Since it was launched about six months ago, close to 50 public relations agencies, plus many major Canadian corporations, have signed onto the Media Relations Rating Points (MRP) system. Among them are Hill & Knowlton, Ford Canada, Johnson & Johnson, BMO and Disney.

Developed by the Canadian Public Relations Society Measurement Committee – which represents more than 1,600 public relations practitioners across Canada – the system provides the first cost-effective, easy-to-use tool for the qualitative evaluation of any media relations campaign.

It provides up-to-date reach figures for print, URL, television and radio to ensure a standardized set of reach numbers, and draws on a variety of respected industry suppliers including BBM for broadcast coverage; Combase/Crop/Stathebdo for community newspapers; NadBank for daily newspapers; and PMB for magazines.

Endorsed by the International Association of Business Communicators of Toronto and the Canadian Council of Public Relations Firms, the system is rapidly becoming the industry standard for measurement and evaluation of editorial media relations campaigns. It measures any type of editorial coverage stemming from proactive media relations campaigns, crisis communications or unplanned media attention. The MRP system includes a media report template, rating system and tool for obtaining up-to-date accurate reach numbers. The rating system can be easily customized by company or by project to provide clear metrics to evaluate media coverage, and to track total reach and cost per contact. As well, it allows users to qualitatively evaluate editorial tone and article content.

www.mrpdata.com