Arguably Kenya’s leading, most trusted and most advanced media monitoring company, Reelforge is taking the industry by storm with unmatched technological advances, media intelligence techniques, unrivalled strategies and professionalism in a bid to aid corporates understand what impact their company has on customers and the general public and as a tool to deliver insights on how to better angle their business approaches within Kenya and across the African continent. Writes Corporate Watch Magazine’s Ker Mogallo.
In summary
- Media monitoring is the process of reading, watching or listening to the editorial content of media sources on a continuing basis, and then, identifying, saving and analyzing content that contains specific keywords or topics
- Reelforge thrives on efficiency, transparency, independence, accuracy and innovation
- The Media Monitoring firm began Kenyan operations in August 2009 and in Uganda in October 2015
- Media monitoring gives companies an insight into how best to leverage on media use to drive their message and reach their target audience by enabling them plan their communication, tailor their messages and place these messages through the correct channels
- Reelforge boasts of the most advanced, accurate and comprehensive web-based media monitoring and intelligence tools such as the Anvil for Ad verification, AdFlite for Broadcast Reconciliation, the ReelMedia for news & editorial monitoring as well as the ReelOnline for digital & social media monitoring.
Established 10 years ago, and with a mission to redefine media monitoring in the region and build brands, Reelforge comes across as the one stop shop for brands to stay on top of what consumers are saying about their products and services.
According to Irene Chelimo, Head of PR Monitoring at Reelforge, media monitoring is one of the most efficient and effective ways of discovering what works, what isn’t working, and exactly what your clients feel about your brand.
‘A large part of media monitoring has to do with managing the reputation of businesses. Companies often ignore media monitoring until a crisis occurs and their reputation is damaged or at risk. Media monitoring is pertinent during the good and bad times because companies can predict a crisis based on patterns and counter it before it occurs,’ she says.
In an exclusive interview at the firm’s offices on 5th floor, Rhapta Heights in Westlands, the Head of PR Monitoring revealed that consumer sentiments could be used in identifying problems; but the best strategy would be the use of media monitoring in a pre-emptive approach rather than countering a setback.
Media monitoring gives companies an insight into how best to leverage on media use to drive their message and reach their target audience by enabling them plan their communication, tailor their messages and place these messages through the correct channels
This in turn leads to improved public reputation for your company and also keeps your company on the top of the minds of consumers. Media intelligence offers insight into how to pursue better business strategies, which gives you the time and knowledge to preemptively change policies and listen to the voice of customers.
‘With that kind of mindset, it is possible to use media intelligence to stay on top of response from clientele and know when there is a problem before it gets out of control,’ she adds.
Bringing on board a management team that boasts of over 14 years’ experience in media monitoring and over 20 years in software development, Reelforge develops innovative tools, products and services to serve the untapped industry in the region.
Technology…
Reelforge boasts of the most advanced, accurate and comprehensive web-based media monitoring and intelligence tools such the Anvil for Ad verification, AdFlite for broadcast reconciliation, the ReelMedia for news & editorial monitoring as well as the ReelOnline for ditigal & social media monitoring.
These products and services are intended for companies, agencies, media houses, musicians and individuals. Anvil for example, has pioneered the use of automated digital fingerprinting technology. This has allowed clients to track ad exposure on TV and Radio in real-time. The service allows users to verify if ad campaigns are airing, as they should on over 70 TV and radio stations countrywide. An advanced print automation system also allows for the tracking of ad impressions on newspapers and magazines.
Anvil also features a sophisticated and robust on-line archive system called ‘ReelPlay’ that stores all TV and Radio broadcasts 24/7 as well as storing print publications indefinitely. ReelPlay allows for instant playback and viewing of ad exposures or impressions for verification purposes.
The AdFlite product has been developed for broadcast media stations as a way of reconciling all Reelforge client Proof-of-Flight reports in real-time.
One of the most expensive inefficiencies faced by TV and radio stations is the delay in payments from agencies due to delays in reconciling media monitoring reports with media orders. In response, Reelforge employs real-time automated media monitoring based on digital fingerprinting where broadcast media houses are able to use AdFlite to reconcile in real-time proof-of-flight monitoring reports with media orders on a daily basis.
This ensures that stations are paid on time at the end of every month instead of waiting for weeks for media monitoring reports from traditional media monitors.
Another exciting product is the ReelMedia which gives you daily automated mail summaries, on-line access to all media mentions, online access to Kenya’s largest online TV, Radio and print story archive dating back to 2009 as well as access to online PR reports. ReelMedia is fronted as Kenya’s most advanced PR monitoring service that is powered by sophisticated automation tools that improve on speed and accuracy.
‘With over 150 employees, Reelforge is able to monitor over 75 broadcast channels as well as over 30 publications with great ease,’ notes Irene Chelimo.
On the online frontier, the firm engages the ReelOnline, which is an online media-monitoring tool. Reelforge adopted real time social media monitoring in 2011 to offer insights into a brand’s overall visibility on social media.
The service monitors all internet platforms such as blogs, wikis, news sites, micro-blogs, social networking sites, video/photo sharing websites, forums, message boards, blogs and user generated content. The analysis measures the quantity of online conversations, posts sentiments and issues raised about a company or brand.
The online analysis gives you real time access to online activities as they happen, measure the impact of campaigns, Assess competitor activities, identify opportunities for engagement and be alerted to impending crisis. The service is also able to identify conversation drivers and top influencers.
Growth and evolution…
With challenges and technological advancements coming up every new day, Reelforge is focused on ensuring it delivers relevant and accurate insights to its clients by ensuring it grows in its service delivery and evolves to catch up with the world’s best media monitoring firms.
Following the commencement of its operations in Uganda, Reelforge is looking into spreading across Africa as demand for its services continue to rise. The company is soon setting up offices in more countries to increase its footprint to six African countries.
