[Screenshot of Vantage, a new media intelligence tool from VMS]

Ad equivalency reports - in which PR pros attempt to align media coverage with advertising spend and compare the ROI of both - are generally a dreaded task in the PR world. Do they really mean anything? Isn't it an apples to oranges comparison? These are just some of the questions that surround the practice.

Media intelligence company VMS wants to make this process a bit easier, with the launch today of Vantage, a solution the company says gives marketers "the ability to understand true Return On Investment (ROI) for advertising and public relations media activities and expenditures."

The solution is not cheap. Left out of the press release, but mentioned in a story today on the launch by PRWeek's Tonya Garcia:

Carrying a seven-digit price tag, Vantage is intended for the large marketing budgets of Fortune 500 companies.

To be clear, Vantage offers much more than what PR pros seek to uncover with just an ad equivalency report. The solution also involves messaging analysis to see if advertising and PR messaging is aligned, and the ability to "Measure advertising and public relations performance across all major media to see how editorial coverage and advertising effectiveness impact each other," among other features.