“We believe that in this era of media proliferation, consumer confusion and accountability, the insight that a strategy is built on, is more important than ever before,” says Chris Botha, Group MD of The MediaShop. “Very often existing desk research does not address all the needs or requirements that a client or media strategist has, which is why we started this initiative.”

“We believe that FYI will give us a distinct competitive advantage that will ultimately benefit our clients,” says Botha. “The gap between client proprietary research and media strategy in South Africa is too wide. We plan to close the loop, and drive insight by offering real, affordable and specific market research. We’re very excited about the collaboration with FGI.”

Brad Aigner, managing director of FGI adds: “I am very excited about our collaboration as it brings something new and much needed to our industry. With the ever increasing proliferation and cost of media, it just makes sense for advertisers to be able to measure and optimise their media investments, which is one of the primary services that FYI will offer.”

“There is so much data and information out there – many businesses just don’t know what to do with all the stuff.” says Aigner. “The problem is that this data is often not translated into actionable insights, which businesses need to make informed strategic decisions. The most important deliverable from FYI will be to analyse primary research data in order to find the story and to articulate the actionable insights.”

FYI is data agnostic and will analyse any primary research data that a client has collected or alternatively, fresh data will be obtained. “Ultimately we believe that FYI will assist advertisers in closing the loop between making and managing media investments. After all, you can’t manage what you can’t measure.”

The FYI approach will include targeted detail on consumer insight; channel efficacy; media optimisation; message relevance and brand fitness. The new business will partner with both existing and new clients in order to find their story. This will lead FYI to create meaningful connections in order to grow a client’s business.

“We feel that this collaboration will add to an already powerful MediaShop service offering,” concludes Botha.

For more information, visit the MediaShop's website and follow them on Twitter.

For more on The MediaShop visit www.mediashop.co.za or follow them on Twitter @MediaShopZA