Sponsorship Research International (SRi) case study

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SRi helps brands keep a finger on the pulse of fans' opinions with GMI

Customer profile

Sponsorship Research International (SRi) is a full-service market research agency serving the needs of the sponsorship and experiential marketing industries. The Norwalk, CT-based firm helps brands maximize the return on their event and sponsorship investments. From property selection to activation plan testing and post-program evaluation, SRi guides brands through every phase of program development, execution and post-evaluation for sports properties, music campaigns, grassroots events, mobile marketing, retail events, B2B events, arts, cultural initiatives and more.

"We have been working with GMI for the past two years, and have expanded the relationship over time," explains Chuck Hall, Director at SRi. "We rely on GMI for our global consumer panel needs. We also leverage their 24x7x365 service bureau for program hosting, translations and data processing, which enables us to focus on what we do best: derive actionable insights for our clients, so they can make the best-informed investment decisions possible."

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SRi customizes its approach for each client, calling upon the right combination of resources, research tools and proven methodologies. SRi's client roster includes sponsors such as UBS, Unilever and ConAgra Foods, properties and teams including the NBA, AFL and Atlanta Hawks, and agencies such as Velocity Sports and Entertainment, to name just a few.

"GMI is very responsive to our needs and fast-paced environment. To quote a perfect example, we called in two studies on a Friday, and had 500 completes across five countries by Monday. It was very impressive," continues Hall. "It's reassuring to know you can rely on that type of responsiveness and support when you have multiple projects going on at once."

SRi had a client who was looking to activate around a global sports property. They wanted to quickly field some concept testing internationally using global consumer panels. GMI helped SRi test these concepts in five countries around the world, assessing which concepts resonated the strongest among targeted sports fans. Tennis was the sport that eventually rose to the top through an in-depth assessment of brand fit and the ability to drive business objectives. SRi was then able to help the client test and assess the most effective activation elements to bring their sponsorship to life among target fans and consumers around this global property.

"On average, we entrust GMI with multiple projects a month. GMI's pricing is always very competitive, and usually lower than some of the bids we receive from other panel vendors," concludes Hall. "While we can wait up to seven days with some suppliers, GMI turns a survey programming project around in one to two days. This enables us to not only respond to the needs of our customers quicker, but also to transfer cost savings to them at the same time."

With the help of fellow entrepreneur and market research guru Steve Gang, Hurley and Graves founded Resonance Technologies in January 2006. The three professionals leveraged the latest in Web application software and an innovative online in-depth interview methodology called Resonance® that Gang and his colleagues in performance psychology and neuroscience had developed 10 years earlier. The following September, clients began using RezTech Predictor™, the company's first flagship product, for a fraction of the time and cost of traditional in-depth interview methods.

Today, the next generation of Resonance products is being used around the world to predict the potential of new concepts, products and advertisements. The company's nine employees based in Salem, Mass. have conducted over 40 research projects for more than a dozen different clients from sectors ranging from non-profits and transportation to consumer electronics and agricultural equipment.

“Our in-depth online interview methodology provides rich, qualitative answers with the peace of mind of being statistically valid and projectable, so the quality of the panel we use in our research projects is of utmost importance,” explains Jeb Hurley, co-Founder, President and CEO of Resonance Technologies. “We have relied on GMI for our panel needs since the inception of the company. We have also tried working with other panel providers, but their panel quality didn't even come close to GMI's.”

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