ATG-MCI in consolidation mode

Two years since setting up base and then stabilising its services in India, ATG-MCI, short for Advanced Techniques Group and Media Consumer Insights, specialist units of GroupM, have plans to move into the next level with the launch of new products and an extensive focus on the youth and kids segments. According to V Balasubramanium, national director, ATG-MCI, a huge information gap exists with regard to the youth and kids segments, which MCI, the entity providing qualitative research, will attempt to fill. "There are lots of insights one can gather on these segments," he says.

From an ATG point of view, the challenge for Balasubramanium, is to "grow in terms of quality" with the launch of products that go beyond awareness modeling. "The idea is to not just look at econometric modeling but to come up with a marketing simulation tool or a product on halo modeling, which is useful to the marketer," he says.

The growth of the specialist units in India, both of which complement each other in terms of qualitative and quantitative research, have been steady with ATG-MCI appointed as the global analytic centre last year, implying that all GroupM companies can access its services in Bangalore, where the units are based. Prior to this, the Indian entities were doubling up as the analytic centre for the Asia-Pacific region.

As a global analytic centre, MCI, Bangalore, has the task of executing a worldwide consumer segmentation of the 3D database, which is a proprietary research study existing in various markets across the globe. In India, 3D, which is an MCI initiative, is implemented by IMRB and deals with how consumer insight can be applied to media, linking it to brand relationship right from familiarity to commitment.

A global consumer segmentation calls for a mapping of the findings with various brands, which is an important part of the exercise. "The study will throw light on the similarity of consumers in various markets where a given brand exists," says Balasubramanium. "One can then group them into different consumer clusters, which, in turn, is based on consumer insight," he adds.

MCI, Bangalore has undertaken another study titled Print Passion, which attempts to quantify reader involvement with dailies or magazines, linking it to brand recall. "The plan is to replicate the model in different markets," says Balasubramanium.

To this end, the basic customisation of the model to the given market will be executed in Bangalore. The study is currently "in the field" with the findings likely by the end of this month. "The last two years was the R&D phase for us, where a good amount of time was spent stabilising and expanding into different markets. The challenge at this point is to grow in terms of quality, which is our focus area," he adds. © 2004 agencyfaqs!