New tool to predict NGO and activist campaigns

NGOs and activist groups, campaign trends and plans can now be analysed by PR and public affairs professionals using a new online tool launched by SIGWatch.

The global NGO tracking and issue analysis consultancy SIGWatch has combined its archive of 29,000 activity reports and register of 1,400 activist groups to produce an database of over 500 activist issues tagged by industry, theme and NGO campaigning activity over the past 12 years.

This database is currently growing by around 400 NGO activity reports, 40-50 NGO profiles and three to five new issues every month. It has extensive coverage of Europe and North America and fast-growing coverage of Asian and South America, and is particularly strong on issues in the energy, chemicals, healthcare, food and FMCG, retail and mining sectors.

"NGOs are classic issue early adopters" said Robert Blood, SIGWatch's managing director. "They will latch onto potentially damaging concerns about industry or government long before most people or the media have even heard of them. By tracking what's worrying NGOs, we can give business and policymakers vital early warning of embarrassing criticism or hostile media coverage coming their way."

The new SIGWatch online tool includes a daily Issues Index - a colour-coded ranking of the temperature and trend of every live issue, globally and by world region and country. Users can drill down to individual issues to learn what or who is driving them, and what campaigning tactics are being deployed. In addition, a tracking tool reveals how the long term trends and peaks and troughs of campaigns over ten years for up to three issues at a time.

Access to SIGWatch is by corporate subscription, which costs from Euro233 per month. For further details, visit www.sigwatch.com

SIGWatch is based in Freiburg, Germany with partners in the U.S. and Canada and has some 50 clients, nearly all multinational companies, major PR consultancies and high profile industry associations. SIGWatch is also used by business and management schools for teaching and research.

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Media contact: Robert Blood on [email protected] or +49 176 6257 1577

Hi-res screenshots can be downloaded from http://www.sigwatch.com/index.php?id=136  NOTE: We can supply screenshots of activist trends for any topic or industry same day on request.

Contact Robert Blood for a live remote online demonstration.

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