Deloitte Acquires LRA Worldwide to Provide Brand and Reputation Management Solution to Measure Customer Experience

NEW YORK, June 29, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The combined value of the top 100 global brands is more than $3 trillion, according to a recent BrandZ™ report. Recognizing the growing pressures on CEOs and boards to protect and manage brand and reputation risk, Deloitte today announced an agreement to acquire substantially all of the assets of LRA Worldwide (LRA), a global leader in customer experience measurement. The organization joins Deloitte Advisory, a market-leading risk and financial advisory practice, to provide enhanced brand and reputation risk measurement services, and will operate under the name "LRA by Deloitte."       

"We help our clients create value from risk, and to leverage that risk to power performance within a dynamic global economy," said Owen Ryan, CEO of Deloitte Advisory. "We'll continue to make critical investments, like that of LRA, to enhance the value Deloitte delivers to our clients and the global markets and industries they serve."

"Brand and reputation risk are among the most important risks with which CEOs are grappling. Together with LRA, we can help clients address such challenges with confidence and provide them the tools and insights to protect the unique value of their organizations and promote a consistent brand and customer experience," said Mike Kearney, Deloitte Advisory partner, Deloitte & Touche LLP, and strategic risk services leader. "We will grow our strategic risk services market offering as one of the most significant focuses for Deloitte Advisory and our clients' businesses."

The ability to understand the marketplace and gather intelligence on important trends is critical so that organizations can anticipate changes and ensure that they are protecting, preserving, and enhancing their reputations the right way. Deloitte Advisory's strategic risk services approach to brand and reputation management aligns resources and capabilities to help clients activate their brands, deepen brand advocacy and protect their reputations. The addition of LRA's brand protection and customer experience measurement solutions will further enhance these services through technology-enabled, field-based examinations, and research and analytics. And now, LRA by Deloitte will continue to expand its reach in hospitality and pursue related opportunities in consumer business industries with clients in healthcare, financial, and consumer and industrial products that can benefit from and are looking for this level of support.

"LRA helps companies and brands around the world deliver consistent, satisfying customer experiences, enabling clients to establish resilient customer relationships," said Rob Rush, CEO, LRA Worldwide Inc.   "By joining forces with Deloitte, we are strengthening and expanding our ability to serve the broad needs of our clients more completely. LRA clients, as well as our associates, will greatly benefit from Deloitte's global reach, services and capabilities."

"LRA is a globally respected leader in hospitality, travel and leisure; all industries that truly understand the critical importance of brand and customer experience," Kearney added. LRA has also made significant inroads into other industries including automotive, health care, and retail where exceptional customer experiences are critical to success.

In a recent joint study on reputation risk conducted by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited and Forbes Insights, reputation is considered the highest impact risk area to business strategy. Reputation is shaped outside the organization and being able to measure and monitor that risk is critical. Traditional risk management approaches often do not focus on reputational impact nor do they offer the tools to build a strong brand and reputational resiliency program.

About LRA Worldwide Inc.
LRA Worldwide is the leading global provider of Customer Experience Measurement services for multinational companies with complex customer interactions. For over 30 years, LRA's innovative brand standards examinations, quality assurance inspections, research, and consulting services have helped ensure its clients deliver consistent, memorable, and differentiated experiences to their customers. Many of the world's preeminent global hospitality brands, as well as companies in the gaming, automotive, dining, healthcare, sports and entertainment, real estate, retail and travel industries, choose LRA to help them measure and improve the customer experience.          

About Deloitte Advisory
Deloitte Advisory helps organizations turn critical and complex business issues into opportunities for growth, resilience and long-term advantage. Our market-leading teams help our clients manage strategic, financial, operational, technological, and regulatory risk to maximize enterprise value, while our experience in mergers and acquisitions, fraud, litigation, and reorganizations helps clients move forward with confidence.

Strategic risk services, a part of Deloitte Advisory's market-leading practice, provides a platform of risk advisory and managed services designed to help senior executives spot, assess, manage, and respond to risks and/or catastrophic unforeseen incidents that could undermine their competitive position and jeopardize their critical assets, reputation, and/or financial standing.

As used in this document, "Deloitte" and "Deloitte Advisory" means Deloitte & Touche LLP, which provides audit and enterprise risk services; Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP, which provides forensic, dispute, and other consulting services; and its affiliate, Deloitte Transactions and Business Analytics LLP, which provides a wide range of advisory and analytics services. Deloitte Transactions and Business Analytics LLP is not a certified public accounting firm. These entities are separate subsidiaries of Deloitte LLP. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting.

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