• October 23, 2008

Facebook heads a list of 34 new members who have joined The Advertising Research Foundation since June, representing a cross-section of the advertiser/ad agency/media/research and academic communities.

"Having Facebook as a new member is a clear indication that our initiatives regarding the value of understanding social media are resonating throughout every facet of our industry," Joel Rubinson, chief research officer at the ARF, said in a statement.

Other new members include Hasbro, Eli Lilly, Kimberly-Clark, Mars, Novartis, UBS, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, and Bain & Company. Ad agencies include Adcentricity, Butler/Till, Global Hue and M:30.

Cablevision heads a large Media group, including ABC Family and Disney Kids, Catalina Marketing, Fuse, National Cinemedia, PBS Kids Sprout, Rainbow Media and Tribune Media Net.

Representing research firms are ADISN, Centris, Ensequence, e-Rewards, IMMI, Market Tools, Opinion Lab, ORCA (Opinion Research Center of Afghanistan), Research Now, The Advanced Marketing & Media Group (The AMM Group), and ThinkVine Solutions.

Completing the new member group are Academic institutions Berkeley College, The Media Management & Transformation Center at Jonkoping University (Sweden), and The University at Albany (SUNY).--Gavin O'Malley