For more than 30 years, Hendry has been a pioneer in the development [image-nocss] of strategic consumer marketing insights through its innovative market structure modeling and business simulation software solutions. The acquisition further strengthens IRI's Consumer & Shopper insights practice, combining Hendry's world-class marketing return on investment (ROI) and market structure capabilities with IRI's deep consumer and shopper insights to deliver new intelligence on new products as well as brand and portfolio optimization to drive growth opportunities.
"Our clients are continually looking for ways to accelerate their ability to anticipate emerging consumer need states and enhance their decision-making aptitude to increase marketing effectiveness and ultimately drive new levels growth," said IRI president and CEO John Freeland. "Hendry has a rich heritage of developing strategic insights into the rapidly evolving consumer landscape, and our clients will benefit significantly from the addition of such a well-respected, capability-enhancing organization."
The combination of Hendry's strategic marketing insights and simulations is intended to strengthen Chicago-based IRI's portfolio of insights applications by enhancing the company's client-focused strategic growth planning process to become the de facto planning platform that customers leverage for their strategic and annual planning cycles.
"Linking Hendry's market structure with our rich consumer and shopper insights assets as well as other predictive marketing analytics capabilities creates an entirely new class of competitively-advantaged insights our clients can take advantage of to optimize both new and established brand portfolios," added IRI Consumer & Shopper Insights president Robert (Bob) I. Tomei. "In addition, we will be able to leverage IRI's broad and deep client engagements in the consumer packaged goods [CPG] industry in both the United States and Europe to grow the Hendry business going forward."
"Those who have been privileged to work with Hendry over its long history have abiding respect for the power of its model to drive marketing strategy in the quest for significant ROI," said Lorraine Scarpa, general manager of Symphony Marketing Solutions. "The list of validations of Hendry forecasts is both long and impressive. Indeed, all that has been lacking is wider knowledge of Hendry's power and application to both CPG and non-CPG businesses. This combination of Hendry's depth and IRI's breadth will enable widespread adoption of this robust capability at a time when businesses are most in need of both."
Hendry strengthens the foundation of IRI's strategic marketing insights capabilities, providing a unique combination of services, technology and analytic platforms to rapidly increase clients' marketing effectiveness and ROI.
Following the acquisition, Scarpa will serve as acting general manager for IRI-owned Hendry.
Southport, Conn.-based Symphony Marketing Solutions is a provider of technology-enabled marketing and analytic services, with deep domain knowledge and a critical mass global delivery model, capable of delivering full-scale transformational outsourcing, focused on market analytics, business intelligence, data modeling, data integration and data management.
Hendry provides strategic insights on how consumers make purchase choices across a vast array of categories and industries. The business has evolved into a market structure provider for several industries focusing on assisting clients with understanding and leveraging insights on the consumer decision process in brand selection. Portfolio optimization simulations tools provide marketers with direction on how best to serve their customer base through optimal marketing strategies and spending principle development.
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