TNS Media Intelligence acquires Cymfony

Cymfony's staff will remain at its present location, with Andrew Bernstein staying on as president. The Cymfony unit will be branded TNS Media Intelligence/Cymfony.

Steven Fredericks, TNS MI president and CEO, said the company had been looking to acquire a company in the market influence analytics space for about a year and decided on Cymfony because "they were the most advanced in terms of the technology."

"We decided we had to go and get the leader [in the space]," he added. "We think this whole area is going to explode in the next couple of years. We think it's going to reach the tipping point very quickly and we wanted to target it."

Fredericks added that Cymfony's use of automated technology and human analysis, as well as its analysis of both social and traditional media, was a factor in the decision as well.

 "One of the capabilities that we're very excited about with Cymfony is their expertise in data mining analysis and coming up with actionable insights based on that analysis," he said. "That quite frankly is a skill set that we don't have."

"This now puts us in a new class of category with our offerings," Bernstein said. He added that with TNS MI's data on advertising expenditures, Cymfony will be able to offer clients a well-rounded view at the relationships between PR and other marketing activities and ROI.

Bernstein said that approximately 60% of Cymfony's client base is in the PR industry, with marketing making up the remainder. As a result of the acquisition and new services, he expects the split to be closer to 50-50.