ACNielsen ORG-MARG was formed in 1995 when two of the largest Indian research companies ORG and MARG merged. ORG, founded in 1961, was the pioneer in market research in India. MARG was founded in 1983 and soon became one of the fastest growing players in the South Asian market.The company was acquired by VNU in 2000 and is now part of the ACNielsen network globally. It is because of this powerful parentage that ACNielsen ORG-MARG is able to provide the marketing community a wide array of syndicated and customised research services.

As part of the customised research solutions it provides, ACNielsen ORG-MARG possesses immense expertise in the areas of media research, financial research, automotive research, telecom research, health care research, opinion polling and rural studies as well as specialist divisions for industrial research and social research.

ACNielsen provides the answers. Around the world in stores, homes and on the streets, the company focuses on consumers to help clients answer their most pressing questions using the richest, most comprehensive market information, professional service and analytical and proprietary tools in the industry. ACNielsen, now merged with VNU, one of the world’s leading media and information companies, is the recognised global leader in market research, information and analysis. With 21,000 employees and annual revenue of Rs. 72 billion (US$ 1.64 billion), ACNielsen is the world’s leading market research firm, offering measurement and analysis of marketplace dynamics, consumer attitudes and behaviour in more than 100 countries. ACNielsen’s clients include leading consumer product manufacturers and retailers, service firms, media and entertainment companies and the internet community.

In South Asia, as part of the ACNielsen global network, ACNielsen ORG-MARG operates under the dual brand names of ACNielsen for Retail Measurement Services and ACNielsen ORG-MARG for Customised Research Services. Headquartered in Mumbai, ACNielsen in India is South Asia’s largest market research firm, employing over 1,500 full-time staff across 150 cities and towns.To maintain high standards of fieldwork in a complex country that is difficult to research, ACNielsen in India engages dedicated field interviewers and supervisors and does not sub-contract any of its fieldwork. For this reason a clear majority of India’s marketing companies across industries and sectors depend on ACNielsen to carry out large and complex projects.

Clients look to ACNielsen to help them identify business opportunities and create the best possible framework for successful decision-making. They rely on ACNielsen to help them win in the marketplace. They trust the company’s information – unique in the market research industry – for its speed, accuracy, quality and coverage. They depend on its highly developed software tools and analytical skills. And they count on the highly trained people who provide market knowledge, professional expertise and marketing insight. Market research is a cost-effective way of finding out what people think, want, need or do. Normally it is information unavailable elsewhere. Businesses use market research to help them produce goods and services in line with their customers’ needs and to evaluate the success of marketing strategies. Most successful organisations recognise that inadequate research significantly increases the risk of failure in the marketplace. Social and government bodies also use market research to gauge public opinion, as an input to policy generation or to measure the success of government communication campaigns and tactics.

As the company that introduced new concepts in market research in the 1930s, ACNielsen also created the first-ever audience rating system for broadcast media and placed the first commercial order for a mainframe computer in 1947. Overall, the company’s innovations have contributed to a much better understanding of consumer behaviour and have significantly improved the efficiency of both advertising and product distribution. With almost 80 years of experience in analysing what consumers buy and the factors that influence their purchase, ACNielsen has built an enviable reputation in the market research industry and is often cited as the benchmark of measurement and the industry standard in many sectors.

In India too, ACNielsen (as the erstwhile ORG) was the first market research organisation and the creator of the sub-continent’s first-ever retail audit tracking system. Over time this methodology has been successfully replicated across key industries like pharmaceuticals, durables, telecom, bicycles and apparel amongst others. In addition, a thorough understanding of customised consumer research has allowed the company to give marketers a single window view of their consumer markets. Mammoth projects like election ballot-counting and forecasting, national readership surveys and countrywide shop census that span a host of geographies and consumer segments have been carried out to enable a complete understanding of the factors that dictate market phenomena.

This has been possible primarily because the company has invested heavily in setting up the infrastructure and instituting the technical training required to conduct research of this magnitude and complexity. Both globally and in India, ACNielsen is at the forefront of the retailer-supplier partnership, helping clients drive forward their businesses and bringing consumer insight and sophisticated modeling and analysis to the discipline of category management. Information is critical to this process and ACNielsen plays a key role in providing retailers and suppliers with a common language through the provision of data, services and tools. The social research division of ACNielsen ORG-MARG is amongst the largest in Asia comprising professionals specialising in the areas of family welfare, health/nutrition, education, rehabilitation, social communication, etc. Its clientele includes international agencies such as WHO, UNICEF, Ford Foundation and the Government of India.

The Industrial research division specialises in research on the engineering, oil and gas, chemicals, paper, packaging, electrical, electronics and IT industries. The company has also worked on several assignments to assist international companies in investigating business opportunities in India. Its strong international linkages have enabled it to provide Indian companies, aspiring to expand their global reach, with information and research insight from markets as varied as Canada and China.

In the customised arena ACNielsen ORG-MARG provides a wide array of syndicated and customised research services. Over the years, these capabilities have made it the first choice of consumer contact for a better understanding of consumer opinion, attitude and behaviour. In India and South Asia, ACNielsen is the sole source of retail audit information and covers over 124 fast moving consumer goods, pharmaceuticals and other products.The ACNielsen Retail Store Audit in India covers all retail outlets and continuously monitors a panel spread across 367 cities and about 983 villages. In addition, audits that encompass various industries like liquor, automobile lubricants, paints and soft drinks stores are empanelled in both urban and rural areas. Combined with technologically advanced delivery platforms, the process ensures that ACNielsen clients get superior information about their consumer markets than is available anywhere else.

Joint Ventures with GFK for monitoring durables (ORG-GFK) and IMS for monitoring pharmaceutical sales (ORG-IMS) ensure coverage of key consumer industries. Within its portfolio of products, ACNielsen ORG-MARG possesses syndicated surveys that cover a wide range of product/service categories for which interviews are conducted with many different target groups – adult men and women, business school students, credit card holders, investors, bank customers, doctors, etc. These surveys cater to the information needs of a host of industries such as automotive, finance, pharmaceutical and media.

ACNielsen ORG-MARG conducts one of India’s largest syndicated surveys, the National Readership Survey (NRS), covering a staggering 262,000 households and 6,554 locations. The NRS captures individual and household data pertaining to the entire spectrum of media consumption such as print, television, radio and the internet. In addition, the NRS collects a host of product and brand related information enabling it to serve as the sub-continent’s largest brand planning database. In the area of media research, ACNielsen is also involved in providing the Indian market with television viewer ship ratings through a joint venture (TAM Media Research) with Kantar Media Research.

In February 2001 an important milestone in ACNielsen’s history was reached globally when a US$ 2.3 billion (Rs. 101.2 billion) merger with VNU, one of the world’s leading media and information companies, was completed. Since then, ACNielsen ORG-MARG has stood for an organisation that possesses the best research talent locally, combined with the best research practices globally. The past few years have witnessed the introduction of technological advancements that allow users of ACNielsen’s data immediate access to sophisticated analysis through ACNielsen’s proprietary software, ACNielsen Advisor. In addition, the company is set to revolutionise the collection of retail audit data through the use of Hand Held Terminals (HHT's/PDA's) across the length and breadth of the country. All of these reinforce the company’s standing of being at the forefront of both innovation and quality. As it uses technology to ensure better quality of information it has also invested significantly in achieving an ISO certification for its field processes. It has also instituted a separate Measurement Sciences cell to perfect its estimation and predictive abilities. ACNielsen ORG-MARG has also been successful in introducing globally renowned methodologies for the measurement of Brand Equity (Winning Brands), Customer Satisfaction (eQ), Qualitative Insights (DeltaQual), On line research and Packaging testing (Packs).

ACNielsen in India derives much of its own promotion by both its information and experts being quoted in the public domain. As the industry standard in many countries, ACNielsen, and indeed its clients, frequently provide selected data and insight to the media for publication. ACNielsen associates are regularly quoted in the press, commenting on issues of the day. They are also invited to appear on numerous conference platforms throughout the world as industry and issue experts. For specific services and studies the company ensures that it keeps the marketing community informed through a sustained client communication programme across the year. The company co-operates with respected publications to publish influential surveys, which are widely reported in the media and used for reference by the trade and brand owners. Its constant drive to better understand varied parts of the consumer landscape and the dynamics of India’s consumer market have made the company the fulcrum of leadingedge information.

ACNielsen aims to help its customers turn information into insights, insights into knowledge and knowledge into actions that drive profitable growth. Its vision is to be recognised worldwide as the premier professional services firm in market research, supported by the core values of integrity and honesty, respect and development of people, and excellence and innovation.