MediaVest Signs First for TRA's New Service

MediaVest has become the first media agency to sign up for MR firm TRA's recently launched service, which matches viewing data from digital set-top-boxes with offline shopping behaviour data provided by loyalty cards scanned at grocery checkout counters.

TRA's (True ROI Accountability) Media TRAnalytics system was launched in February to combine second-by-second TV ad audience data with household product purchasing data from a panel of 300,000 households in southern California and their frequent shopper cards for seven grocery store chains, along with demographic information from Experian Marketing Solutions. The research firm expects to expand to a panel of 1 million by the end of the year.

TRA co-founders Bill Harvey and Mark Lieberman developed the system, which employs proprietary measurement technologies and proven algorithms refined over a 10-year period. Harvey explained that the purchase data is extremely accurate because it comes from retailers at the point of sale. MediaVest and its clients will improve their understanding of who is viewing their advertising and establish what TRA describes as 'the first true link' between TV ad exposure and sales.

Personal information is handled by a third party to ensure the names and addresses of the consumers remain private.

'This is really the first time that we've had ultimate accountability,' said Jen Soch, VP-Activation Director for advanced TV at MediaVest. 'TRA's marriage of STB viewer data with the deepest level of demographics, psychographics and behavioral purchase data lets us clearly see whether TV advertising drove sales and gives our clients the level of ROI they deserve.'

TRA is backed by investments from WPP/Kantar Media Research, among others. The firm is online at www.traglobal.com, while MediaVest, part of Groupe Publicis, is on the web at www.mediavestww.com .