Young & Rubicam Teams With Harris Interactive

Ad giant Young & Rubicam entered into a strategic alliance with Harris Interactive, a market research and polling firm.

Young & Rubicam Inc. also made an undisclosed investment in Harris Interactive.

Harris Interactive uses Internet-based and traditional methodologies to provide clients with information about the views, experiences and attitudes of people worldwide.

Under the agreement, all of the Young & Rubicam companies and their clients will have access to Harris Interactive’s market research and polling services, including the company’s Internet panel of approximately 4.2 million individuals and its suite of proprietary technology and data analysis tools.

“I firmly believe our two organizations will be able to push this industry forward and greatly advance the science of real-time behavior measurement helping all the Y&R companies to continue to deliver cutting-edge work to their clients,” said Gordon S. Black, Harris Interactive’s chairman and CEO.

“One of the really dramatic changes we will see in the marketing services industry is the ability to conduct real-time measurement of consumer attitudes and of the effectiveness of our communications programs,” said Thomas D. Bell Jr., president and COO of Young & Rubicam.

“Young & Rubicam wants to be in a position to lead and benefit from this emerging trend.”

Y&R offers advertising, public relations, identity and design, sales promotion, database marketing, customer relationship management and healthcare communications and operates in more than 340 offices in 73 countries.