The University of Leeds has become the first organisation to subscribe to a “new and disruptive” media impact tool.
Quantum, a subscription product created by Metricomm, launched in Q1 this year. It provides brands with unrivalled data and strategic insights on how media coverage is influencing audience behaviours.
The University of Leeds, a member of the prestigious Russell Group, said it commissioned Metricomm “to analyse our online media coverage and explore how this affects our positioning and reputation.”
Richard Abbott, corporate communications manager, University of Leeds, said: “The reports contain a wide range of thought-provoking insights, enabling us to better understand our audiences and key themes.
“Metricomm’s data provides evidence of communications successes while also identifying where we have further opportunities for effective engagement.”
Metricomm was founded in 2020 by media measurement pioneer Mark Westaby and fellow directors Karen Williams and Gareth Jones.
The company works with organisations and brands across multiple industries including in education, automotive, consumer electronics, retail homewares, professional services and travel and leisure.
Metricomm is helping clients in the UK and overseas to understand and influence audience behaviour, shaping strategies, maximising impact, optimising resources and proving value throughout the consumer journey.
Westaby said: “Proving PR value to leadership teams has been a problem for far too long. Metricomm’s goal is to address this by proving the real impact media coverage has on consumer behaviour, which we’re now doing.
“Having a major institution such as the University of Leeds sign to Quantum is important as it shows how approaches to the measurement of media effectiveness using audience data is changing for the better.
“With Quantum we are robustly looking at the relationship between the audience generated by a brand and the outcomes that really matter. The platform enables client access to regular and highly cost-effective information about how impactful their media coverage is compared to competitors.”
Research by the IAB shows that search advertising spend in the UK is going to be around £13.5bn this year – almost three times the amount spent on TV advertising.
Metricomm co-founder and director Karen Williams, said: “The search that is influenced by online media coverage also influences the outcomes for paid search advertising. One of the ways to encourage people to search more is to get online media coverage in the right media.
“Quantum demonstrates to brands how that is working and the likely impact on the results of their paid search advertising, which is one of the categories in the marketing mix that they spend most on every year. It’s a quick and easy way to gauge how their PR is making a contribution to other aspects of the marketing mix.”
