Horizon, Nielsen Develop Multicultural Planning Tool

US agency Horizon Media has partnered with Nielsen to develop eMbrace, a new communications and media planning platform designed to help companies engage multicultural audiences.

Horizon was founded in 1989, is headquartered in New York and employs around 2,400 people. eMbrace, whose outputs include an 'equity index score', will be used as part of its pre-upfront planning with clients, and promises to 'more equitably optimize' media and channel mix by audience, using embedded data from Nielsen panels and other robust first- and third-party consumer and business data. A particular aim is to create campaigns that resonate with 'polycultural' segments of the population, ie those who are not just from minority backgrounds but who combine more than one culture. The agency says eMbrace will also identify actionable business growth opportunities that would otherwise be minimized or 'washed out' in a typical 'general market' population-based analysis; and will allow strategists to allocate investments and partnerships equitably across minority-owned and minority-targeted media.

Karina Dobarro, EVP Managing Partner Multicultural at Horizon Media says the solution 'incorporates data analyses that have not been unavailable until now' and represents 'a step beyond multicultural planning to new strategies and executions - founded on Nielsen data - that are tailored to specific audiences'.

Jay Nielsen (pictured), SVP of Planning Products at Nielsen comments: 'For years Nielsen and Horizon Media have worked together to bring advertisers the data-driven insights they need to best reach their audiences where they are. We're continuing to innovate with Horizon as the first to integrate this more robust data set. Through eMbrace, we're expanding the sample population to include more diverse respondents, providing an unprecedented look at diverse customer segments to drive equity and growth to minority audiences in media'.

Web sites: www.nielsen.com and www.horizonmedia.com .