of this month and BrainJuicer are once again expected to be #1 in the list.

[woozle1] 20/6/2011 12:01

Good article in Campaign on page 18 this week by Keith Glasspoole, Deputy COO of Ipsos Mori, talking about their "proprietary" techniques for testing emotional responsiveness to advertising. The chill winds of competition are about to be felt.

Don't say you weren't warned!
W

[longshanks] 16/6/2011 13:04

I can get a firm quote for upto 250 at £2.95 with iWeb - but no more.

This share does seem remarkably well bid at the moment; I can sell my entire holding in a single transaction if I wanted!!

It is rather strange as we have had no notice of where JK's mysterious 400K shares have finally rested.

Ultimately though the reasons are quite obvious: fast growing company at the top of its game, an increasing group of institutions and private investors becoming aware of the company and wanting to invest but very few holders willing to take profits (yet).

I no longer have L2 access - but I don't think it will show too much. I am guessing we are on 1v2 at the moment - but seeing as the two on the offer aren't willing to sell any quantity it is a bit meaningless.

BrainJuicer is hosting one of its now infamous InnovationFests in Toronto today with BBDO. Good to see that Canada is becoming a target area for their marketing activities.

[theophilus] 16/6/2011 11:46

Tried to add a small number to my holding.

Unsuccessful TDW were unable to give me a firm quote electronically but were willing to take an order good for the day but at an unspecified price -- No thanks.

The MMs don't seem to want to sell. Anybody got any level 2 info'

Th

[longshanks] 13/6/2011 16:00

Very encouraging to see the trend continue with this new leg up to £2.80.

Continues to look very well bid at this level so should have legs to go much further over the next month in the run up to the trading statement.

[kenmitch] 13/6/2011 10:27

And has been on a rising trend for ages despite markets doing nothing or drifting down.

Thanks again longshanks and for all the posts keeping us up to date.

[theophilus] 13/6/2011 10:15

So! Nobody wants to sell this!!
At least that's how it seems, and so with lots of buyers and up 12.5.

Th.

[longshanks] 10/6/2011 06:21

Looks like firms that can decypher and analyse Social Media content are becoming hot property.

News here of Google's recent deal to acquire PostRank:

This is not the only such deal; there are many other less publicised deals going on. Scout Labs acquired by Lithium, Sysomos acquired by Marketwire and Radian6 acquired by Salesforce.

No details yet as to how much Google are paying but Salesforce paid $326M for Radian6. It goes without saying that the potential value of Philter Phactory, in whom BrainJuicer have a 20% stake, must be in the ascendancy.

BrainJuicer are only interested from a standpoint of their DigiVidual tool development but the potential applications for weavrs are much, much wider.

Whilst Philter Phactory are still just a tiny presence on the Social Media analytics scene it is not inconceivable that a mid-size or larger internet company might be interested in acquiring them to bolster their capabilities.

[longshanks] 09/6/2011 07:12

Three new starters listed for the US team on the website: appear to be mostly for the Chicago office.

--------

One other thing I've noticed on the website in the investor section is the fact that they have relabelled the tab that used to say "Significant shareholders". It now says "Prominent shareholders". I guess the implication is that all shareholders are significant - not just the prominent ones; nice touch.

[longshanks] 08/6/2011 12:22

MRWeb have posted a press release about the recent hiring Matte Wicklin that I observed a month ago.



Seems like her job is to expand BrainJuicer's US presence into the southern states.

[longshanks] 07/6/2011 20:47

I came across this podcast for a Dublin radio station that has a weekly show for people involved in marketing.



This episode includes Will Goodhand in a discussion on how brands can maintain the "value argument" in a recessionary environment.

One of BrainJuicer's aims is to have Market Research play a key role in the board room rather than the backroom box-ticking role it has had for years. For me this discussion is a further indication that they are close to realising this goal for many clients: some of the examples they discuss illustrate the creative and dynamic role Market Research can play in optimising brand value rather than the traditional role of simply ratifying the decision making process.

[longshanks] 07/6/2011 16:35

Here is an article authored by Orlando Wood - Managing Director of BrainJuicer Labs - for the June 2011 issue of Research magazine.



Something else for you to get hot and bothered about Woozle1.

Apparently those traditional methods used by the likes of WPP and YOU to establish the effectiveness of advert campaigns are counter-productive.


"...The ads that performed well on the traditional system two measures (persuasion, cut-through, brand linkage, message delivery) were actually less effective in market than the nine ads performing poorly on these measures. In fact, designing the advertising to perform well on such measures may work against effectiveness. Meanwhile, the nine most emotional ads delivered greater business effects than the nine least emotional ads."

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Price is looking quite perky again today - online limits getting quite tight again on the offer.

In one way, this is surprising when one considers that JK has just handed over 400K shares to the mysterious "lender" who loaned him £650K last year. One would expect these to be dumped into the market - or at least put some pressure on the bid price. However - given the way that BlackRock and Liontrust have been keenly acquiring stock (and one suspects there are others too) - I imagine there is a long line of institutions making representations to buy the stock. JK could be looking to sell more, but I would guess that he is done for now and hence there will be few opportunities to pick up substantial volume for some time now.

[woozle1] 07/6/2011 13:41

So busy she has time to whack off about her day!
W

[markie7] 07/6/2011 11:17

more director selling. ok, he has a big stake, but still.

[longshanks] 06/6/2011 17:10

I found this link to a recent "day in the life of..." article written by one of the Dutch team.



Some interesting insights into how the business is doing such as the global nature of the work, the frenetic activity in the US business and the company's initiation course "global Juicy Beginnings" for all new starters.

We are about 7 weeks away from the next trading update (for the half year to June). From the tone of this article - things seem to be as busy as ever and results should be continuing to exceed expectations: I especially like the sound of how active the US is: "growing like crazy".



Thursday, May 26th, 2011 by baqmarblog

06:30AM: An early day today; will present the results of a Commscan® (BrainJuicer's ad way of measuring emotions in order to test an adverts' effectiveness) via a webinar to the global team of our client. We will be speaking with people who are located in the Netherlands, Australia, Japan and LA, so it was quite hard to find a time that suits all... I am glad that I can do this from home (and that we just have a webinar, and do not have a videoconference at this time of the day).

08:30 AM: The presentation went great; the results were exciting and very promising. We had a great discussion on the possible improvements and everyone is on the same line, so we can all go 'fast forward'....
Before I go to the office, I will first grab a sandwich, make myself a cup of tea....

10:00: Back in the office. I love the new high-speed Fyra train (I must say 'if' it runs, they have some starting up problems), which brings me from Breda to Rotterdam in 22 minutes.
I feel like it is already lunch time, but the day has just started. First grab a cup of tea and debrief and evaluate the session of this morning with my team.

10:30AM: We have new starters I have to help prepare for (I will be coordinating with our HR team in London to arrange for them to attend our global Juicy Beginnings – a week long orientation for new recruits from all over the world.) We are growing so fast, so getting new recruits up to speed in our 'juicy tools' is critical.

11:00AM: Team meeting: Catch up with the team on the projects we are currently running; how is fieldwork going, do we need help for the analysis from the other teams, are we still on schedule, what great stories can we share etc... Great to be busy, but it does take some coordination time...

12:00 PM: Early lunch today with the entire Dutch office, to share ideas, new challenges and of course bits of food and share the plans for the weekend.

12:30PM I have a proposal to write and I must check with one of my colleagues whether she has time to check it before I send it to our client. It's our policy that every proposal or debrief is checked by a 'second pair of eyes', this to make sure that the proposal or debrief is 100% OK and equally important, it is a very nice way of sharing best practices and knowledge.

We will also be going to see a number of our clients later this week to update them and be briefed on upcoming projects . . . Then we have some events coming up with MOA and BAQMaR. (Fingers crossed on our MOA nomination for Best Agency in the Netherlands!)

14:00PM I need to find a quiet space in which to look at the data coming from a Predictive Markets, which tested 28 new concepts for one of our clients in Poland and Hungary. We definitely have highly creative and very innovative tools, but at the core we are still trusted advisors, rather than data collectors. What we deliver is the story that the data tells so we can give our clients inspiration to make bold marketing decisions. I will spend the next several hours interpreting how the 'wisdom of crowds' answers the questions: "So what? Now what????"

16:00PM: Chatting with one of my team members who is in Chicago at the moment helping to grow our USA business. He is helping the Chicago team on projects and is educating the new employees on our 'Juicy' tools and the procedures. The USA is growing like crazy, they hardly have time to recruit new people, let alone to train them, so our help is very much valued.

17:30PM Long day but a productive one. Heading home to get my little boy from day care. I have a full life as a mom and a researcher, and BrainJuicer's unique approach to research gives me the excitement and inspiration to bring new energy to the job every day.

[woozle1] 06/6/2011 12:11

No my friend. Shorting is for the fairies. Just hope you know when to get of this train before it hits the buffers.

You clearly understand little about economic and the strength of large franchises. I'm very happy to watch the crash from the stands.

W

[longshanks] 06/6/2011 09:24

Are you finding the strength in the share price a tad frustrating Woozle1 - not quite getting to your target entry price?

Go ahead and lay a big short on BrainJuicer if you think it is so doomed but I think you are misguided to think that size is everything when it comes to media businesses. You obviously know very little about the market which BrainJuicer operates in.

[woozle1] 06/6/2011 09:00

The chill winds of competition

Just a quick reminder that BJU have a methodology and not a brand, here is a quote from Synovate (part of Aegis) that is in talks to be sold by Aegis for £500m:

We can analyse unstructured data using text mining software to help understand the emotional drivers that lead to successful advertising, the fundamental values people share and how all this differs by demographic, geography, category and brand.

Here is the URL:



You can argue that BJU is worth a lot of money because Synovate is worth so much, or you could say that large research firms are now doing their own emotional research and that BJU no longer have the field to themselves. As I have found to my cost, you can not ignore the large companies as their economies of scale and huge amounts accumulated data from years of research present a considerable barrier to entry and give them the ability to squeeze the competition on price.
W

[longshanks] 02/6/2011 18:31

Blog article from BrainJuicer Lab's Innovation Manager, Peter Harrison:





I can see the idea catching on that a good respondent is a "relaxed" respondent who is not totally conscious of what the MR activity is actually trying to find out. Getting insight through games where motivation isn't purely the act of giving information for direct gain is one such method of achieving this.

The example he quotes of a game developed for a varicose vein treatment is I suspect something they developed for Novartis who appear to be developing into a key account.

[longshanks] 01/6/2011 18:55

Two new fee earning members of staff listed on the website: one in Germany, one in Brasil. All ticking along towards the EOY target of 150 staff.

[theophilus] 25/5/2011 14:35

TIDMQUPP

Directors' Shareholdings
25 May 2011
GB00B1G17S00/GBP/PLUS-exn


Quercus Publishing Plc
("Quercus" or the "Company")

Directors' Shareholdings

Quercus Publishing Plc (PLUS: QUPP), the PLUS-quoted publishing company, announces that on 18 and 19 May 2011, David Potter, Chairman of Quercus, acquired a total of 7,699 ordinary shares in the Company at a price of 147 pence per share pursuant to a dividend re-investment scheme.

As a result of these transactions, David Potter is now interested in 270,108 ordinary shares representing 1.32 per cent of the Company's issued share capital. In aggregate, the Directors are now interested in 4,043,473 ordinary shares, representing 19.70 per cent of the Company's issued share capital of 20,519,129 ordinary shares.

The Directors of Quercus Publishing Plc are responsible for the contents of this announcement.


Enquiries to:

QUERCUS PUBLISHING PLC Tel: [phone]
Mark Smith, Chief Executive

ST HELENS CAPITAL PARTNERS LLP Tel: [phone]
Mark Anwyl or Duncan Vasey

Media Enquiries:
ATTILA CONSULTANTS Tel: [phone]
Charles Cook Mobile: [phone]





Quercus Publishing plc (END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 25, 2011 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)

[longshanks] 22/5/2011 08:24

I found this PDF whilst surfing.



It covers the slides from Will Goodhand's presentation at Swedish Market Research Day in March this year and gives a fascinating insight into how the Digividuals product is being developed.

They appear to have some heavyweight clients for the development: Kraft, Heineken, Boehringer Ingelheim and Philips but from the slides they are looking at developing the tool for a diverse number of uses in market research - not just consumer products.

...and on further searching I found this:



A presentation given by Han Zantingh at an event held in February. This gives specific examples where DigiViduals were used for developing insights into the Oreo biscuit market in Malaysia - funded by Kraft.

[longshanks] 19/5/2011 19:11

Just checked the company's website and they appear to have further updated the significant shareholders details.

It looks like CI Investments have disappeared from the list but their holdings have been transferred to Blackrock and Liontrust.

It looks like the float of free shares is continuing to dwindle. Directors and the six largest shareholders now hold 10.3m shares - leaving just 2.1m available.

Looks to me like positions are being established ahead of the AGM next Tuesday - could prove quite interesting.

[longshanks] 19/5/2011 17:15

No offence intended. It was a genuine comment. I don't think you know enough about what BrainJuicer actually do and have made some rather sweeping comments that show just a little naivety.

In your mind you may feel your argument is rational but - as I have tried to point out - I think you are missing some very real facts. I have yet to see any "evidence" other than your own interpretation of BrainJuicer's promotional material.

I am fully conscious of what PER means - but I don't think you really understand its relevance. PER is a measure of historic earnings and is only ever valid as a comparator for companies that are not expected to grow significantly. BrainJuicer has seen compound annual growth in earnings of 47% over the last five years. They have always exceeded expectations and have a clear vision to maintain that path. Should these growth rates not be maintained then their rating will fall - equally if it continues to be maintained then their rating will continue to improve. That is why they have a PER of 18 and why it could easily be justified at a higher value of nearer 30. It isn't because it will take 18 years to get a return - it is because in 5 years time the company could easily be on earnings per share of 75p.

I am not inclined to rose tinted glasses and am a modestly successful investor as a result. I am very much in the money with this company - if I had invested in YouGov (as you are) - I would not be nearly as content with my return.

Best of luck with your travels - but don't mistake debate and opinion for overt offensive criticism.