The nature of 24-hour media means we are continually being bombarded with masses of material. This material contains messages often relating to dozens of different topics and the nature of news means that these messages can be negative or positive, which can erode or build a company’s reputation.

Making sense of all this is something which is becoming a growing industry.

Fifty years ago it was a lot simpler with newspapers and radio the main channels for news, while television was just starting to gain a foothold.

Now, there seems no limit, not just through print, radio and TV, but online through websites, blogs and forums and onto your mobile telephone.

Many companies employ a press cuttings service but something a lot more sophisticated is required to capture, and then make sense of, multi-media coverage, particularly for large organisations which may have global bases.

Prime Research, which has its UK base in St Aldate’s, Oxford, is a company that deals specifically in the monitoring and analysis of the media landscape for a vast range of clients for whom reputation is of the utmost importance as it can have a direct impact on performance.

A good example of a company suffering from a wave of negative publicity recently is Toyota and its well-documented problems with its vehicles’ brakes and accelerator pedals.

The company’s reputation took a battering as one story after another broke around the world, which has potentially cost the company vast sums of money.

David Davis, director and international co-ordinator for Prime Research, said: “The problems were probably first identified on Internet-based owners’ forums and Toyota did not pay too much attention to them until it became a major issue, and then it took a long time to react.”

By using a company such as Prime Research, Mr Davis argues, Toyota would have flagged up the problems much earlier and given itself the opportunity to do something about it quickly, before the world’s press descended.

A global operator in itself, Prime Research operates for clients in industry sectors ranging from automotive to energy, pharmaceuticals to politics.

It carries out some Government work but, on the whole, the focus is largely commercial.

While Mr Davis is not keen to reveal the exact identity of clients, Prime has more than 600 analysts operating around the clock on six continents working for 500 corporations and 2,000 individual brands across 35 markets.

Mr Davis said: “Clients want to know what the broad scope of media — TV, newspapers, Internet, etc — is saying about them, their products and their services, and also that of their competitors.

“As well as wanting to know what is happening, they want to be aware of threats and problems.

“Reputations can be built and destroyed in the media. What we bring clients through a powerful database is a way of identifying potential threats and opportunities literally from the news.”

And this process is not just a case of harvesting a vast amount of data and channelling it to the client. It is far more sophisticated than that.

The idea, according to Prime’s marketing material, is to go beyond the “what happened” to reveal “why it happened, how long it may last and what can be done about it.”

The process starts with Media Navigator, Prime’s system which allows clients to customise exactly the media they want monitored.

Specific reports and analysis can then be produced, flagging up possible crises as stories break, while the Internet can also be analysed to offer insight into particular issues.

Clients can choose how to receive their data, for example as a client report form, or simply as an e-mail. A former journalist, Mr Davis was previously vice-chairman of public relations giant Edelman.

Prime Research came to its St Aldate’s office in Oxford three years ago, and now employs 25 staff.

Mr Davis said: “We came here because of the academic heritage — it gives us access to the university research departments and the people here are media-savvy and IT connected.”

The profile of staff disciplines is a combination of journalism, public relations and research, and now expansion is being planned.

Emphasis is being placed on Prime Research’s global reach as it looks to build its reputation in the UK.

And Mr Davis feels now is a good time to be spreading the company’s wings.

“The economy has bottomed out. Public relations and the consultancy business has been hit pretty hard and companies have cut back.

“They are looking to justify the returns on their investment in marketing and communications and we offer an efficient way of providing that through analysis.”

o Contact: Prime Research 01865 324911.

Web: www.prime-research.com