Léger is the largest Canadian-owned market research and analytics company, with more than 600 employees in eight Canadian and US offices. The company was founded in 1986 by the father and son duo Marcel Léger, former environment minister of Quebec, and Jean-Marc Léger, economist. Previously, the company was known as Léger & Léger (1986–1996) and Léger Marketing (1996–2013). It is now led solely by Jean-Marc Léger. The firm is headquartered in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, with offices in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

, and

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, and

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. To date, Léger has acquired 12 companies. In 1995, Léger & Léger repositioned itself in marketing research and became Léger Marketing. In 2000, the polling firm announced the acquisition of Criterion Research Corporation of Toronto. It then expanded westward with the acquisition of Criterion (Edmonton) in 2005 and Claros Research (Calgary) in 2006. In 2005, Léger conducted the first online surveys in Canada with its Leger Web division. In 2007, Léger Marketing entered the American market by acquiring ARC Research, a Philadelphia-based firm. In 2010, Jean-Marc Léger became founding president of WIN, a worldwide association of polling firms that includes 75 major independent research firms from 73 countries. After making several acquisitions to provide Léger Marketing with the technological innovations needed to raise the Quebec company to a world-class position, its founder Jean-Marc Léger feels ready to take the next step: Léger Marketing becomes Léger (Research – Strategy – Consulting) and expands its offer in strategic consulting and advanced statistical analysis. In 2012, Léger became a majority shareholder in Agility Metrics, a Montreal-based company built around a cloud computing application for measuring customer experience. Agility Metrics later became Léger Metrics. In the same year, Léger – Recherche Stratégie Conseil announced that it had acquired Researchology, a Toronto-based marketing research firm specializing in pharmaceutical research. In 2013, Léger acquired Ifop North America (located in Toronto), with marketing research experience in the pharmaceutical and consumer goods sectors. In 2014, Léger became a minority shareholder and strategic partner of imarklab, positioned as the Canadian leader in interactive marketing intelligence. By combining traditional marketing research efforts with neuroscience, the imarklab-Léger partnership facilitates better understanding and intervention on customer behaviour across multiple channels of commerce. In 2018, Léger launched its Léger Analytiques division. In 2019, Leger completed the acquisition of Vancouver-based National Research Group (NRG), the largest company in Western Canada with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, and Winnipeg. In the same year, Legerweb becomes LEO (Léger Opinion), the largest Canadian online panel with over 400,000 panelists. In 2020, Léger acquired SmartPoint Research; a Toronto-based market research firm specialized in the consumer and healthcare sectors. This strategic acquisition enabled Léger to increase the size of its Léger Opinion (LEO) panel, supplement its patient and healthcare professional panels, and broaden its healthcare research service offering. In October 2021, Léger acquired Ressac, a digital performance agency based in Montreal and specializing in media strategy and branded content activation. In November 2021, Léger acquired Insights West; a Vancouver-based market research and analytics firm. This was Leger’s second acquisition in less than a month after acquiring digital agency Ressac and its 12th acquisition in total. 

Notes and references

External links

*Profile o
Jean-Marc Léger
November 19, 2021 {{DEFAULTSORT:Leger Public opinion research companies Market research companies of Canada Companies based in Montreal