Ipsos

Ipsos Group S.A. (ip.sos; an acronym of Institut Public de Sondage d'Opinion Secteur) is a multinational market research and consulting firm with headquarters in Paris, France. The company was founded in 1975 by Didier Truchot, Chairman of the company, and has been publicly traded on the Paris Stock Exchange since 1 July 1999. Since 1990, the Group has created or acquired numerous companies. In October 2011, Ipsos acquired Synovate, resulting in a Ipsos organization that ranks as the world’s third largest research agency. As of 2023, Ipsos has offices in 89 countries, employing 19,500 people. Ipsos was founded in 1975 by Didier Truchot, who had experience working in the IFOP institute. Truchot centered in offering services to the advertising and media companies and developed methods to measure the success of their campaigns, something new in France. The first of these methods was the Baromètre d'Affichage (BAF) in 1977, an instrument to analyse the effectiveness of billboard advertisements. It was followed by an instrument specific for media and, in 1979, the France des Cadres Actifs (FCA), which was used to determine reading habits of French executives. Despite the success, the company's profitability remained at modest levels until the arrival of Jean-Marc Lech as co-chairman. From then on, it started to perform public opinion researches, another innovative activity in the French market. By the end of the '80s, it was the fifth largest media research company in France. The great activity of French policymakers at the time helped to strengthen the position of the company, especially the public opinion research sector. During the 1990s, Ipsos expanded, principally through acquisitions, to Spain, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom and Central Europe, especially Hungary. In 1992, the company was opened to private investment to improve its purchasing capital. The first new shareholder was Baring Private Equity. Truchot and Lech, the major shareholders, retained two-thirds of the company.