Nielsen Begins National Expansion Phase in the Development of an In-Store Marketing Service

Nielsen In-Store expects robust measures of the reach-and-frequency of all retail marketing media by year-end

New York, NY –The Nielsen Company and the In-Store Marketing Institute announced today that they have moved into the national expansion phase of the ground-breaking effort to measure the size and composition of the audiences for in-store marketing media. The initiative is known as P.R.I.S.M. (Pioneering Research for an In-Store Metric).

In this new phase, Nielsen In-Store will extend P.R.I.S.M.’s coverage to all in-store marketing media, including merchandising activity, retail TV and radio networks, shelf-talkers, cart-talkers, digital signage and other point-of-purchase displays. The research also will be expanded to a nationwide sample of about 200 stores. Final specifications for linking information about consumer traffic and the presence of in-store media will be defined over the next six months and the first robust reach-and-frequency measures are expected by the end of 2007.

The expansion represents a major step forward in the P.R.I.S.M. initiative, which is led by Nielsen, the Institute and a Consortium of manufacturers, retailers and media & promotion agencies. The first phase of P.R.I.S.M. was conducted in ten stores over four weeks and demonstrated that it is feasible to accurately measure consumer traffic in the store, aisle-by-aisle and category-by-category.

“This new phase of research will demonstrate in a larger and more diverse store sample that we can link consumer traffic to specific in-store media and marketing conditions and create an entirely new and powerful opportunity-to-see measure for advertisers, retailers, media companies and media & promotion agencies,” said George Wishart, Global Managing Director, Nielsen In-Store. “Knowing the reach-and-frequency of an end-aisle display will be much more valuable than just knowing the display was there.”

“This is a service that has the potential to transform the way the industry markets to consumers at the point-of-sale,” said Peter Hoyt, Executive Director of the In-Store Marketing Institute. “For the first time, marketers will have the opportunity to understand which consumers are exposed to their in-store messages and promotions, and how often. Retailers will gain a new understanding of how effectively their in-store media convert shoppers to buyers, by category and in comparison with their competitors.”

“We think P.R.I.S.M. is going to help us work more closely with our manufacturer partners to drive more value and growth out of our in-store marketing practices,” said Jeff Weidauer, Director, Brand Advertising, SUPERVALU. “We’re going to be able to establish the value of our stores as a marketing medium and gain much better insight into what really works with shoppers.”

“By creating a standard metric with which to value the store as a marketing medium, the Consortium together with Nielsen is enabling marketers and agencies to make calculated decisions on their marketing spend within the store, across stores and consistently across all media,” said Ricardo Solar, Senior Director, Strategic Sales Planning for Mattel.

Nielsen and the Institute also announced that the Consortium of manufacturers, retailers and media companies participating in P.R.I.S.M. has been expanded to encompass more than 30 companies including Coca-Cola, ConAgra, General Mills, Kraft, Mattel, Nintendo, P&G, SAB Miller, Unilever, Catapult Marketing, The Integer Group, Mars Advertising, Group M, OMD and Starcom MediaVest Group, as well as 16 retailers.

Mr. Wishart said the Consortium will work together over the next six months to review the results of the new phase of P.R.I.S.M. and complete the development of the Nielsen In-Store service. Audience measurement under P.R.I.S.M. began on April 29, and actionable data will be delivered to the Consortium members during in the fourth quarter of 2007. Nielsen In-Store expects to make its data available on a broader basis to the industry in 2008. Nielsen also expects to expand the service into additional retail channels and additional countries.