WASHINGTON: Qorvis MSLGroup has launched a web-based sentiment analysis tool named Real-Time SentiMeter to simplify the audience measurement process.
The tool, developed by MSL-owned Clarus Research Group, allows people to use their personal mobile devices to offer opinions or reactions to events, making the audience measurement process more flexible and adaptable for clients than traditional dial testing, said Ron Faucheux, president of Clarus.
Traditional dial group testing, which Faucheux defines as the measurement of a group’s reaction to a speech, interview, video, or ad, has previously been limited to surveying only the people in one room where polling equipment is located. With the new tool, population groups throughout a state, a country, or worldwide can use their own mobile devices, including cell phones or iPads, to participate.
The tool’s analysis of user reactions can educate clients on the effectiveness of a message, as well as the influence of individual phrases and gestures, said Faucheux. Results are tracked, catalogued, and segmented by subgroup, such as age, gender, political affiliation, and brand awareness. It can also be used as a media training tool, he added.
"[Real-Time SentiMeter] is particularly beneficial to PR pros because it gives them an opportunity to test messaging and test audience reaction to spokespeople when they deliver messaging," he said. "It is also an opportunity to test it before the messaging is rolled out publicly, whether it is a testimony on Capitol Hill, a convention speech, or a news interview on the Today show."
Depending on the size of the audience and length of material being tested, the tool can cost anywhere from $3,000 to $30,000.
"This is an affordable tool, and clients with small budgets and small campaigns can use it; it’s not just meant for big campaigns," said Faucheux.
MSLGroup also created a video to highlight how the SentiMeter tool works.
In January, MSLGroup parent company Publicis Groupe acquired 100% of Qorvis Communications and merged it with the MSLGroup network. Renee Wilson, the former North American president at the Publicis firm, told PRWeek at the time that the reason behind the move was to boost the firm’s presence in Washington, DC.
The firm has had a string of executive changes this year. In February, MSLGroup hired eBay VP of communications Paul Newman to take over Wilson’s role as president of its North America operations, and Mark Duffy was appointed as an associate in the firm’s Washington, DC office.
Earlier this summer, Renata Hopkins was tapped as SVP in the agency’s New York consumer practice, and Colleen Wilber was named VP of media relations in the Washington, DC office.
Last month, the firm promoted VP Marcy Massura to SVP and head of the firm’s social and digital practice in New York, and appointed Aleisia Gibson-Wright, formerly GE Healthcare’s global PR leader for medical diagnostics, to the newly created position of SVP and regional client-engagement director. MSL’s EVP Jason Morris also left the firm in July to join InkHouse as EVP and GM for San Francisco.
