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VNU Follows Consumer... In-Store
VNU and partner the In-Store Marketing Institute are to launch a global service measuring customers' in-store influences and purchasing decisions. The service will be offered by Nielsen In-Store, a new unit within the recently announced NielsenConnect, which aims to 'follow the consumer'.
George Wishart, until now President and CEO of VNU's Interactive Market Systems (IMS), becomes Global MD of Nielsen In-Store. Wishart says the service will help retailers and manufacturers improve the shopping experience for consumers, and will 'provide the advertising, media and retail industries with a new currency standard that can increase the efficiency of the media buying and selling process.' Among the anticipated benefits for clients are better store layouts, category adjacencies and product selection.
The service has been developed using findings from the P.R.I.S.M. (Pioneering Research for an In-Store Metric) Project. This exploratory study was conducted in early 2006 by a consortium of retailers and manufacturers led by the Institute, leading to the development of a common language for the retail industry to measure in-store consumer reach. Members of the consortium include 3M, Coca-Cola, Kellogg's, Miller Brewing, Procter & Gamble and The Walt Disney Company, with support from retailers, including Albertsons, Kroger, Walgreens and Wal-Mart.
The service will measure consumer exposure to an array of in-store marketing vehicles, including television and radio, shelf talkers, digital signage, and other point-of-purchase displays, which VNU says make up between them the sixth largest advertising vehicle in the U.S. ($18.6bn spend in 2005).
VNU Chairman and CEO David L. Calhoun says the service will be the first to 'clearly and accurately... quantify the impact of in-store marketing and assess its value in comparison with other media and marketing options.'
Laura Desmond, CEO for The Americas of Starcom MediaVest Group, says in-store marketing is 'a critical communications device [which] deserves a seat at the table.'
The service will make use of expertise and data from other VNU businesses including ACNielsen, Nielsen Media Research, Interactive Market Systems, Spectra, Trade Dimensions and BASES. Piloted in early 2007, it will be fine tuned and made widely available to the industry in the US later in the year, with global extension to follow.
The In-Store Marketing Institute, based outside Chicago, is a global organization of brand marketers, retailers, agencies and manufacturers and is online at www.instoremarketer.org . VNU's group home page is at www.vnu.com .
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