Duesseldorf, October 2008 – Pleon has announced Pleon Performedia -- a ground-breaking tool that delivers detailed proof of the impact public relations has on consumer spending.

"Identifying a universally recognised standard for PR measurement has been an ongoing anathema to the PR industry," said Pleon European CEO, Timo Sieg.  "While many in the industry believe clients get more return on their investment through positive journalistic media exposure, proving it has always been a barrier."

To address this challenge, Pleon partnered with Omnicom-owned, BrandScience, a business and marketing effectiveness consultancy group, to create a new model for measurement that includes PR.  The end result, Pleon Performedia, enables companies to quantify the positive influence of media relations work on their sales figures. Pleon Performedia was found to be particularly effective when analysing fast-moving consumer goods, business- to-business markets and service industries such as tourism. In a recent case study done for Center Parcs -- a resort company in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and France -- media relations was shown to have a direct and measurable influence on driving consumer bookings.  Specifically, about one third of all bookings for Center Parcs triggered by mass media were the direct result of press coverage as compared to advertising or other traditional marketing tactics. 

Joachim Klewes, senior partner at Pleon, further explained why public relations is a more cost-effective tool than other marketing expenditures: "The Center Parcs case study proved that. Euro for Euro, marketing money spent on PR led to five times as many bookings as television advertising."

Using statistical modelling, Pleon Performedia shows which proportion of a target variable, such as bookings in the case of Center Parcs, can be attributed to TV, print, direct marketing and – for the first time – public relations. Adding a company’s budget into the analysis quantifies the return on investment in even greater detail, showing which marketing strategies directly resulted in consumer action.

The statistical application of the Pleon Performedia model is not new.  BrandScience has successfully calculated more than 400 models for manufacturers of brand-name products and advertisers in many industries but this is the first time that PR has been added to the mix.  "As with many innovations, here it was a case of applying an existing procedure to a new area. I don't know why no one has apparently thought of including PR variables in such modelling analyses before. Some ideas are just sitting there waiting to be discovered," concludes Klewes.

Read more in our new Top Story "Pleon’s new Performedia tool"

For more information on Pleon Performedia contact:

Sarah Jüttner
+49 211 95 41 2409
sarah.juettner(at)pleon.com