Marketing Research Industry Unites to Push Survey Participation; Major Corporations, Top Research Agencies and Five Professional Associations Assemble for Market Research ''United Nations'' Summit to Address Survey Non-Participation Epidemic.

CHICAGO -- RFL Communications, Inc., in partnership with the Council for Marketing & Opinion Research (CMOR) and the Institute for International Research (IIR), today announced that a roster of the most influential executives in the market research and consumer insights profession will gather in Chicago on September 28-29 for a first-ever industry summit to address the increasing decline in consumer and business-to-business survey participation rates.

The focal point of the meeting, called "The Market Research Industry Summit on Improving Respondent Cooperation," will be a moderated roundtable discussion on the morning of day one featuring more than 30 VIP delegates - including vice-presidents and market research directors from Procter & Gamble, General Motors, McDonalds, IBM, CBS, VISA and other world-class corporations, along with presidents and CEOs from leading consumer and media research companies such as ACNielsen, Ipsos, Arbitron, Harris Interactive and Zogby International. The Summit also has the endorsement and participation of five key market research industry professional associations: CMOR, CASRO, The MRA, The ARF and AAPOR.

"Our goal in organizing this event was to create a 'United Nations' of market research where all of the different stakeholders would be represented and all industry resources could be pooled to address a serious threat to this industry," said Bob Lederer, President of RFL Communications and a principal organizer of the event.

"There is substantial, undeniable evidence," said Lederer, "that for the past 25 years people have been increasingly less available and less willing to participate in surveys and focus groups. Response and cooperation rates are at all-time lows - and they continue to fall. Any solution is going to require consensus and support from all of the stakeholders, ranging from the clients who buy information down to the folks who collect it."

John Lewis, CEO of ACNielsen U.S. (Schaumburg, IL), said he is participating in the Summit because he believes market researchers need to rethink how they interact with consumers. "If we can't learn how to engage consumers to build active, representative panels and communities, we will not have access to the necessary insights on consumers attitudes, behaviors and lifestyles," he explained.

Greg Novak, CEO of Harris Interactive (Rochester, NY), agrees with Lewis. "If the market research industry wants to continue to grow, it needs to radically alter its thinking about respondent relationships. Respondents are king (and queen), and we need to earn their trust, protect their privacy and learn to communicate with them when and how they want us to," he commented.

According to the Summit's organizers, a comprehensive plan for a campaign to promote survey research participation among both consumers and businesses has been drafted by CMOR - a non-profit organization whose mission, in part, is to improve survey research cooperation. The campaign plan will be presented to the roundtable delegates during the general session before a potential audience of several hundred attendees, where it will be deliberated and potentially ratified with financial support.

The Summit's importance is not limited to the market research industry. It has great relevance for consumers and business people who are the focus of research industry work. It is expected that CMOR's plan will create a more positive, respondent-conducive environment for all individuals who are asked to participate in various modes of research.

For more information about the "Market Research Industry Summit on Improving Respondent Cooperation," please visit http://www.iirusa.com/respondentcooperation

About RFL Communications:

For more than 12 years, RFL Communications has been a leading publisher of business news and information for market research professionals. Its four acclaimed newsletters (Research Business Report, Research Conference Report, Research Department Report and Pharma Market Research Report) help market research companies and their clients improve their efficiency and effectiveness by providing highly targeted, actionable news and information across a spectrum of market research industry issues. For more information, please visit http://www.rflonline.com.