Collision in front of the billboard

Market research IHA GfK is working on competing systems Will the market research institute IHA GfK soon find itself in a conflict of interest between two poster research approaches, Swiss Poster Research (SPR) and the new Mediacontrol watch (WW 31/03)? The SPR recently posed this question to the Hergiswil-based institute. The reason for concern: IHA GfK, which carries out the fieldwork for the SPR, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the GfK Group in Nuremberg. The same applies to the Telecontrol Group, which develops Mediacontrol. GfK carries out the SPR orders with one hand and works on a competitor system with the other. But Thomas Kenel, responsible for SPR at IHA GfK - and also for Radiocontrol! - is dismissive. "We are used to working with different methods." He also considers the fact that GfK will be offering a method itself with Mediacontrol to be unproblematic. "Mediacontrol requires cooperation with the poster companies," he says. (mk)