CEO John Freeland said the rebranding of the retail sales data and consumer goods researcher “creates a clear alignment between our existing and emerging capabilities and the technology, human and intellectual
assets we share with our parent and sister portfolio companies”.

Ostensibly, the name change recognises the transformation that the old IRI business has undergone since its acquisition by Symphony back in November 2003 – a transformation that has seen it become less of a straight data supplier and more of what Symphony has described as an “analytics insights and solutions provider”.

Underscoring this was the deal that was signed with rival Nielsen last summer to create a joint venture company to recruit, maintain and process data from a common set of households to fuel each firm’s consumer purchase panels, shifting the focus of competition towards the development and supply of advanced analytic tools.

“We have invested heavily in predictive analytic innovation and integration, developing and commercialising the Advantage portfolio of advanced decision support solutions,” said Freeland, in a letter to clients announcing the rebranding. “We also brought in world-class consulting leadership as well as acquired and integrated the best-in-class capabilities of both The Hendry Group and ImmediateFx from our parent company. These are just a few of the many investments and enhancements we have made.”

More recently, SymphonyIRI partnered with data management firm Acxiom and software company SRC on the development of Target Advantage, a shopper segmentation and targeting tool which integrates behavioural, attitudinal and psychographic data from a variety of sources.