Carat pips IPA to the post with media metrics

Carat claims to be stealing a march on IPA Touchpoints by launching its own planning system that provides common measurement data across all media, ahead of the industry-backed initiative.

Sue Elms

Carat claims to be stealing a march on IPA Touchpoints by launching its own planning system that provides common measurement data across all media, ahead of the industry-backed initiative.

Carat Insight has spent the past 18 months developing Cameo and claims it provides common reach, frequency and effectiveness data across any medium or channel, either individually or in combination. The data can also be shown against bespoke target audiences.

In the past, planners have found it difficult to compare the performance of different parts of a campaign, as many media have different measurement criteria. That task has become harder as new forms of communication have emerged.

Sue Elms, managing director of Carat Insight, says: “Cameo redresses all this for the first time and represents a major shift in integrated planning that will benefit clients.”

She claims that it handles any communication channel, irrespective of whether audience research is available. Elms adds that the system also shows the weight of the whole campaign from the target group’s perspective as opposed to measuring each medium discretely, and allows planners, from a position of knowledge, to turn channels up or down depending on their performance.

Although the system is in operation ahead of IPA Touchpoints, which is due to launch in the autumn, Elms says: “We are not competing with Touchpoints and look forward to assimilating the data when it arrives.”