Inventing an Industry

Greenfield Online/Ciao Surveys was founded in 1994, by Andy Greenfield. Hugh Davis (Greenfield Online/Ciao Surveys, EVP) joined Greenfield Consulting Group in September 1992, and in 1994 helped start Greenfield Online with Andrew Greenfield, where he played a seminal role in taking the company from a two-person start-up to the global leader in its field leading the Research Revolution®. The company was a true industry pioneer at the time, and one of the first to use the Internet to conduct marketing research. With Andy’s entrepreneurial spirit and vision in the Market Research industry paired with Hugh’s passion for technology Greenfield Online was one of the first companies to collect market research data using the internet.

After a management buyout in 1999 and separation from Greenfield Consulting Group, the company became Greenfield Online/Ciao Surveys. The company retained a single area of focus: to become the leading provider of Internet Survey Solutions and build access to survey respondents and technologies unlike any other in the industry.

In early 2004 the company went public with an Initial Public Offering followed by a secondary offering at the end of the year. This was punctuated with the acquisition of Rapid Data, a Healthcare Market Research provider; GoZing Surveys, a North American-based Market Research Panel company; and ultimately, Ciao Surveys, a German headquartered European Survey Panel company. During this time, Greenfield Online/Ciao Surveys reaffirmed its commitment to data quality, and instituted a Six Sigma approach to delivery and product, as well as initiated several key investments in technology and infrastructure, including the backbone of the company's global survey infrastructure, UPS.

Today Greenfield Online is privately held. Greenfield Online/Ciao Surveys continues to innovate, and pioneer the Internet Survey Solutions space with new product offerings, and enhanced data delivery systems like GoClient™ and GoReport™. We've recently gone beyond the Internet into wireless surveys.