• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, August 4, 2011

Synovate, the global market research firm owned by London-based Aegis Group, is combining two of its biggest operations, after concluding that the merged entity would provide clients of both units with more accurate data and insights about the behavior and attitudes of consumers and how to reach them more effectively with marketing messages.

The move, which combines Marketing Management Analytics and Synovate Management Analytics, comes just a week after Aegis confirmed it would sell its Synovate division to Ipsos, the Paris-based research firm. That deal, valued at about $860 million, is expected to close early in the fourth quarter.

Synovate executives said that Ipsos management signed off on the move to combine the two Synovate operations.

Together, the units will be branded as MMA. Marketing Management Analytics has used econometric modeling and other techniques to help clients place ads and other marketing messages in the right channels, including digital and social media. Synovate Management Analytics has focused on research about consumer attitudes and behavior.

According to Patrick Cummings, the CEO of the new entity, the company has been quietly planning the combination for close to a year, working on new algorithms and other techniques that would make it feasible. "This is really something that clients have been asking for," he said. "We think we have a one-plus-one-equals three situation here."

Cummings is a former Accenture partner who helped build its North American Marketing Sciences practice before joining Synovate Management Analytics about a year ago. Previously, he was president of global analytics at SymphonyIRI, and he recruited Doug Brooks last year to rejoin Marketing Management Analytics as CEO.

Brooks will become executive vice president of the combined companies. Previously, Brooks was senior vice president and general manager for modeling analytics and solutions at SymphonyIRI.

In preparation for the move, Cummings said, the company's top mathematicians spent that last year working out new formulas linking media usage, pricing and product innovation to provide quicker, more accurate insights and predictions as clients plan go-to-market strategies. The combination, he added, will provide clients with "a more holistic view" of their businesses and consumers.

According to Brooks, the new approach will also provide clients with data in more user-friendly formats that can be quickly converted to "actionable brand and boardroom strategies."