Kantar Millward Brown Framework Completes MASB Audit

Kantar Millward Brown's brand equity assessment engine - the Meaningfully Different Framework - has completed the metric audit process of the Marketing Accountability Standards Board (MASB).

The Meaningfully Different Framework is built on the premise that thriving brands meaningfully connect with a target audience, differentiate themselves from competition, and readily come to mind. With more than 600 clients, 20,000 ongoing applications, and a normative database comprising over 120,000 brands, Kantar Millward Brown claims its framework is the most broadly used equity assessment tool in the world. It is integrated into the firm's equity and brand guidance solutions, as well as its creative assessment and media optimization protocols, and is at the heart of WPP's syndicated <21339 >BrandZ brand equity database.

The Framework has now undergone MASB's process, the Marketing Metric Audit Protocol (MMAP), which is a formal, industry-recognized process for assessing connections from marketing activities and metrics to financial performance. Frank Findley, MASB Executive Director and Chief Advisor of the MMAP Center, comments: 'By putting the Meaningfully Different Framework through the MMAP protocol, Kantar Millward Brown has shown its commitment to developing disciplined, validated tools that link to financial outcomes and help marketing leaders make confident investment decisions'.

Web sites: www.millwardbrown.com and www.themasb.org .