What differentiates the study from other proprietary agency research projects is its scale and its continuity. Dubbed IntenTrack, the study surveys 250 consumers each week on an ongoing basis, and the results are compiled into a database tracking the impact various media and communications platforms have on consumer intentions to purchase more than 200 brands across 30 discrete product categories.

SMG, which as been working with online researchers GMI and InsightExpress, has already invested more than half a million dollars on the project, a hefty sum for primary research conducted by a media shop. And it comes as the Publicis unit has been making a wide array of investments in a variety of similar first-mover research initiatives. Last week, SMG's MediaVest unit announced it was the first agency to sign on with TRA, a new "single-source" research system that correlates product purchase data with TV viewing data derived directly from digital set-top devices. SMG also was the first agency to begin licensing audience research data from TNS Research's digital set-top data services, including a massive 100,000 household sample now in development with satellite TV giant DirecTV. And the group cut early research deals with TiVo, Experian, shopper cart data, and has been working aggressively with Google's new Google TV Ads database.

"There's a bigger picture here," said Jim Kite, president of connections research & analytics at MediaVest and, who along with SMG Executive Vice President-Global Research Kate Sirkin, was a co-creator of IntenTrack.

Kite said IntenTrack was a direct outgrowth of SMG's new positioning statement: "Connections That Captivate," and that the tool is a key component in the agencies' ability to "map" consumer connections with both media and advertising messages.

In fact, SMG claims IntenTrack is not simply a media assessment tool, but also is a means of determining what is the best advertising message - ie. creative - to influence a consumer's intentions along their brand consideration process.

Kite said those insights would be used in collaboration with SMG's creative partner agencies, though the group has recently begun developing more of its own creative content for clients, and has even spun off a full-service creative operation, Pixel, within Starcom.

The real power of IntenTrack is its ability to identify, which communications platforms and media outlets, and what advertising messages influence consumer intentions at various points in their purchase cycle. Those influences vary based on types of consumers, regions, and by product category, Kite said, noting that a brand such as a packaged goods product of a confectionary brand might generate more spontaneous or impulsive responses from advertising and media that could directly influence intentions, whereas big ticket brands like a car, or a high-end consumer electronics product, might require a longer term consideration before a purchase occurs. In both cases, Kite said it is important to understand what role media has on influencing the process.

For example, he said a key insight is that for certain products it is imperative to get on the "shopping list" before a consumer goes to a retail outlet. For a high ticket item, the goal might be to simply get a consumer to go online to a brand's Web site, or into a showroom or dealer to seek more information.

"The one thing that excites me about this is the ability to understand the seek, search and talk process, and how media can absolutely drive that," Kite said, adding that it may not always be as simple as it seems.

For example, a brand like Kellogg's Special K cereal might seem to be a conventional retail product sale, but SMG has had great success by marketing the brand online by driving health conscious consumers to the brand's Web site to learn more about its "weight management" system.

Kite said SMG still is learning from IntenTrack, and that the research product could evolve over time, and might even develop into a syndicated tool that could be offered to others outside SMG and its clientele.

As robust as the study is - sampling 250 consumers weekly and continuously, across a wide array of markets, categories and brands - it doesn't actually tie their intentions to empirical product purchase data. Kite envisions that could happen as technology and data sources improve, and that IntenTrack's patented system could be incorporated into a system that is electronically monitoring consumer media and purchase behavior.

"What we're trying to do is figure out the three different pieces of puzzle for media," added SMG's Sirkin. "We're trying to get the strategies right. Then we look at the industry currencies and how we can make that better. The final element is the accountability piece. That's really where IntenTrack comes in."

Sirkin noted that SMG has long been working with communications channel research such as Media Communications Audits to fine tune strategies. It has been working with media audience currency sources such as Nielsen, and new players like TNS, TiVo and TRA to improve its ability to plan, negotiate and buy the best inventory to match those strategies. But it is the ability to tie those strategies, and media options with client results that inspired the creation of IntenTrack.

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