Burson-Martseller, PlanetFeedback Team Up to Tap Influential Online Consumers
BURSON-MARSTELLER TO HELP CLIENTS TAP THE POWER OF INFLUENTIAL ONLINE CONSUMERS
Pact with PlanetFeedback Uses Internet Technology to Manage Customer Relations
NEW YORK, New York (April 22, 2002) -- The public relations firm Burson-Marsteller and PlanetFeedback, the nation`s leading online consumer feedback service, have formed a strategic alliance to help companies identify and leverage their most vocal and passionate customers using real-time Internet technology and interactive marketing techniques.
The alliance blends Burson-Marsteller`s groundbreaking research into e-fluentials™, the powerful group of online influencers who affect millions of consumers` purchasing decisions, with PlanetFeedback`s proven online applications designed to collect, analyze and manage influential customers` opinions of brands, products and services.
"PlanetFeedback`s products will let us put our research to work for our clients. Our partnership with PlanetFeedback will enable clients to build customer loyalty and manage relationship-marketing campaigns. Likewise, it helps clients identify issues and take action proactively," said Chet Burchett, president and chief executive officer, Burson-Marsteller USA.
According to Pete Blackshaw, PlanetFeedback`s founder, co-chairman and chief marketing officer, "Burson-Marsteller has been at the foreground of identifying influential stakeholders both online and offline. Their research on e-fluentials, combined with our experience in managing consumers who give feedback to companies online, brings about a powerful suite of offerings to clients who want to control the `buzz` on their brands, products and services."
The partnership allows Burson-Marsteller to offer PlanetFeedback`s branded products, ExpressFeedback™ and BrandPulse™, to clients seeking to increase their stronghold in the marketplace by managing their relations with online customers.
ExpressFeedback is an easy-to-implement application service provider solution that collects information from consumers on a Web site, analyzes the feedback in real time and pushes relevant content to visiting customers, providing them with immediate guidance. Companies that currently do not collect such information can implement ExpressFeedback to take advantage of Internet-contact capabilities with little investment and without building the process from scratch. Companies that already have customer relationship management systems can use ExpressFeedback to expand and enrich their capabilities to put critical customer information to use immediately for marketing, promotions, customer loyalty, brand testing and the like.
BrandPulse, an online buzz measurement tool, scours USENET groups, discussion forums and other online sources for consumer-to-consumer communications about companies, products, competitors and relevant issues. BrandPulse combines human intelligence with state-of-the-art business intelligence software to interpret these communications and provide clients with a deeper understanding of consumer perceptions and satisfaction, word-of-mouth -- or "viral" -- behavior, and industry trends.
The power of `e-fluential` consumers
"The PlanetFeedback tools provide us the flexibility to target individuals among our clients` viral stakeholders across the Web as well as to identify and recruit campaign participants on an ongoing basis. Joining the forces of PlanetFeedback and e-fluentials, we have acquired a large base of viral individuals who have already opted-in to take surveys and write letters or e-mails to companies," said Dr. Leslie Gaines-Ross, Burson-Marsteller`s chief knowledge and research officer.
Burson-Marsteller`s research has determined that each e-fluential communicates with an average of 14 people; thus the estimated 11 million e-fluentials reach 155 million U.S. adults with their messages. Across a wide variety of sectors -- technology, retail, finance, pharmaceutical and automotive -- 85% of e-fluentials who advise on companies and products were found to rely on company Web sites as sources of Internet-based information.
About Burson-Marsteller
Burson-Marsteller (www.bm.com), established in 1953, is a leading global public relations and communications counseling firm. It provides its clients with strategic thinking and program execution across a full range of public relations, public affairs, advertising and other communications services. Burson-Marsteller, through its proprietary research, today leads the industry in its knowledge of and insights into the relationship between communications and the reputations of companies and their CEOs. These learnings are applied to the firm`s many and varied corporate clients. The firm has 75 offices in 34 countries, through which links approximately 2,000 professionals in a seamless global network and unified culture. In 1979, the firm joined the Young & Rubicam family of companies, which in October 2000 was acquired by WPP Group plc, one of the world`s leading communications services groups.
About Planetfeedback
PlanetFeedback (www.planetfeedback.com), a leading provider of online feedback services and marketing analytics, taps the power of consumer insights to help companies make better, smarter decisions. Its flagship business products, ExpressFeedback™ and BrandPulse™, help companies and brands collect, analyze and use online consumer feedback, from multiple consumer touch points, in real time. Brand managers, marketers, consumer affairs, public relations and product researchers of many Fortune 500 companies use PlanetFeedback products to boost marketing and brand management programs, speed and enhance product development, monitor word-of-mouth consumer behavior, manage rumors, aid brand and competitive intelligence, improve customer service and cut costs. PlanetFeedback also manages the nation`s leading online third-party feedback service, having routed more than 600,000 letters to major companies and brands. PlanetFeedback is a division of Intelliseek (www.intelliseek.com), based in Cincinnati
For more information, contact:
David Corvette
Burson-Marsteller
212-614-4019
david_corvette@nyc.bm.com
Kelly Deters Baker
PlanetFeedback
513-618-6756
kbaker@planetfeedback.com
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