New Name Reflects Broader Focus for IRI

Information Resources, Inc. is changing its name to SymphonyIRI Group, Inc. The company says the move reflects its expansion into new types of solution including predictive, automated analytics; technology platforms; and strategic consulting services.

Parent company the Symphony Technology Group, which bought IRI in 2003, has 16,000 employees worldwide and combined revenues of $2.5 billion, including all subsidiaries.

The new firm will offer solutions in two 'families': 'Core IRI solutions' for market measurement and 'Symphony Advantage solutions' which focus on helping clients with growth opportunities in marketing, sales, shopper marketing and category management.

Speaking at the company's 'Summit 2010: Reinventing CPG and Retail Conference', President and CEO John Freeland said the IRI brand name had been 'in some ways confining' given its recent expansion into so many new areas. 'The last two years has been about fortifying the required set of building blocks, defining a bolder vision and, most importantly, innovating new capabilities and executional competencies to place us center stage in addressing clients' most important strategic issues.' He continues: 'SymphonyIRI Group is more than a new name; we are revitalizing our core business, strengthening our emerging businesses and evolving our fundamental value proposition to more accurately reflect our broader, higher value orientation and focus—a transformation that both embraces and extends beyond the traditional market research space.'

Chairman, Dr. Romesh Wadhwani says the unified group will allow its blue-chip clients 'to translate deep, highly-nuanced business insights into transformational strategies and actions for a markedly elevated level of impact across their entire organizations, including sales, marketing, merchandising, category/brand management and shopper marketing.'

The newly branded web site is at www.symphonyiri.com .