We present another entrepreneur’s tale.

Specialist Latin America panel company Livra was sold a year ago to Ipsos after nine years of profitable growth.

It was started by Argentinian students Diego Meller and Martín Añazco at the height of the dotcom boom when they were only 19- and 20-years old respectively.

Diego is now London-based so we managed the above 8-minute chat with him to find out how the company got started, how they turned it round to generate healthy revenues, and why they sold when they did and why to Ipsos among a number of interested buyers.

Enjoy!

 GUEST  Poet, mountain climber and entrepreneur Derek Leddie, Founder and Director of innovative research consultancy The Leading Edge

 TOPICS  Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro; Will the industry really grow at 11-12%? Bridging the chasm between client needs and research delivery; Skills gap; Genesis of TLE and rationale for selling to Photon Group; EXCLUSIVE: UK office coming soon; Turning insights into assets; Managing talent with some cool benefits

 NOTABLE MENTIONS  Carlton Draught, ESOMAR, Fosters, Frank Small & Associates, Kristin Hickey, Mark Sundquist, Outsell, Photon Group, Stephen Phillips, Toby Hill

Music Brother Love from the PMN

Series:MarketingTalk
Series:Weekly

 EXCLUSIVE  Brand Strategy magazine’s Ruth Mortimer talks about some hot issues in branding such as co-creation and branded content. Ray Poynter talks tech trends. And FDS’s new co-owner and MD, Charlotte Cornish, on the extraordinary story behind her acquisition of FDS

 STARRING 

• Ruth Mortimer, Editor, Brand Strategy Magazine
• Ray Poynter, Director, Virtual Surveys, and Head, The Future Place
• Charlotte Cornish, MD, FDS and Director, Munro Global

Recorded live at ESOMAR CONGRESS 2006

Timeline [25m19s]
00m00s Intro.

1.Ruth Mortimer.
00m54s The rise of co-creation.
02m39s Are brands embracing the new web?
03m37s Editorial mix, city brands.
05m13s Sustainability and corporate social responsibility.
06m01s Fads vs. trends: branded content.
07m49s The value of research.
08m37s Inspirational research: word of mouth (Net Promoter Score).

Notable Mentions
Audi.
Branded content.
Charles Leadbeater.
City brands (e.g. Dubai, Shanghai, London).
Coca Cola.
Disney.
eBay.
Fred Reichheld (Net Promoter Score).
Google.
Harvard Business School.
MGM.
Old El Paso.
P&G.
Second Life.
Tremor Panels.
Triumph motorcycles.
Viral marketing.

2.Ray Poynter.
09m25s Intro.
10m22s Trends in online research.
10m57s The case for ’slow research’ and its applications.
12m49s The challenges using research to make reliable forecasts.
15m02s Research is fun!

Notable Mentions
Apple.
Blogging.
Burger King.
iPod.
McDonalds.
Multimedia messaging (MMS).
Pete Comley.
Quentin Ashby.
Text messaging (SMS).
Web 2.0.

3.Charlotte Cornish.
15m50s How Charlotte came to acquire FDS.
21m14s The positive state of FDS, recent wins.
22m33s Arrival of a new management style.
23m25s The switch from value-added outfit to mainstream research company.

Notable Mentions
Ace Fieldwork.
BT.
Electra Kingsway.
Experian.
The Future Foundation.
Henley Centre.
Janet Weitz.
John Samuels.
Michael Warren.
Munro Global.
Pim Cornish.
Richard Hepburn.
Venture Capital (VC).

Music Theatrimus from the PMN

Series:Events Series:ESOMAR Series:Congress06