Interview – James Walker, Media Development Director, Advanced Techniques Group Worldwide

Advanced Techniques Group Worldwide was opened as an independent company, under the J. Walter Thompson umbrella, in March. Yet, the company has already conducted an immense amount of valuable research and has broken even on its first year’s cost provision.

It is no wonder then that James Walker, media development director of the research company, is so excited about the new group’s prospects. According to Walker, the secret of ATG’s rapid success is its uniqueness. ATG aims to bring together the latest proven research techniques and a worldwide research network to produce an unrivaled global service.

With the ever increasing range of advertising possibilities, Walker was particularly enthusiastic about Project Zeus: “This is a completely new approach that looks at the amount of advertising exposure needed to trigger a purchase” while another study, Project Atlas, looks at the effectiveness of different media advertising within the same campaign.”

For the moment ATG is concentrating on mass media, Walker explained: “There is just not the public interest in new media to justify extensive research, if this changes this will, of course, be another area which we will begin to analyse.”