MRI Launches Local Versions of Consumer Data

In the US, Mediamark Research & Intelligence (MRI) has launched Market-by-Market, a service providing local market versions of its studies on the media usage, lifestyle and product purchasing behavior of US consumers.

Covering 205 Designated Market Areas (DMAs), the study will enable marketers to drill down into their most appropriate geographic areas to gain insight into their local customers.

Data will be drawn from 52,000 in-home personal interviews that MRI conducts as part of its national Survey of the American Consumer.

The new service includes consumer usage of nearly 6,000 product and service brands across 550 categories, along with consumer segmentation analyses drawn from attitudinal and behavioral questions contained in the national survey. Niche consumer targets, such as Hispanics, baby boomers and frequent travelers, can also be identified, quantified and qualified within local markets.

'Market-by-Market is a great tool for any marketer who needs to understand which DMAs hold their prime prospects,' explained President and CEO Kathi Love. 'A particularly valuable feature is that marketers are no longer limited to pre-defined census and marketing regions, states or top ten markets, and can now build custom marketing regions that suit their particular business objectives.'

Love says the new data will be invaluable for anyone who uses a brand development index or a category development index to calculate the relative sales strength and sales potential of their brand within specific markets.

Last week, MRI partnered with mobile media measurement firm M:Metrics to help agencies and mobile operators better integrate mobile into their cross-media campaigns.

MRI is part of the GfK Group and is online at www.mediamark.com .