As you now probably heard, Livra Panels has been acquired by Ipsos. Ipsos is the leading market research agency in Latin America and we are very flattered to have been chosen by them.

We have worked for 8 years to build (what we believe is) a fantastic company. We managed to recruit exceptional people, disrupt a whole industry and pioneer in online market research in the region. When we started selling online research in Latin America, there was no one. Just Livra.

Latin America in general is ruled by informal, substandard customer service and quality. But we wouldn’t settle for that. Instead of being “the best we could” we decided to be “just the best”. We didn’t benchmark from the locals. We benchmarked from the best companies in the world, through trial and error we managed to achieve world class quality and service.

But most importantly, we were able to get surrounded by an “above average” group of individuals that helped us achieved our vision… to become the leaders in our thing. But we didn’t settle for this.

So what now?

Well, we had been thinking about partnering with a larger company for a while. It was not our idea, people just started approaching us. Not one, not two, but several. That’s when we realised that we did really have something special. Something that was not easy to replicate. We had discussions with several other companies, some of which we highly respect and learnt a lot from.

And then came along Ipsos, a company that we didn’t know much. We were just aware of how big and successful they were in Latin America. And we slowly started to know them. It was a company founded by ambitious entrepreneurs. It was a company which started with very little but managed to get all the way up to being the best in what they do. Just like us.

But then we met some of them and we found them to be exceptional, incredibly professional people. People who were not boasting about their accomplishments, but mostly flattering about our little achievement. People who were open to share their insight and most importantly willing to listen to our ideas and vision about the future of this industry.

They “didn’t have us at hello” like in the movie. They worked their way into us. And did it very well.

They understood from the beginning that to make Livra truly great and global they needed to respect our culture, independence and “weird ways“. Livra will remain a specialized independent unit within Ipsos. We will keep doing what we do. Only better, faster and with more determination than ever.

We will continue to go out of our way in order to please our clients. That’s exactly what keeps us going, and it always will.

Thank you for holding our hand all the way through childhood. It’s time to become mature, but keeping that child inside. And that’s a good thing.

Thank you!

Diego Meller  & Martín Añazco