Nielsen Becomes the Standards Bearer

Nielsen In-Store has agreed to take the reins of the P.R.I.S.M. project as the initiative to create an audience measurement system at retail moves forward.

Nielsen parent VNU made the announcement on Dec. 6 to coincide with the opening day of The Total Retail Experience in New York. The Institute's executive director, Peter Hoyt, officially unveiled the news from the keynote stage at the show.

The first step for Nielsen In-Store will be to conduct a follow-up round of research, to fine-tune the metrics developed last year by the In-Store Metrics Consortium and cover a broader range of product categories than were represented in the initial research. The company plans to begin that phase in early 2007.

From there, Nielsen In-Store hopes to provide audience data for "virtually every" U.S. retailer in the supermarket, drugstore and mass market channels some time in 2008, according to George Wishart, a VNU veteran who this month was named global managing director of Nielsen In-Store.

Wishart is excited about the opportunities that an audience measurement system can bring to the industry. "In-store marketing has been around since the days of the general store," he told the Institute. But historically, marketers have been "spending a great deal of money" on retail activity without having a clear understanding of its effectiveness, he said. "So the ability to measure it is important to a lot of constituents."

Those include retailers, product manufacturers, the marketing agencies that support them, and the media companies operating in-store networks. "Each constituent has unique needs, but they also have some very common needs as well," chief among them "a standard, consistent measurement and reporting capability" that will help everyone evaluate the benefits of marketing within the store, he says.

Once the research phase is complete, Nielsen will need to solicit the participation of retailers willing to provide the necessary data. "I expect there are going to be a few with a real sense of vision" who will get involved immediately, and "others that will be a little more conservative and won't jump in with two feet," he says. However, "most retailers are interested in understanding this tool and how it's going to work."

Another important item on the agenda is development of an effective system for measuring program compliance. "We're going to have to address a number of facets," he says, including the "clear divide" between existing auditing procedures for third-party media vehicles and more loosely tracked display and signage activity. The ultimate solution should entail both actual store audits and statistical modeling, he says.

While the syndicated program will use "the traditional CPG channels as a starting point," Nielsen will almost immediately begin to investigate expansion into channels outside its current area of expertise. "Our goal is to develop an industry standard that can be applied to any retail environment," Wishart says. Global expansion is also important, and Nielsen hopes to begin research in an overseas market by fall 2007, he says.

"All of these activities are complex," Wishart notes. "We don't underestimate the challenge of getting these things done."

That's why VNU "has committed to bringing all our assets to the table" through another new operating unit called NielsenConnect, which will integrate consumer and marketing information from the company's various business entities (ACNielsen, Spectra, Trade Dimensions, to name a few). "It's absolutely fundamental that companies will be able to use this as a planning tool" for developing more effective marketing strategies, Wishart says.

Effective in-store strategies will not seek to change shopper behavior, but rather will leverage the better understanding of behavior resulting from audience measurement "to optimize the selling opportunity" in stores, Wishart says.

Peter Breen
Managing Director, Content
In-Store Marketing Institute

Members: More information here.

P-O-P Trends Report 2007

Good news for the industry: P-O-P budgets are increasing as product manufacturers continue to place a greater emphasis on marketing in the store. P-O-P Times conducts its annual survey of the in-store marketing world, and learns what brand marketers, agencies and P-O-P producers think about such hot-button issues as digital technology, environmental sustainability, global sourcing and private-label competition.

Members: View the research here.

Desktop Marketing Conference: Wal-Mart's Business Sustainability by Tyler Elm, Senior Director of Corporate Strategy

Wal-Mart has set its sights on environmental sustainability, and that means product manufacturers and their supporting packaging and P-O-P suppliers will have to follow suit. In a presentation from this month's TREX, Wal-Mart senior director Tyler Elm outlines the company's goals in making "business sustainability" a key initiative and what the chain will expect from vendor partners. He also offers several examples of simple packaging, pack-out, and product changes that can save vast amounts of fuel and natural resources.

Members: View the presentation here.

Desktop Marketing Conference: Play to Win Packaging Strategy by Jim Bremer, Hasbro

In a presentation from the In-Store Marketing Expo in September, Hasbro Games vice president of creative services Jim Bremer explains how relatively simple changes in photo composition, illustration and messaging can give packaging a dominant focal point and improve its performance on the shelf.

Members: View the presentation here.

Research: U.S. Retailing Trends by ACNielsen

There is a silver lining in the trend toward multi-channel shopping: consumers who shop a wide variety of stores tend to spend a lot more. In a presentation from the Private Label Manufacturers Association's annual trade show last month, ACNielsen senior vice president Todd Hale provides an overview of U.S. retailing trends and their implications for the future.

Members: View the research here.

Welcome New Institute Members

The In-Store Marketing Institute is delighted to welcome new and renewing members to the Institute family. Below is a list of the companies that signed up recently. Welcome aboard.

• 7-Eleven
• Ambrosi & Associates
• Arch Chemical Inc.
• BR Zoom
• Brigandi & Associates
• CJRW/NW
• Cosco Home & Office Products
• Cundari Group Ltd.
• D.L. Ryan Companies
• Del Monte Corp.
• FHC - Fixture Hardware Company
• Fuse Marketing Group
• Georgia-Pacific Corp.
• Ideal
• Lund International
• MAPEI Corp.
• Mattel Inc.
• MultiAd Kwikee
• NewSight Corp.
• Noble & Associates
• Panduit
• PromoWorks
• Rubbermaid
• Sara Lee Food & Beverage
• Temple-Inland
• The Marketing Store Worldwide, L.P.