Our History

Demoskopea was founded in 1965: we are therefore celebrating the first 60 years in global market for social, opinion and marketing research.

In 1965 market research was at its early stages and Demoskopea was one of the very first Marketing Research Institutes in Italy, as we already knew the importance of listening to citizens and public opinion.

“From social relations to social network” – “From Hal 9000 to AI”: a physical and digital revolution.

Starting in the early ‘60s, Italy will undergo a slow but radical transformation, caused by social and political movements. This will bring great changes in the way of living and thinking.
The beginning of the third millennium is marked by an increasingly digital and connected world, which will go beyond globalisation by moving between virtual reality, augmented reality and AI.

How was Italy in 1965? How are we nowadays? Here some examples:

There were few cars in the city, kids still used to play with the ball in the streets. In Milan the first underground was inaugurated. The ring roads did not yet exist. The highway system was gradually being improved, and people started travelling
….. and now we are at overtourism

People start to have many household appliances and especially the television, which was in black and white and with only one channel “RAI”. Color television was introduced more than a decade later
….. we went from the cathode ray tube to the ultra-flat mega screens, up to the countless streaming platforms

Groceries were bought in small shops.
The first supermarkets began to appear but only in the big cities, followed by shopping centers and e-commerce
… citizens become customers and consumers

60 years of profound changes. The research market sector has also grown and evolved, thanks to social struggles and technological innovations, introduced by computers and by the web. It began to play an important role in the interpretation of behaviour and consumption of society.

We have followed and accompanied the history of Italy from the post World War II until today and as a result we make up an entry in the economic financial dictionary of the “Enciclopedia Treccani”:

From the Treccani vocabulary: Demoskopea | “Institute for statistical research and public opinion analysis, based in Milan. Demoskopea, founded in 1965, is a company specialized in market research and develops studies, both nationally and internationally, such as: testing new product ideas, measuring the effectiveness of advertising communication and the assessment of the costumer satisfaction”.

Demoskopea opinion and market research institute, founded by the sociologist Gian Paolo Fabris, continues to carry out its research work for main institutions and companies, at both national and international levels. The goal is to provide access and interpretation keys of society, market and consumers.

Between the ‘60s and ‘70s Demoskopea gains a strong reputation, that remains today thanks to opinion research work on relevant topics about that historical period, such as: abortion, divorce, feminism, drugs and racism. All these themes were strong on media. Demoskopea also carries out important research on communication measurement in those years (for example: Audipress).

Those themes and research methods, which were innovative, still are today the basis for a scientific and comprehensive understanding of needs and requirements, of behaviour and attitudes in evolution of time and society where we live.

These sociological and statistical skills and abilities revolutionize the market in the ‘90s. Many national and multinational consumer goods Companies starting to look at Marketing Information with the need of deeper understanding and exploration of markets. They turn to Demoskopea as a reference point for a better understanding of potential targets for marketing activities aimed at the development of their own products/services.

In the last two decades, characterized by the massive introduction of information technology, from big data to AI, Demoskopea has adopted and constantly developed new dialogue tools. This leads to an improved understanding of phenomena and interpretation of data, markets and consumers.

Demoskopea now owns research methods, statistical and computer tools, which allow to operate in the main areas of social information and marketing. The transition from social to AI was therefore absolutely natural, allowing the study and understanding of consumption and communication society changes.

The near future will certainly give us further evolutions, but there are potential critical issues and risks of vulnerability in privacy people’s lives.
The discipline will become increasingly analytical and precise, only if the processes will be able to exploit opportunities keeping risks under control.