Ipsos and PACL to Evaluate Sponsorship Activities

In the UK, Ipsos Connect has partnered with Partnership Audits & Consulting (PACL), to provide evaluation services for brands involved in sponsorship or marketing partnership activities.

The deal brings Ipsos Connect's experience in brand communication, advertising and media research, and behavioural science, together with PACL's specialist marketing partnership evaluation and optimisation skills. The firms say their approach incorporates the latest thinking in neuroscience and behavioural psychology to inform how people make brand choices, providing data and insight into the impact of marketing partnership communications on consumer attitudes and behaviour.

PACL MD Ian Thompson explains that even though brands spend around $50bn a year on marketing partnerships, his firm is still seeing evaluation focus on output measures that rarely correlate with brand or business performance - as well as the use of flawed and outdated MR methodologies. Jamie Robertson, Senior Director, Ipsos Connect UK, adds: 'We're looking forward to working with brands to help them to effectively benchmark the performance of their activities using the most innovative research techniques at our disposal. With so much being spent on these activities, can brands really afford not to be sure they're getting the best bang for their buck?'

Web sites: www.ipsos.com and www.thepacl.com .