ADIA is the home of Australia’s leading data, insights and research companies. Our members include: full-service market and social research agencies, online research and panel companies, market research fieldwork companies, market research software and data providers and independent research consultants. ADIA members represent all research methods- including qualitative and qualitative from telephone (CATI) to face-to-face and online.
A full list of members is available here. For ADIA Trust Mark members please see the Trust Mark Directory.
The Market and Social Research Privacy Code has been developed to provide data, insight and research organisations certainty under the Privacy Amendment Act (launched on 12 March 2014). The Code works to ensure ADIA members follow the highest privacy and ethical standards working over and above privacy law legislation.
The past few years have seen existing trends within and around the market and social research industry accelerate. Those trends include accelerating globalisation; the drive to lower cost solutions especially for commoditised, lower value-add research services; software companies entering our industry with automated technology-based solutions; increased use of existing data sources as opposed to primary data collection; and management consultancies, combined marketing services businesses and others continuing to encroach into the space once solely occupied by research agencies.
Evidence-based consumer insights are more important than ever, but increasingly clients are turning towards providers other than traditional research agencies, or technology enabled solutions to provide those insights, or bringing these services in-house.
In Australia, this meant that our association brand AMSRO – The Association of Market and Social Research Organisations – no longer comprehensively represented our whole industry. The parts we are not regarded as representing as well – data analytics and software-enabled or technology-enabled research – are some of the fastest growing sectors of the industry. The importance and growth of this part of our industry is backed by international research, provided by ESOMAR, AMSRO’s Association partner (ESOMAR Global Market Research Report 2019 & 2020) and our own research (AMSRO, Broader Tent Research 2019 – 2020).
A new association strategy was needed – one that services and encompasses new players, while still representing the ‘traditional’ part of our industry, and that focuses on the benefits our industry delivers to our clients, rather than focusing on the craft or process of research. That new strategy which seeks to represent a ‘broader tent’ needs a new brand to support it.
The Australian Data and Insights Association (ADIA) allows the existing, traditional industry (formerly AMSRO) to embrace and work with emerging players.
The ‘broader tent’ works in three ways –
To support our transition to a stronger, broader, more inclusive industry body, the AMSRO executive committee commenced discussing and refining its Broader Tent strategy (in late 2018) including interviews conducted with AMSRO members, former members, clients and key stakeholders. The project took approx. 6 months and culminated with an AMSRO Committee meeting (representing 25% of its member base n =93) who supported the following:
Following that, AMSRO engaged HOW Communications to work on a brand research project, which again, involved in-depth stakeholder consultation with members and the broader industry focusing on next steps.
Outcomes included:
Based on the research findings, AMSRO’s Executive recognised the impact of these changes on the industry and decided that changing the brand name to the Australian Data and Insights Association (ADIA) offered greater scope and a broader tent to all companies now operating in the industry.
Key points follow:
The Association for Data-driven Marketing and Advertising (formerly, the Australian Direct Marketing Association) provides services for direct marketing and advertising.
ADIA’s membership is strictly for data, insights and research organisations with membership criteria requiring that ‘personal information for market and social research is collected only with informed consent and under strict codes and practices’ which prohibit direct marketing and sales.
ADIA’s co-regulated framework includes the registered OAIC privacy code and an industry Trust Mark – a seal of endorsement that assures business and government organisations they are buying research that is quality-tested and meets not only ethical standards but also goes over and above minimal privacy legislation.
ADIA members working under the industry Trust Mark:
Registered on the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) Codes Register, the Privacy Code will continue to serve and protect members. On the advice of the OAIC, AMSRO (now ADIA) will make a formal application to the OAIC Codes Register to rename the Privacy (Market and Social Research) Code 2021. (Note – the Association’s Australian Business Number remains unchanged.)
The amendments generally reflect a move to the format and structure of the current Model Rules contained in the Associations Incorporation Reform Regulations 2012.
The ADIA Board decided an update was required as we had not undertaken a general review, or update, of the Rules for a number of years. The revised Rules reflect the impact of changes in technology such as the widespread use of video conferencing. Most of the proposed changes simply reflect the Model Rules.
The key changes that do not derive directly from the Model Rules are:
A copy of the ADIA Rules is here.