Who would have known that an internship in college would lead to more than fifteen years in the media research and analysis field.  While attending Emerson College in Boston, I started working for a small startup company called The Delahaye Group  looking for articles mentioning relevant companies and brands, and coding articles for our clients.

It has now been my pleasure to have worked with many top Fortune Brands and major PR agencies, partnering and supporting clients with reputation management, competitor intelligence and brand analysis across nearly all business sectors. Now based in Eliot, Maine, my role at RI utilizes all that experience with consultative needs analysis for PR professionals, through to setting up programs, and delivering reports in dozens of countries.

Lucas Galan – Account Director

Before landing up at Report International, I spent my formative professional years working for a number of firms in a variety of analytical roles, including, most recently, the illustrious Walt Disney Company. I originally hail from Madrid, though I grew up in Rome. Probably because I come from a family of journalists, I have an inclination towards thinking too much and using long sentences, which resulted in me graduating from Warwick University with a BA in Philosophy and Politics.

I am a very gregarious person, and make maximum use of my free time by cavorting with friends in London’s trendy East End. Whatever time is left, or when it’s raining too much, I dedicate my hours outside work to my love of film and literature, or to my fledging vocation as a graphic artist.

Adam Hibbard – Account Manager

Welcome to the world, well Wales at least. Where would you like to go?

Well, I’ll stay here until my parents don’t own a pub anymore. I’m not as stupid as I look.

Apparently not. What then?

Well, let’s see what the neighbours are like. England can’t be all that bad. After all, Salford does have the best football team in the world.

Done. After that?

The lost university years – let’s go to Essex.

Now time you need to knuckle down. Welcome to the real world.

I was dreading that. Ok, might as well start in London then.

Thanks to my English Language and Sociolinguistics degrees, Report International took me on as a fieldworker back in 2003. I have since moved into account management, which provides a happy combination of granular detail analysis and space to design evaluation tools that best fit my clients’ requirements.

When I’m not measuring the impact of the latest environmental campaign in Timbuktu, you can find me listening to Dylan and preparing a tasty oxtail casserole.

Nadin Vernon – Account Manager

Born to Armenian parents I grew up in Germany, and with such a multi-cultural background and an affinity for languages, I’ve ended up speaking five fluently.  It seemed a good idea to swap the tranquil spa surroundings of my home town for rock n’roll London, gaining a degree in Literature. I fell into working on media analysis more than a decade ago, and now really enjoy my client facing role and the challenges of managing large-scale global programmes in a variety of sectors.

Outside work, my family keeps me busy but I manage to find time to follow my great  passion: figure skating – these days not so much on the ice itself but reporting from the barrier. Travelling to many competitions and shows allows me to indulge my love for travel, classical music, interesting food and journalism.

Andrew Rowan – Project Manager

I represent Report International’s Northern England outpost, based in the wilds of North Derbyshire. An English graduate with a love of charts, Report International has been my natural working environment for eight years. In that time I’ve covered most of the elements involved in our projects – from freelance analyst through to my current role as one of the the project management team. I now spend most of my time working alongside our consumer electronics clients (so if you want to know which phone or TV to buy, I’m your man). When I’m not working, you’ll find me at a car boot sale or in a record shop. If anyone reading this has a copy of “‘Soul Travelin’ by Gary Byrd” for sale, please let me know…

Will Hayward – Sales Manager

With a degree in English with Spanish (minoring in Socio-Linguistics), and a background in media (I worked at The Economist and AOL Time Warner), perhaps it was inevitable I’d end up on the analysis side of the fence, working with our new clients and prospects to create robust and business-focused solutions.

I’m borderline obsessive with health and fitness, which I like to think spills over to a passion for working as hard as possible for the clients that are at the centre of everything we do.   Oh, and I’m a massive internet/gadget geek.

Sarah Potter – Operations Manager

I studied Linguistics with Sociology at university, where part of the course was about analysing media content to see how different journalists portray the same event. Little did I know at the time that you could actually make a career out of that sort of thing, After a 12 year stint managing print production for The Economist Group I came to work for Report International 8 years ago. As Operations Manager, I now plan and manage all our resources and workloads, to ensure that reports are sent to clients on time and to the highest quality standards . Outside of work, I enjoy live comedy, theatre, cooking and cycling.

Sam Pegley – Fieldwork Manager

I first joined Report International in the late summer of 2003, after three years of university in which I gained a Geography degree, an obsession for 80s US indie-rock and an unhealthy dependence on frozen pancakes.  As an in-house coder at the company I began analysing UK newspapers and magazines.  After two years I moved to account management and then into my current role of fieldwork manager, where I oversee the massive influx of material – around twenty thousand articles per month, currently, from our analysts all over the world.  It’s challenging to say the least as we have teams from some 40 countries, all with very different cultures – and time zones! Fortunately, I still have time to learn to cook and track down obscure Dinosaur Jr singles. But generally not at the same time.

Francesca Hardy – Account Executive

Having delayed my entry into the world of work for quite long enough by completing a Master’s Degree in Screen Media and Cultures, I waved goodbye to academia and joined Report International in 2009.

Day-to-day my job involves a wide range of activities, from providing general project support to report writing, coding and quality checking.

I remain keenly interested in understanding the mechanisms which drive real-world events and issues, and at Report International I can help fathom the great shift which is already occurring amongst the world’s press, in the way that content is delivered, consumed and ultimately enjoyed.

Laura Whigham-Trouvé

Like many university language graduates (French and Russian studies at Emory University), I thought I was bound to end up with a career in education.  So I left my Atlanta  hometown and moved to France shortly after graduation to teach English.  As I was exploring translation and interpreting opportunities on the side, Report International took me on as a freelancer for fieldwork, report writing, and other day-to-day tasks.  Soon I was involved enough in the business to know that media analysis was more fulfilling and interesting to me than teaching!  After two years of working for Report from my home in Bordeaux, I moved to London (with my newly acquired French husband) to become a full-time account executive.

In my spare time I enjoy running, yoga, vegan cooking, reading, and learning even more new languages.

Thomas’ degree in media content analysis from Muenster University in Germany not only underpins his role as managing director of Report International, but also more than qualifies him to be its resident research geek. Following a desire to spread geekdom to a wider audience, I completed a post-graduate degree in business English translation and interpretation, and then worked for a marketing consultancy that helped launch the Intel Pentium III in Germany. Adding semiconductor floating point knowledge to content analysis thirst of knowledge clearly meant a job as an independent researcher for the German Office of Technology assessment was pre-ordained.

I’ve now been involved in media research for almost 25 years, and continue to be baffled by what social media might actually stand for.

Mike Daniels – Director

Having somehow, to the amazement of my tutors, managed to gain a degree in Philosophy and Linguistics, I then managed to fail to finish my PhD thesis. Clearly the only thing to be done was to go into marketing… That role’s happy combination of client entertaining, using/inventing long words and indulging in “blue sky” thinking seemed to promise a straightforward  extension of my university life. Sadly, real life got in the way… My client facing role at Report International for the past 15 years has nonetheless given me a chance to work on some really challenging programmes, alongside some inspirational clients, across many different sectors.

Thankfully, none of this real life gets in the way of hunting down obscure music and  restaurants, as well as the best coffee I can get my hands on.

Ton Broeders – Senior Consultant

With an academic background in political science and mass communication in the Netherlands, followed by a commercial career in international market and social research at AGB, in 1987, in Brussels, I set up my own consultancy, called Report International. Our focus moved rapidly from offering broad consultancy towards becoming a media analysis specialist, based on my academic experience in content analysis. We applied the technique to ‘real world’ media environments, both in a commercial context but also covering policy and issues – especially from work with many European Union Institutions, for example.

Probably our biggest challenge, as well as being our most positive initiative, was the decision to develop our own international infrastructure of reliable, trained, and multilingual media analysts, Despite the operational headaches, a choice we have never regretted.

Louise Cooke – Client Service Director

After graduating in modern languages and having fallen in love with the Mediterranean lifestyle I lived and worked in Barcelona for three years in sales and marketing for a chemical company.   On returning to the UK I rather fell into the world of media analysis, as Millward Brown Precis were advertising for graduates with languages.  After several years with Precis and then with TNS Media Intelligence, I moved to TNS Worldpanel, where I was immersed in the world of panel research for 18 months.  But I missed working with my PR clients, so I moved to Report International in January 2010.   Although I love living in London, I try to keep some of the Mediterranean lifestyle through my weekly flamenco dancing classes.

A global logistics company needed to assess PR performance against its competitors across a diverse range of geographies within a region including both mature and emerging markets. Each country required a varying competitor set, as well as different messages specific to the individual country. Key metrics required included brand attributes contrasted with competitors, and message performance as well as overall share of ink.

The Solution:

Report International created a nine-country media tracking and analysis program.

This program utilised a consistent methodology across all nine countries, providing genuine like-for-like performance assessment within markets, even where they had varying stages of development. A monthly report for each country provided media metrics relevant to each individual country, plus a roll-up report for the regional team.

In addition to the monthly “push” report, a 24/7 accessible secure dashboard was created , displaying critical key metrics. All authorized PR managers could examine their media performance throughout the month. RI’s client account manager led monthly PR calls to interpret and discuss the results, and to offer guidance and recommendations based on themes, and trends data.

The Benefit:

The regional and local PR managers can easily track and analyze country specific performance by competitor. This allows them to determine how each country is performing against pre-agreed KPI’s. With RI’s unique granular methodology, and ability to drill down into the data, the PR manager could pinpoint journalists and media who were more focused on competitor news stories. The PR manager was also able to flag critical pressure points, which allowed the regional team to prioritize their PR efforts to create maximum impact.

A world leader in silicon innovation and processor technologies was faced with increasing competitive media activity across a number of mature markets. They sought a means to convince senior management of the need for additional investment in PR resources and activities to maintain and enhance brand and thought leadership.

Solution:

Report International created an international media analysis program with highly specific and granular quantitative performance metrics. Among the metrics tracked for the major EMEA markets were performance across all coverage, all product v corporate coverage and movement in coverage of four distinct product areas. Metrics also showed share of voice and sentiment across target product groups within each product area, calculated against client-determined actual, and stretch targets. As management performance bonuses were based upon these metrics, the client needed total reassurance that the data was as accurate, consistent and reliable as possible.

Benefit:

The company’s PR management were able to demonstrate clearly to the Executive Management Board a quantified measure of the scale of the competitive landscape. The quantitative evidence gave the Board the confidence to sanction additional budget funds for the PR team, with the assurance that the media analysis program would also provide quantitative evidence of ongoing future improvement in the PR team’s KPI’s.

The leading global VOIP telecoms service provider knew that although millions of people download their free software to access a free service, only a small percentage of downloaders were actually using the software and service. The company wanted to determine whether media coverage had any role to play in influencing usage patterns.

Solution:

Report International developed a unique metric called “Call to Action” (CTA) which analysed editorial coverage to determine what share of that coverage actively promoted the use of the client’s products and services.

The CTA metric tracked and scored coverage of: product/service awards; coming 1st in comparative reviews, positive editorial purchase endorsements and “buy” statements from authors and users. The metric also included a qualitative assessment of editorial and other comments.

The program covered all key markets across the globe, and was developed in partnership with the client’s in-country PR agencies.

Benefit:

The client was able to see precisely how much, and which sorts of coverage drove buy recommendations, and how that differed by product/service and by region. This data could be plotted against purchase and usage patterns, and was also able to identify which product/service announcements yielded high impact CTA scores.

The findings allowed the PR team to develop stories that would more actively promote less-prominent products and became a quantitative performance metric. the CTA metric is a cousin to the well know advocacy and Net Promoter Scoring data sets

The Corporate Communications function of a major player in beverages worldwide found itself continuously confronted with threatening stories in terms of health, obesity, and environmental issues such as packaging and recycling.

In order to be aware of, and to anticipate such potentially damaging issues and stories, for both external Media Relations and internal communications management, the client identified the need for an international alert/early warning service. This service would report on issues before they reached influential media, or as soon as possible after they appeared.

Solution:

Report International initiated and manages a continuous alert service, focusing on threats and trends by sector that are relevant for the client. Roughly 100,000 mainly online sources are tracked on a daily basis. From these sources, somewhere between 300 and 400 articles are selected for daily analysis. The content-driven analysis generates brief, concise narrative reports that number between one and three per day, depending on the perceived urgency of emerging issues.

Benefit:

The client is able to anticipate and manage emerging issues – e.g. incorrect information in the press can be corrected; sensitive information can be qualified in good time; reactions to media stories can be adequately prepared; and senio management are made aware of issues where appropriate.

The communications department of a global environmental NGO, who has been a Report International client for many years, was confronted with severe budget cuts as a result of the 2009 economic recession. Despite budget constraints, the client does not want to give up its media analysis, which provides them with qualitative and quantitative global feedback on editorial trends and their impact on environmental development. Working within a tight budget, a method needed to be developed to continue to measure trends and deliver constructive feedback.

Solution:

Using electronic databases and sophisticated multilingual search strings, Report International developed an almost completely automated trend analysis system. The system was able to classify coverage of roughly ten different themes, all of which had immediate relevance to the organization. In addition, the system identifies information-rich articles from a small number of key sources, which are analysed qualitatively.

Benefit:

Despite its difficult budgetary limits, the client is still able to follow media trends within key news outlets, and react to them in due time.

A global children’s charity was looking to enhance their worldwide media relations activity especially to make it more professional. The institution sought to strengthen and improve the feedback it received from its complicated worldwide media campaigns. The client wished to collect media data from all regions, including third world countries, within tight budgetary limits and discipline.  The main challenge was to obtain content sourcing of a sufficient quality to allow for robust data insights, while being budget-conscious and efficient.

Solution:

Report International’s approach to the content sourcing was to create a hybrid model, which combined available electronic sources, where available, with in-countryReport International teams sourcing print media where needed. Report International leveraged its experience in balancing electronically available sources and pure print media, which differ greatly from country to country.

Benefit:

Despite having a limited sample size due to budget restrictions, the analysis provided true global feedback. The program enabled the client to evaluate the success of campaigns with recommendations for improving performance as and where needed.

A global communications leader sought a media analysis program to track the launch of a new mobile handset.  The communications strategy to support the product launch was specifically designed to transform the brand’s positioning in the market from its heritage as engineering-driven into a sector-leading design-driven brand. Media coverage was critical in creating enhanced consumer awareness and perception – media analysis was required to measure the shift in journalist presentation of the brand from prior to the launch to post-launch.

Solution:

Report International devised a media analysis program to track and quantify editorial coverage that focused specifically on the bundle of brand attributes that would drive the brand transformation. The program tracked coverage across a number of different regions; determined whether the desired brand attribute maintained a requisite level of coverage after the launch; and provided an analysis of which journalists remained skeptical about the brand change and which endorsed it.

Benefit:

The communications client was able to demonstrate clearly to a wider marketing audience how far PR had effected a change in the image of the brand through editorial media coverage. The detailed journalist analysis enabled the PR team to exploit and maintain positive coverage of the brand transformation, by targeting resources at those journalists with maximum impact, and to identify skeptical journalists for additional outreach.

A critical additional insight from the media analysis indicated that the product was presented negatively for its performance and for certain technical elements. These concerns became more visible over time, and whilst the product had a successful sell-in to distributors, end-user sales were significantly lower than anticipated.