Challenge: Creating a Media Measurement Strategy from Scratch


When a new CCO came aboard a leading financial insurance company, he was tasked with improving media measurement. The team believed they had solid communications strategies in place, but they had no way of concretely proving the success of their efforts (or the value they added to the business).

Much of the team’s time was spent on a very manual monitoring process that was not rooted in measurement and could not show the success of their strategies. Even with all the time they devoted to monitoring they still missed coverage because of the wide array of local and industry publications in which their brand and subsidiaries get mentioned. The team chose PublicRelay’s human-assisted artificial intelligence solution that yields fully analyzed, accurate results in near real-time so that they never have to worry about missing a story or spending their valuable time collecting and organizing coverage. Instead, they focus on the strategy behind receiving those placements.

Solution: Tracking Brand Drivers and Competitors

The company’s team discussed brand and reputation measurement best practices with the PublicRelay team and together they established brand themes based on both PublicRelay’s experience in the financial services industry and their company-specific goals. Beginning measurement with company-wide goals in mind enabled them to tie back results to goals the organization was familiar with, like becoming known as a more socially responsible company. Confident in the measurement strategy they put in place, the company began tracking key brand drivers for their own brand as well as their competitors. They also measure how social sharing amplifies their traditional coverage and that of their competitors, as well as the prominence of each company and brand driver mention within an article, and the outlet credibility. The team doesn’t just have a pulse on the coverage they receive, but also measures their efforts quarter over quarter and compares how they stack up to their competitors on key messages.

Result: Using Insights to Guide Strategy

By consistently reviewing the analysis that demonstrates how their strategies perform over time, the team can see if they are making improvements in areas where they are actively executing campaigns and where they need to adjust. They no longer rely on a gut feeling that their campaigns are generally performing well but, instead, use concrete metrics to clearly understand areas of success and where there is room for improvement. In fact, one quarter the team believed they were gaining significant share of voice as Thought Leaders in the industry. However, the analysis revealed that while they made gains from last quarter, their Thought Leadership SOV was still solidly in the middle of the pack when compared to their competitors. The team realized that they needed to continue to actively execute Thought Leadership campaigns and allocate the appropriate time and resources to move the needle on this brand driver and contribute to the company-wide goal.

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