ACNielsen and Yahoo! Introduce Online Marketing Tool for CPG Industry

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. and SUNNYVALE, Calif. - ACNielsen, a VNU business, and leading Internet company Yahoo! today announced the launch of Yahoo! Consumer Direct, Powered by ACNielsen, a new service that enables consumer packaged goods companies to reach consumers more effectively online and directly measure the offline sales impact of such efforts.

"Linking online media to offline sales is a strategic imperative for Kraft," said Kathy Riordan, VP of E-Commerce for Kraft Foods North America. "Consumer Direct advances our ability to realize this goal. We were pleased to be involved in the earliest stages of this groundbreaking work."

Michael Moore, director, Purina Interactive, for Nestle Purina PetCare Company in St. Louis, said, "The conventional wisdom has been that the Internet is not an effective marketing tool for consumer packaged goods companies, but Consumer Direct turns that conventional wisdom on its head. We are very excited about the results we have achieved so far and look forward to expanding our use of this approach in the near future."

Consumer Direct follows an "identify, communicate, evaluate" process. Members of the 61,500-household ACNielsen Homescan consumer panel have chosen to participate in the program, granting permission to allow their offline purchasing to be analyzed in conjunction with their activity on the Yahoo! network. Yahoo! and ACNielsen then use findings from the Homescan panelists to find groups with similar demonstrated interest trends among Yahoo!'s millions of monthly visitors. The Consumer Direct team then works with CPG clients to communicate to those consumers via customized online media campaigns, using a range of solutions from Yahoo!'s media and promotion suite. Lastly, the ACNielsen Homescan panel is used to evaluate the campaigns' ROI, including metrics around the impact on retail sales, brand loyalty, and more.

Robert Tomei, senior VP and chief marketing officer for VNU's Marketing Information Group, which includes ACNielsen, ACNielsen BASES, Spectra and Claritas, said, "Consumer Direct leverages our data and analytical content to provide marketers with a more complete understanding of how consumers respond to online marketing activity. The 'break-through' of this new service is our ability to use these consumer insights to identify key opportunity segments among Yahoo!'s vast customer base. The result is a much more efficient way of communicating with consumers online, building relationships, and, ultimately, driving sales. Importantly, this is the first of a suite of 'direct-to-consumer' marketing products from ACNielsen, which will ultimately include integration with retailer frequent shopper programs and traditional direct mail lists."
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