Ball State University has added two leading media industry analysts to a team of researchers investigating how consumers use media.

Industry Research Fellows for the Center for Media Design (CMD) during 2004-05 are Jim Spaeth and Bill Moult, two of the founders of Sequent Partners, a consulting firm. In addition to working with the Middletown Media Team on the study itself, the pair will occasionally serve as professionals-in-residence, conducting lectures and making classroom presentations.

"Moult and Spaeth are two of the leading thinkers and practitioners in the media industry," said Mike Bloxham, the CMD's director of testing and assessment. "They bring a depth of experience, insight and knowledge of the latest developments and challenges in the media and advertising industries that would be hard to match."

The Middletown Media Team has spent the last two years taking a detailed look at media use in Muncie, commonly known as Middletown America. The study, inspired by the Middletown Studies of the 1920s and '30s by Robert and Helen Lynd, is an attempt to determine how digital and other media are being used on a daily basis in typical American homes.

The initial studies found that usage of television, radio, books and newspapers is substantially underreported. The research also revealed much about changing patterns of news consumption and of media multi-tasking.

Spaeth and Moult said the ongoing Middletown Media Studies will be valuable to advertisers and others in the advertising community.

"The studies should serve as not only a rigorous and objective reality check for the way consumers interact with the media, but also as a solid information foundation for leading companies to start thinking how communications for their brands can better fit into the lives of customers," they said. 

Before joining Sequent Partners in 2003, Spaeth spent seven years with the Advertising Research Foundation. Under his leadership, the organization expanded its scope to incorporate all aspects of market research practice on a global basis.

Prior to his leadership role at the foundation, Spaeth spent more than a decade developing new research tools to improve clients' business performance. He has also led the media research and planning function at General Foods and Young and Rubicam, and is the co-author of Market Research Matters.

Moult recently completed a term as president of the Marketing Science Institute, a non-profit organization that combines the resources and efforts of world-class marketing organizations and leading researchers from marketing academia worldwide, to advance the science of marketing. 

He had previously been president and chief executive officer of ASI Market Research and Ipsos-ASI, the world's largest provider of television advertising testing and a leader in other aspects of advertising research. During the 1980s, Moult was president of BASES, which is now ACNielsen BASES, the world's leader in new product forecasting.

"We are committed to ensuring our work is as relevant to the industry as it is to academe," Bloxham said. "With Jim and Bill working alongside our team, we are confident we will achieve that and deliver something of real and lasting value that can be put to good use by both communities."

About Ball State, Center for Media Design and Sequent Partners

Ball State University, located one hour northeast of Indianapolis in Muncie, Ind., is the third-largest public university in Indiana, with about 18,000 students. Originally a private teacher training school when it opened in 1899, Ball State became a university in 1965.

The Center for Media Design, a research and development facility, focuses on the creation, testing and practical application of digital technologies for business, classroom, home and community. The center is part of Ball State's iCommunication initiative, funded by a $20 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc.

Sequent Partners was formed to advance the practice of linking marketing metrics to financial metrics. This is done to help clients to better measure and manage not only marketing investments and their short-term returns, but also the long-term value of marketing assets, such as brands, customer relationships and marketing capabilities, including market knowledge.

(Note to Editors: For more information, contact Bloxham at mbloxham@bsu.edu or (765) 285-0127. Moult may be reached at bill.moult@sequentpartners.com or (617) 877-3191. Spaeth may be contacted at jim.spaeth@sequentpartners.com or (914) 271-5162.)