Synovate Analytics Companies MMA, SMA Merge to Drive Innovation

Aug. 4, 2011 - PRLog -- Wilton, Conn., and Chicago, Ill., Aug. 4, 2011– Top four global custom market research company Synovate today announced the integration of two of its global analytic and strategic business units, Marketing Management Analytics (MMA) and Synovate Management Analytics (SMA). They are being integrated into a single business unit designed to merge traditional and emerging analytics with “mind of the consumer” attitudinal and behavioral data, and will be branded as MMA.

Integrating the two companies’ leading analytic approaches enables top brands to connect predictive analytics and econometric data with near real-time attitudinal and behavioral insights to drive brand and product innovation, while also significantly improving planning and forecasting processes on a global scale.

MMA is a global leader in improving brand, marketing and media performance, including digital and social media. For over 20 years, it has consistently been the innovator in developing and applying predictive, automated modeling that supports a range of business process integration techniques for planning and forecasting. SMA has developed innovative approaches and solutions that support clients’ global portfolio investments, innovation and product life cycle solutions. These capabilities apply advanced analytic techniques, econometric data and consumer attitudinal and behavioral insights to build stronger brand performance.

Synovate SMA CEO Patrick Cummings, a former Accenture partner who led the development of its North American Marketing Sciences Practice and the former President of Global Analytics at SymphonyIRI, will become CEO of the integrated companies. Doug Brooks, who has been leading the transformation of MMA, will become Executive Vice President of the combined entity, and will report to Cummings.

“The merger of these two powerful sources of insight will provide a disruptive set of solutions capable of solving some of industries’ most elusive and challenging problems,” said Cummings. “Traditional analytics capture the ‘what, where and how’ behind key enablers of business performance. Consumer market research encapsulates the ‘who and the why’ of consumer decision making. By finding the intersection of these two powerful insight sources, these truths can be integrated to provide a more holistic view of companies’ business and consumers. This new combination of insights will allow global organizations to achieve better results through more predictive and relevant decision making.”

“Many companies have struggled to establish a single view of their business due to the siloed nature of current analytic solutions, data and business functions” said Brooks. “By combining the capabilities of MMA and SMA we have established a highly experienced analytic consulting team with a business- relevant set of solutions that enables the integration and translation of complex analytics into easy-to-use and actionable brand and boardroom strategies that result in real and measureable value creation for our clients. We call this 'Disruptive Analytics’.”

Scott Miller, CEO of Synovate in North America, said the power of the combined MMA and SMA business lies in its ability to directly link predictive analytics with consumer attitudes and behaviors, helping companies drive significant gains in incremental value through more effective product development, marketing and sales.

“Too often analytics and consumer market research are managed separately,” said Miller. “But by combining the recency and relevance of consumer market research with traditional analytics, companies can achieve an unparalleled level of accuracy and predictability for planning and forecasting. An integrated MMA/SMA puts Synovate on the leading edge in terms of developing the next generation of value creation in analytics and market research.”

For more information about the integrated companies’ new services, please click here: http://mma.neauxware.com/about_mma.html

About Synovate
Synovate, the market research arm of Aegis Group plc, generates insights to help clients drive competitive brand, product and customer experience strategies. A truly borderless company with offices in over 60 countries, our approach combines best in class global research capabilities with personalised service, local knowledge and the flexibility to create teams and processes that meet clients' specific requirements. At Synovate, our clients sit at the top of our organisational chart, driving us to continually develop more innovative research solutions that predict actual business outcomes. For more information on Synovate visit www.synovate.com.

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MMA pioneered the use of marketing mix modeling to help companies plan, measure, validate, and optimize their marketing performance.