Porter Novelli launched a proprietary offering dubbed as PN Influence Modeling, a service supposed to bring predictive, scientific rigor to communications program development. The PN Influence Modeling is supposed to accurately identify (scientific rigor) which combination of content, delivery channels and stakeholders will have the best potential to influence a specific target audience to action, according to an official press release.
PN Influence Modeling comes months after the company’s PN Sonar, a system supposed to scan all media channels – print, broadcast and digital media – at the same time, employing both algorithms and human processing. Like PN Sonar, PN Influence Modeling promises a lot. According to the news, the new system combines traditional media monitoring with advanced statistical techniques, “to develop a clear understanding of the influence landscape throughout the course of a target audience’s decision-making process.”
But, like everything Porter Novelli, although announced as “launched” the system remains hidden, only to be available to company clients. Anyone interested in actually seeing this system at work, will have to reach out to Catherine M. Sullivan, Porter Novelli Director of Communications, to inquire additional information. The press release does provide some additional insight, such as:
“What’s so special about our system is that it provides a high-level view of the PR possibilities, and then drills down to an incredible level of exactitude in terms of content dissemination,” as Loretta Markevics , executive vice president, director, Strategic Planning & Research, Porter Novelli is quoted. “By knowing exactly where and when to drop information, we can optimize ROI during campaign development, rather than calculate it afterwards.”
Although scientific rigor to communications seems a bit overreaching, this is award-winning Porter Novelli we are talking about. If their claims are true, they are one step ahead many PR companies still struggling to define, and calculate PR ROI.