Ipsos

Ipsos Group is an international research company founded in 1975 by Didier Truchot. Since July 1, 1999, Ipsos has been trading on the Paris Stock Exchange. The company headquarters is located in Paris.

Since 1990, Ipsos has been pursuing a policy of company acquisitions. In October 2011, Ipsos acquired Synovate, leading to the creation of a new combined organization, Ipsos, the third largest research agency in the world. As of 2018, the company has offices in 89 countries employing 17,987 people.

History

Ipsos was founded in 1975 by Didier Truchot. Truchot's initial focus was on providing services to various marketing and media companies, in particular measuring the success of their campaigns using authoring methods that were innovative in France. For example, in 1977, the Baromètre d'Affichage (BAF) was developed to analyze the effectiveness of billboards. It was followed by a tool designed specifically for media evaluation and, in 1979, France des Cadres Actifs (FC), used to establish and analyze the reading techniques of French company executives.

Despite its success, the company's profits remained small until the arrival of Jean-Marc Leh as co-chairman. With his appearance, Ipsos begins to engage in public opinion research.

By the end of the 1980s, Ipsos became the fifth largest media research company in France. The active political life of the state during this period contributed to the strengthening of the company's position in the market, especially in the sector of public opinion research.

European expansion

In the 1990s, Ipsos expanded its operations, mainly through acquisitions in Spain, Italy, Germany, the UK and Central Europe, especially Hungary.

In 1992, to increase its own value, Ipsos attracted private investors. Baring Private Equity became the first new shareholder. Truchot and Lech, the largest shareholders, retained a controlling stake of two-thirds of the company's shares.

World expansion

Having become one of the largest research companies in Europe by the mid-90s, Ipsos enters the global market. After selling 40% of the company to the Artemis Group led by François Pinault and the investment fund Amstar led by Walter Butler, Ipsos has acquired new investment partners.

With the acquisition of Novaction in 1997, Ipsos entered the South American market, and with the acquisition of ASI Market Research in 1998, the North American market.

In 1999, the company appeared on the Paris Stock Exchange. The successful offer that followed allowed Artemis and Amstar to cash out their investment and also gave Ipsos the opportunity to continue its global expansion.

Together with Media Matrix, Ipsos was involved in the creation of the Internet research company MMXI Europe. The company also gained control of four NFO Worldwide subsidiaries specializing in research access panels.

Expansion continued in Asia, South America and especially North America with the purchase of the Canadian company Angus Reid, renamed Ipsos-Reid in 2000.

In 2011, Ipsos acquired Synovate's Aegis Group Plc.

On October 30, 2018, Ipsos announced that it had acquired Synthesio, the world's leading social listening platform since 2014 (according to Forrester).

Specialization

Ipsos specializes in media research, marketing research, sociological research, and customer and employee relationship management.