Nielsen Rolls Out In-Store Measurement Test

The Nielsen Co. is going national with the first in-store media measurement service, with data available to participating brands by yearend.

Nielsen will roll out the PRISM service to 200 stores across the U.S., measuring in-store media in a way that’s comparable to traditional broadcast and print advertising. That lets brands evaluate P-O-P and retail promotions in a side-by-side comparison with media advertising.

The national test will cost an estimated $15 million. Nielsen plans to eventually expand the service to other retail channels besides supermarkets, mass-merchandisers and drugstores and to other countries.

PRISM was pioneered last year by a consortium of retailers and packaged goods marketers including Procter & Gamble, led by the In-Store Marketing Institute (November, 2006 PROMO). Those members will begin getting “actionable data” by yearend, according to Nielsen. The research giant expects to begin selling PRISM data to other marketers and retailers next year.

PRISM (which stands for “Pioneering Research for an In-Store Metric”) combines shopper traffic, the placement of in-store media and sales data to track how many shoppers were exposed to a display, and how many bought the product. The service is significant because it pinpoints P-O-P reach by department and correlates displays with sales.

The service measures audience reach by aisle or product category (not just store traffic) and overlays that information with sales data to show a brand's “closure rate.” The percentage of shoppers who bought the brand from among all shoppers who saw the brand's message in-store.

Nielsen will track a wide range of in-store media, including merchandising activity, retail TV and radio networks, shelf-talkers, cart-talkers, digital signage and P-O-P. Members of the PRISM consortium will spend six months finalizing their specifications and reviewing results. Nielsen began measuring store audiences late last month.

The consortium has expanded beyond its 10 charter members to 30 manufacturers, retailers and media 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. There are 16 retailers on board, including Supervalu.

"We think PRISM 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 of brand advertising for Supervalu, in a statement. "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."

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