Choosing the right consumer research platform to support your brand’s growth, influence, and impact is an important decision. When you’re looking for the best option, choosing a solution based on factors like price or reputation isn’t enough.
Becoming an expert on your audience starts with knowing which companies you can trust to help you make data-driven decisions.
Making the right choice starts with having all the facts in front of you.
Want to know which option is best for you? Go right this way.
GWI vs. MRI Simmons: Find the Best Platform for Your Team
1. What GWI does
2. What MRI Simmons does
3. GWI vs. MRI Simmons: Overview
4. GWI vs MRI Simmons: Details
- platform
- Smart tools and features
- data range
- data set
- Use cases
- Survey Methodology
5. What is best for your team?
What GWI does
GWI is modernized consumer research accessible to everyone, not just data professionals. We provide answers when you need them through active data collection and surveys representing over 2.8 billion consumers. This means you no longer have to wait weeks or even months to get exactly what you need (as you would with traditional market research).
What MRI Simmons does
MRI Simmons is a trusted consumer data provider specializing in providing U.S.-specific insights for over 60 years. The company offers a wide range of in-depth surveys that collect data using a combination of address-based probability sampling and traditional surveys.
GWI vs. MRI Simmons: Overview
While MRI Simmons has been around for decades, GWI brings a fresh approach to consumer trends based on U.S. and global insights.
To provide the best like-for-like comparison, we will focus on GWI USA, a US-specific data set. Do you want a global perspective? Check out GWI Core, our flagship survey of online audiences across 53 markets around the world.
| data | ||
| GWI USA | big | MRI Simmons |
| 50 states | market | 48 states (excluding Alaska and Hawaii) |
| 80K | annual sample | 50K |
| 4 Surveys are conducted and published every quarter, with new respondents added each time. |
Annual Survey | 2 The survey is conducted twice a year and published quarterly. |
| Adults 16 years and older (including consumers 65 years and older) | Who is the representative? | Adults 18 years and older |
| Features/Usability | ||
| GWI | big | MRI Simmons |
| ✅Instant charts from GWI | AI-based features | ❌*Nothing we know |
| ✅Choose from a variety of custom solutions available on request, including audience profiling, customer segmentation, brand tracking, and more. | Custom Research | ✅Access to personalized research through online tracking and syndicated research improvements. |
| ✅Preview the platform with GWI’s interactive demo. No registration required | Platform Preview | ❌ |
| ✅ | API | ✅ |
| price | ||
| GWI | big | MRI Simmons |
| SaaS Cost Per User Model | pricing model | Enterprise pricing based on annual revenue |
*Based on review of publicly accessible information on the MRI Simmons website
GWI vs. MRI Simmons: Details
Now let’s get to the nitty-gritty.
platform
MRI Simmons’ primary tool is the Catalyst platform. It offers interactive charts, custom formats, data visualization options, shareable reports, and dashboards that streamline collaboration.
GWI’s modern, design-driven platform gives you the ability to create and explore unique audiences from over 250,000 profiling points, ensuring your audience analysis is accurate from start to finish.
Choose from pre-built dashboards on popular topics or build your own for complete control over your data. You can also seamlessly share results with your team to ensure everyone has a consistent view of their audience.
Want to see more of GWI’s platform in action? Take a sneak peek with our interactive demo With just one click. No login required.
Smart tools and features
MRI has an API and other capabilities such as MEMRI, an analytics tool that can access over 20 years of consumer and media data, but it doesn’t seem to have any AI capabilities released yet. It also offers audience activation.
The GWI platform includes built-in AI capabilities that allow you to create charts on the fly using Instant Charts, quickly generate top data points using instant audience insights, and blend different data sets together to provide a holistic view. There is a wealth of data out there. Consumers using the API.
GWI Audience Activation allows users to target real people by driving audiences from the GWI platform into digital campaigns. Audiences are modeled in Dynata and can be purchased from LiveRamp. Save time and energy by purchasing or pushing syndicated or custom segments through the platform.
GWI also has respondent-level data (RLD) that includes very large samples. This means you have access to answers from more people, which can be especially useful if you’re doing segmentation work or planning digital activations for your target audience. With answers to all your questions, you’ll have the power to conduct more advanced analytics, gain a more consistent view with harmonized data, and activate better campaigns.
data range
MRI’s data focuses only on U.S. consumers and brands. The survey is conducted twice a year and published quarterly.
GWI’s data coverage is much broader, with field surveys released each quarter (both global and U.S.), each time including new respondents. U.S. coverage represents more than 250 million people ages 16 and older across all 50 states. Expanding globally, it includes 53 markets (Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa) representing 2.8 billion Internet users.
data set
MRI does not provide insight into international markets as it focuses only on the United States. According to its website, available datasets include national and regional research, print research, and focused research on retail, sports, TV, and cannabis trends.
GWI has extensive data sets that track global trends and generate sector-specific insights. In addition to the main surveys GWI Core and GWI USA, there are separate datasets and Zeitgeist for Children, Alcohol, Cars, Technology, Games, Sports, Travel, Work and Luxury. Moment datasets are released monthly, focusing on hot topics. There’s also GWI USA Plus, a free add-on to GWI USA that explores important social and environmental issues like sustainability, DEI, activism, and mental health.
Use cases
Every team needs research solutions for different reasons and depending on their specific situation.
MRI Simmons’ key use cases include planning, messaging, activation, strategy, and engagement.
GWI is designed to help teams create brand, marketing, and product strategies. Key use cases include media planning, brand presence, content marketing, product development, market sizing, and pitching.
Brands and agencies like Google, Microsoft, Publicis, and Mediacom use GWI to drive serious ad sales, drive successful campaigns, and make their strategies stand out.
Marketing and Insights teams use the platform to self-serve insights to help them build campaigns that resonate and reach the right audiences, leveraging their mindset to advertise in the right places and in the right ways.
ONE Championship, the world’s largest martial arts organization, recently used GWI to gain strategy-defining insight into how to resonate with American combat sports fans. This will lead to a 46% increase in audience over 6 months.
GWI allows brands and PR teams to create products customers want to buy and continuously track brand performance. Media teams can optimize media buying, identify exciting partnerships, and win new business.
Survey Methodology
According to the MRI Simmons website, they use a mix of methodologies ranging from traditional surveys to probability and address-based sampling.
GWI uses online sampling, which provides more frequent samples than probabilistic methodologies. Using a qualitative and quantitative approach to research allows you to balance depth, detail, and objectivity to improve the accuracy of your results and strengthen your campaigns.
What’s best for your team?
MRI Simmons and GWI both provide in-depth information on U.S. consumers.
For brands seeking US-specific insights, MRI Simmons offers a great solution. However, for businesses looking to expand into new geographies, gain a competitive advantage, or need consumer insights for the U.S. and beyond, GWI may be a better fit. GWI provides the power for global expansion and It offers great smart tools and features to zoom in on regional trends, overlay data and compare markets, and its extensive data sets allow you to drill into specific areas.
GWI’s design-driven platform and AI-powered capabilities make it a great option for teams that lack experience conducting data and market research. Now you don’t have to be an expert to put your brand on center stage.
