The board consists of Wadim Schreiner - media analyst and managing director of MediaTenorSA; Dr Clive Corder - one of the country's leading marketing research experts and academics; Noel Coburn - the founder and previous joint MD of Caxton Publishing; brand and research specialist Kerry Chipp; and journalist, writer and media specialist Mandy de Waal.
Oresti Patricios, the CEO of Ornico, said the advisory board had been assembled to assist the brand and reputation analysis company add value to existing products and advise on new products given Ornico expansion into Africa. "Opening an office in Nigeria has taken us one step closer to realising a cross-continental offering," said Patricios. "With the extension of our geographic reach it has become important to ensure we have world-class products and services that will spearhead our growth into Africa. While we'll be growing market share we also want to look at creating standardised and uniform media and brand research solutions on the continent. To grow brands in Africa companies need standardised media data sets and analysis that is consistent and uniform. There has been extensive growth in the quality and nature of brand and media data in Africa, but there are huge opportunities for growth and development. We want to be a part of that growth and underscore the drive for standardised media, brand and editorial data."
As data becomes super-abundant with The Economist reporting that mankind will create 140 exabytes (billion gigabytes) of data in 2010, the need to create standards for the research and analysis of brand and reputation information has become increasingly important. "There are pools of robust, reliable and credible data in regions across Africa, but it is not consistent across the continent, and at times differing methodologies are used which makes it difficult to compare apples with apples," says Patricios. "The advisory board's job will be to interrogate our own methodologies and then look at how we can help drive data and methodology so that brand owners can benefit from analysis that is both uniform and standardised."
The advisory board will also focus on expanding Ornico's Brand Intelligence™ offering. An independent analysis of brand advertising that determines the efficacy of marketing strategy, Brand Intelligence™ offers insight into market drivers, a full creative review and analysis on own and competitive brands, as well as an overview and study of competitive media spend and strategies.
Ornico delivers smart monitoring, analysis and intelligence services that cover both brand and reputation activities. Ornico's services are used by leading advertising and marketing agencies as well as local and global brand leaders. They include ABSA, Ackermans, Adcock Ingram, Brand House, Bidvest, Clarins, Clicks, Debonairs, Discovery, Distell, Draftfcb, Edcon, Ellerines, Eskom, FNB, General Motors, Gold Reef City, Grey, Hollard, HSBC, JWT, Kelloggs, Lindsay Keller, Lewis Stores, Liberty, L'Oreal South Africa, Lowe Bull, Media Shop, Mazda, Mercedes, Multichoice, Musica, MTN, Nedbank, Network, Nokia, Ogilvy, OMD, PPC Cement, Rednail, Revlon, Saatchi & Saatchi, SAB Miller, Spur, Steers, TBWA, Total, Vodacom and Wimpy. Ornico collects and analyses adverts and brand publicity to put marketing decision makers in the know and enable brand owners to make important strategic decisions.
