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| NOP (market research) | |
|---|---|
| Name | NOP |
| Type | Private |
| Industry | Market research |
| Founded | 1946 |
| Founders | George Gallup |
| Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
| Key people | Paul Phillips |
| Products | Consumer research, political polling, media evaluation |
| Revenue | £— (est.) |
| Parent | Kantar (former) |
NOP (market research) NOP is a British market research firm known for public opinion polling, consumer insight, and media evaluation. Founded in the mid-20th century, it has provided survey-based intelligence to political parties, broadcasters, advertisers, and consumer brands across Europe and beyond. The firm developed quantitative and qualitative techniques adopted by peers and rivals in the market research industry.
NOP traces roots to post-war public opinion initiatives linked to polling traditions established by George Gallup and contemporaries such as Elmo Roper and Archibald Crossley. During the Cold War era, firms including Gallup Organization and Roper Center influenced methodologies that NOP adopted while interacting with broadcasters like the BBC and newspapers such as The Times and The Guardian. In the 1970s and 1980s NOP expanded alongside advertising networks including WPP plc and Interpublic Group clients, and collaborated with media groups like ITV and Channel 4. Corporate transactions in the 1990s and 2000s linked NOP with global research networks anchored by Kantar Group and entities such as Nielsen Holdings and Ipsos. Major political events—1979 United Kingdom general election, 1997 United Kingdom general election, and the Brexit referendum—saw NOP among firms conducting high-profile polling alongside YouGov and Survation.
NOP offered services spanning opinion polling, consumer segmentation, brand tracking, and media audience measurement, employing techniques comparable to those used by Millward Brown, TNS Global, GfK SE, and Kantar Health. Quantitative methodologies included cross-sectional surveys, longitudinal panels, and quota sampling similar to approaches from Ipsos MORI and Pew Research Center. Qualitative services used focus groups, in-depth interviews, and ethnography paralleling practices at McKinsey & Company consumer practices and Boston Consulting Group insights teams. NOP incorporated digital analytics comparable to platforms from Google and Facebook for online behavioral metrics, and used statistical software like SPSS and R (programming language) for data analysis. For political polling, weighting schemes mirrored techniques used by Survation and YouGov, and modeling strategies resembled those published by researchers at Oxford University and London School of Economics.
NOP operated as a subsidiary under larger research conglomerates at various times, aligning with ownership patterns seen at Kantar Group and WPP plc subsidiaries. Executive leadership often included alumni from institutions such as London Business School and University of Cambridge economics departments, reflecting recruitment pipelines similar to Harvard Business School and INSEAD. Investment and private equity transactions involved parties comparable to Bain Capital and The Carlyle Group in the broader market research sector. Regulatory oversight and corporate governance practices at NOP paralleled standards applied by bodies like the Information Commissioner's Office and compliance with frameworks from Office for National Statistics-style institutions.
Clients included broadcasters such as BBC, ITV, and Sky Group; publishers including The Guardian, The Telegraph, and Financial Times; advertisers within Unilever, Procter & Gamble, and Coca-Cola Company; and political organizations across major parties like the Conservative Party (UK), Labour Party (UK), and Liberal Democrats (UK). Notable projects paralleled large-scale studies undertaken during events such as the 1992 United Kingdom general election, the 2001 United Kingdom general election, national audience measurement projects with Ofcom-regulated broadcasters, and consumer segmentation programs for multinationals like PepsiCo and Nestlé.
Like other polling firms such as YouGov and Gallup, NOP faced scrutiny over sampling errors, weighting decisions, and forecasting accuracy during contentious events including the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum and closely contested general elections. Critics from media outlets such as The Guardian and The Independent and academic commentators from University College London and University of Oxford raised questions about online panel representativeness, echoing methodological debates involving Pew Research Center and RAND Corporation. Debates around client confidentiality and commercial influence reflected concerns similar to controversies that affected Nielsen and GfK SE in other jurisdictions.
NOP's market position resembled that of mid-sized firms that bridge boutique consultancies and global networks, competing with Ipsos, Kantar, Nielsen, GfK SE, YouGov, Survation, BVA Group, Millward Brown, and TNS Global. In the competitive landscape it contended for contracts against consultancies such as Accenture and Deloitte's analytics arms, and specialist digital analytics firms associated with Adobe Systems and Oracle Corporation.
Market research Public opinion polling Kantar Group YouGov Ipsos
Category:Market research companies