• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, May 7, 2010

One time magazine audience measurement firm Simmons is getting back into the fray, this time in partnership with Affinity LLC, which has been trying to compete with magazine research giant MRI (Mediamark Research & Intelligence) for the past several years. The companies announced they have formed a strategic alliance to launch and sell a new syndicated print planning tool combining consumer behavior and attitudinal research from Simmons' National Consumer Study with the magazine audience estimates from Affinity's American Magazine Study.

The companies said they would utilize a "state-of-the-art database integration process" to combine their disparate databases. Simmons has done similar data integration deals in the past, most notably Simmons' TV BehaviorGraphics, a service that integrates its National Consumer Study with Nielsen's TV ratings.

Simmons had been in a head-to-head battle with MRI to be Madison Avenue's industry standard magazine audience research service, but abandoned that market in the mid-1990s. It subsequently changed management, and business models several times and is now owned by Experian and focuses on innovative ways of integrating its consumer insights research with marketing and media databases.

"Any print media agency person would appreciate a time saving, easy buying, planning tool," reacted Gay Mac Leod, a veteran Madison Avenue media guru who is now an independent consultant. "The new syndicated research brings together all of the choice properties of both Simmons and Affinity and offers information and direction in a one-stop shopping experience."

Steve Greenberger, executive vice president-media director for SLG Advertising, is not so sanguine, and believes that the Simmons/Affinity deal was done more out of desperation than a position of strength, noting that MRI has a more established base, and recently expanded on to Affinity's turf by introducing a new magazine creative and ad effectiveness research product with sister company Starch, that competes with Affinity's Vista service.

"With MRI's foray into Vista-ville with an enhanced Starch and a pre/post planning system tied to MRI issue-by-issue planning data, both Simmons (more lightly used for magazine audience/planning) and Vista (strong, but alone) certainly need each other now more than ever for relevance among media decision-makers," he observed, adding, "The biggest hurdle: Simmons' need to recapture media planning share."