MRI and MBI launch USA TouchPoints

IPA

Mediamark Research & Intelligence (MRI) and the Media Behavior Institute (MBI) today (1st March 2010) announced a strategic partnership with the goal of jointly launching a syndicated, consumer-centric, multimedia database that could transform the way media is planned, bought and sold in the US. MRI and MBI are building on a research methodology pioneered by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA), the United Kingdom’s leading organisation for advertising, media and marketing communications agencies. Launched in 2006, the IPA TouchPoints© initiative now serves more than 50 companies in the U.K.

The announcement was made at the Transformation 2010 conference of the American Association of Advertising Agencies, held at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square Hotel.

MRI and MBI are building on a research methodology pioneered by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA), the United Kingdom’s leading organisation for advertising, media and marketing communications agencies. Launched in 2006, the IPA TouchPoints© initiative now serves more than 50 companies in the U.K.

“Our goal is to create a U.S. database of consumer activity that can serve as a hub of information on all the factors that could affect a consumer’s receptivity to a brand message,” said Kathi Love, President and CEO of MRI.

Formed in 2008, MBI has exclusively licensed the IPA TouchPoints© name and methodology for use in the United States. MRI and MBI intend to create a USA TouchPoints© study that will help marketers target consumers within the context of their daily lives. USA TouchPoints© will offer detailed attitudinal, category and brand purchase behavior for consumers via MRI’s extensive Survey of the American Consumer information, enabling marketers to target the right audience for their products and services when, where and while engaged in the activities that render them most receptive to marketers’ messages.  USA TouchPoints© will cast a uniquely granular light on how media are used throughout the day and week; it will show precisely when, for instance, consumers are using media alone, using several media concurrently and using media concurrent with another life activity.