Reputation and communications research firm Echo Research has created a new online global media monitoring and evaluation service called EchoSonar.

The industry's first fully automated and costed online brand management and benchmarking tool, EchoSonar harnesses the speed of technology and the accessibility of the online media to 'spider' coverage from around the world from 30,000 titles, in all Latin languages, and return findings according to key words – be they specific brands, products, messages or topics.  

The system will report findings in either a Monthly Scorecard Report or a Daily News Alert with links to the online articles, and results displayed by competitor, market, media type, and trend, together with a monthly tonality report.  

"EchoSonar provides a very quick 'sense' of competitor activity and messaging from around the world, saving the cost of buying in press cuttings and human analysis,” said Echo Group CEO Sandra Macleod. “This is targeted at global brand managers, and agencies through to teams who may not have the budget or requirement for detailed content analysis, but need to keep their finger on the pulse of their online media profile.”

Existing clients include Lloyds TSB and EADS.