Magic Sponge to Help Riney Revival

Recovering Publicis ad agency Hal Riney has announced a strategic partnership with market intelligence firm, Peacock Nine, giving it access to the latter's BuzzSponge online community of more than 30,000 US consumers.

Riney will both monitor and directly engage in consumer conversations with the virtual community's members, who have agreed to participate in quant and qual research.

Riney President and CEO Jamie King comments: 'The breakout brands of the last several years haven't been the biggest spenders. Today successful brands inject an idea into the culture - something worth talking about, that changes the expectations for the entire category. Tapping the technologies, tools and know-how at Peacock Nine will help us create ideas that change the language of a category to set a brand apart, to shift the conversation in a specific direction and redefine the playing field to give our clients an unfair market advantage.'

Hal Riney is a full-service creative boutique headquartered in San Francisco, wholly owned by communications giant Publicis Groupe, and is online at www.hrp.com. The agency is on the comeback trail after losing some of its biggest clients, including HP and Sprint Nextel, and has recently secured a total of $100m in business from three major wins, U.S. Cellular, Altoids and Pinnacle Foods.

Peacock Nine has offices in Chicago and Shanghai. The BuzzSponge home page is at www.buzzsponge.com.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.