Angus Reid Strategies (now Vision Critical)

Situation:

Six years after selling his original market-research firm to Ipsos for $1 million, Angus Reid, Canada’s polling master for three decades, decide to come out of retirement to launch a new venture after a multi-year noncompetition agreement with Ipsos expired. Mr. Reid’s new company would focus on interactive research rather than phone surveys.

Objective:

Epic PR was retained to launch Angus Reid Strategies across Canada and to make the business community aware that “Angus was back” after a six-year hiatus. A secondary objective was to re-position Mr. Reid’s new venture as Canada’s premier online marketing research firm with the industry’s top talent and cutting edge technologies.

Solution:

Epic PR conducted a targeted media tour that focused on Angus Reid as a household name and marketing research icon returning to the market. An effort was also made to educate the public about the demise of phone research and the growth of interactive research – this helped to position Angus Reid Strategies as a leader in innovative online research. To further debut the company, Epic PR planned a launch event with the who’s who of Vancouver tech, business and media scene. Post-launch, Epic PR ensured that there was a steady stream of news announcements and speaking engagements to maintain media momentum. Mr. Reid recruited the top marketing researchers in North America to work for his company, which helped to position the firm as “premier” and create ongoing media profile in trade journals and amongst the marketing research community.

Results:

The media campaign reinforced Angus Reid Strategies’ authority as the national Internet research specialist. The program also garnered front page newspaper stories and high profile broadcast coverage from B.C. to Nova Scotia. Mr. Reid was ecstatic with the heightened visibility and asked Epic PR to continue to work with the company in a public relations and marketing capacity for an additional six months until he was ready to hire an in-house team. In one year, Angus Reid Strategies grew its business from three employees to 100 and became the leading Internet research firm in Canada.