Engagious
Engagious is a Portland-based message refinement consultancy founded in 2018 that uses dial testing, behavioral science, and qualitative research to test and refine messaging for Fortune 500 corporations, trade associations, political campaigns, and advocacy groups, and operates the Swing Voter and Deciders voter research programs with NPR and NBC News.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2018
- HeadquartersPortland, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Engagious does
Engagious is a privately held, Portland, Oregon-based research and message refinement consultancy founded in February 2018 through the merger of Dialsmith and Presentation Testing. The firm specializes in testing and refining business, political, and issue-advocacy messaging using a dial testing methodology grounded in behavioral science and social psychology. Its core technology is the Perception Analyzer Online (PAO) tool, licensed via the Dialsmith partnership, which captures moment-to-moment quantitative feedback on videos (speeches, debates, ads) through a zero-to-100 slider with readings taken from every respondent every second, typically conducted in combination with online focus groups via Zoom and in-depth interviews.
Engagious generates revenue through customized project-based consulting engagements spanning approximately 6-8 weeks, complemented by speaking engagements delivered by President Rich Thau. Projects typically produce deliverables such as messaging platforms, "what to say and not say" matrices, elevator speeches, detailed reports, and multimedia presentations. Pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed. The firm serves large corporations, trade associations, advocacy groups, political campaigns, and government leaders across use cases including advertising and media testing, advocacy and public policy, corporate and investor communications, sales presentations, financial messaging, and direct response optimization. Named clients include APCIA, International Franchise Association, ClearPath Foundation, Mutual of Omaha, Agora, NewMarket Health, Atlantic Coast Brands (Keranique), and Google NEST.
In parallel with its commercial work, Engagious operates two flagship voter research programs: the Swing Voter Project (monthly focus groups with swing-state voters since 2019, in partnership with NPR and Sago) and the Deciders Project (quarterly focus groups on 2024-2026 election cycles, in partnership with NBC News, Syracuse University's Institute for Democracy, Journalism and Citizenship, and Sago). These programs serve both as recurring content-marketing engines driving earned media and as proof points of methodological credibility for commercial engagements. The firm operates as a B2B professional services business with a sales-led, direct-engagement go-to-market model and a team of 1-10 employees.
Engagious firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Engagious
- Legal name
- Engagious
- Website
- https://engagious.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2018
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Engagious is a Portland-based message refinement consultancy founded in 2018 that uses dial testing, behavioral science, and qualitative research to test and refine messaging for Fortune 500 corporations, trade associations, political campaigns, and advocacy groups, and operates the Swing Voter and Deciders voter research programs with NPR and NBC News.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Engagious industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Market Research and Message Testing Services
- NAICS
- Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (54191), Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (541910)
- SIC
- Services-Advertising Agencies (7311), Services-Advertising (7310)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Brand & Advertising Research (Brand Health, Copy Testing, Campaign Effectiveness) (MPAAALAG)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Attribution, Measurement, Analytics & Incrementality (BPAMALAF)
Keywords
Where Engagious is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Portland
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Engagious business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Research-Driven Consulting Services: Customized research and message refinement projects for corporate, advocacy, and political clients. Projects typically include deliverables such as messaging platforms, 'what to say and not say' matrices, elevator speeches, detailed reports, and multimedia presentations. Typical project duration is 6-8 weeks.
- Speaking Engagements: Rich Thau offers speaking services for events where he shares swing voter insights and research findings directly with audiences.
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels6 records
Engagious product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Engagious is a message testing and refinement consultancy that combines research, behavioral science, social psychology, and storytelling to solve messaging challenges. The firm uses proprietary dial testing methodology, including the Perception Analyzer Online (PAO) tool, along with focus groups and in-depth interviews to uncover what target audiences truly think and measure moment-to-moment emotional responses. Projects typically span 6-8 weeks and produce messaging platforms, 'what to say and not say' matrices, and tailored communication strategies for corporations, trade associations, advocacy groups, and political campaigns.
Product overview
Engagious is a research and message refinement consultancy that offers a unified platform of qualitative and quantitative research services. The core offering is Research-Driven Solutions, which combines moment-to-moment dial testing, surveys, and in-depth interviews to test and refine business and issue-advocacy messaging. Key delivery mechanisms include Online Dial Testing using the proprietary Perception Analyzer Online (PAO) technology, supplemented by specialized vertical services — Financial Message Testing, Direct Response Message Testing, Media & Streaming Testing, Advocacy & Public Policy, Ad Testing, Corporate & Investor Communications, Sales Presentations, and Product Marketing. The company also operates flagship research programs including the Swing Voter Project (monthly focus groups with Biden-2020/Trump-2024 voters, in partnership with Sago and NPR) and The 2026 Deciders (quarterly focus groups with pivotal voting blocs, in partnership with Sago, Syracuse University, and NBC News), along with Rich Thau speaking engagements. The portfolio is held together by dial testing methodology informed by behavioral science and social psychology.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Quantifiable outcome
- 10% revenue increase for Agora's NewMarket Health
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Engagious
Customer profileNamed customers9 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Engagious technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature3 records
Engagious partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- SagocoreSago (world's largest data collection company) partners with Engagious for voter focus group recruitment and qualitative/quantitative research support. The partnership enables monthly online focus groups with key voting blocs for the Deciders and Swing Voter Projects.
- Syracuse University's Institute for Democracy, Journalism and CitizenshipcoreAcademic partnership for the Deciders Project, providing research credibility and institutional support for voter focus group research conducted in partnership with NBC News.
- NBC NewscoreNBC News is the primary media partner reporting on the 2024-2026 Deciders Project, providing national media coverage for Engagious's voter research findings.
- AxioscoreAxios partnered with Engagious to release key findings from persuadable voters focus groups, including reports on Ohio swing voters.
- NPR (National Public Radio)coreNPR is the primary media partner for the Swing Voter Project, covering focus group findings first before other news organizations. CNN also airs snippets from groups on Inside Politics.
- Focus Pointe GlobalcoreInitial partner in the Swing Voter Project launch in 2019, collaborating on focus group research methodology.
- DialsmithcoreDialsmith merged with Presentation Testing to form Engagious. Dialsmith provides Perception Analyzer technology, which Engagious uses for dial testing research methodology.
- ROKK SolutionsminorListed as a strategic partner, providing additional research and consulting capabilities for client projects.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Engagious competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Public Opinion Strategies: POS is a leading Republican polling and research firm conducting voter message testing, focus groups, and survey research for political and corporate clients — directly comparable to Engagious's Swing Voter Project on the opposite end of the political spectrum.
- Hart Research Associates: Hart Research Associates is a leading progressive polling and message-testing firm conducting focus groups, dial tests, and survey research for political and corporate clients — closely comparable methodology and client overlap with Engagious's advocacy practice.
- ROKK Solutions: ROKK Solutions is a public affairs and message-testing firm specializing in advocacy and issue campaigns — Engagious lists ROKK as a strategic partner, but their services and client base around public affairs messaging are directly overlapping.
- System1 (formerly BrainJuicer): System1 is the closest direct peer — an ad-effectiveness research firm using emotion and intuition-based measurement (Fame, Feeling, Fluency framework) to test creative and messaging, mirroring Engagious's behavioral-science approach to message refinement for advertisers and brands.
- Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research: GQR is a Democratic political research and consulting firm running focus groups and message testing for political campaigns and advocacy clients — a niche peer with directly comparable methodology to Engagious's Swing Voter Project and issue advocacy work.
- Ace Metrix (iSpot.tv): Ace Metrix (now part of iSpot.tv) provides ad creative effectiveness scoring through large-scale second-by-second viewer response measurement — a methodology directly comparable to Engagious's dial testing approach to quantifying moment-to-moment ad engagement.
- Maru/Matchbox: Maru/Matchbox provides custom market research and message testing through online panels and qualitative methods, serving corporate and brand clients — a comparable mid-sized competitor in ad effectiveness and message refinement services.
Broad incumbents
- Kantar Millward Brown: Kantar Millward Brown (Link) is the global leader in brand and advertising effectiveness research, including copy testing and campaign evaluation. It competes broadly with Engagious in the ad testing category but serves a much wider portfolio of services and geographies.
- Ipsos: Ipsos is a top-3 global market research firm offering ad testing, brand research, public opinion polling, and qualitative research — overlapping with all of Engagious's service lines but as part of a much broader portfolio and at significantly larger scale.
- Nielsen: Nielsen is a global measurement and data analytics leader in audience measurement, consumer insights, and advertising effectiveness — broadly overlapping with Engagious in media/streaming testing and ad effectiveness, but operating at massive scale.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Engagious social profiles
Digital presenceEngagious financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Engagious leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
Engagious funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Engagious M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Engagious
What does Engagious do?
Engagious is a message testing and refinement consultancy that combines research, behavioral science, social psychology, and storytelling to solve messaging challenges. The firm uses proprietary dial testing methodology, including the Perception Analyzer Online (PAO) tool, along with focus groups and in-depth interviews to uncover what target audiences truly think and measure moment-to-moment emotional responses. Projects typically span 6-8 weeks and produce messaging platforms, 'what to say and not say' matrices, and tailored communication strategies for corporations, trade associations, advocacy groups, and political campaigns.
Is Engagious a public or private company?
Engagious is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Engagious founded?
Engagious was founded in 2018. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Engagious based?
Engagious is headquartered in Portland, United States, in the North America region.
How does Engagious make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Research-Driven Consulting Services are the primary driver. The others are speaking Engagements.
Who are Engagious's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Public Opinion Strategies, Hart Research Associates, ROKK Solutions, System1 (formerly BrainJuicer), Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, Ace Metrix (iSpot.tv) and Maru/Matchbox. Broad incumbents are Kantar Millward Brown, Ipsos and Nielsen.
Does Engagious have an API?
No public API is recorded for Engagious.
What industry is Engagious in?
Engagious's product category is Market Research and Message Testing Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAAALAG, Brand & Advertising Research (Brand Health, Copy Testing, Campaign Effectiveness), with a secondary code of BPAMALAF, Attribution, Measurement, Analytics & Incrementality. Its NAICS code is 54191 and its SIC code is 7311.