Gordon Montgomery, senior vice president of network management at NewSight, observed that advertisers get a different approach to audience measurement from each of the digital screen providers serving supermarkets. “With PRISM, we will all work off the same system,” he said.

NOVEMBER RELEASE

In mid-November, Nielsen In-Store will provide PRISM Consortium members with the first large “database” of audience observations and projections, said George Wishart, global managing director for Nielsen In-Store.

In late January, the members will receive a supplementary database containing “fourth-quarter insights,” he added. An industry database, representing the standard audience numbers for participating chains, will become available in the second quarter of 2008.

Nielsen In-Store collects data electronically at participating retail stores by using bidirectional infrared sensors similar to garage door openers. The sensors, located at store entrances and aisles, are supplemented by human observations.

Nielsen's audience model not only measures traffic but can predict it in similar stores within the same chain, said David Calhoun, chairman and chief executive officer, Nielsen, speaking at the In-Store Marketing Expo. The data's predictive power (R-squared score) is 0.85 out of a possible 1.0.

“On a local level, we can now plan and anticipate the audience in the cereal aisle at 4 p.m. on a Tuesday; and on a macro level we can look across chains and regions to understand the potential of In-Store at a national level,” said Calhoun.

Nielsen In-Store is also collecting data on what marketing materials — such as digital screens, displays or shelf talkers — are present in a store, thereby establishing the level of compliance with promotional directions. “We plan to use technology that will monitor compliance for in-store TV and radio,” said Wishart. In addition, Nielsen is cataloging the number of unique “impressions,” or consumer sightings, of promotional material.

The PRISM in-store metric — the formula that will be used by agencies and marketing planners — will consist of “in-store traffic” multiplied by “in-store compliance” multiplied by “unduplicated impressions.” Wishart said that over time Nielsen In-Store will also include measures of “dwell time” spent near specific promotions such as in-store screens.

Retailers participating in the PRISM Consortium so far include Wal-Mart Stores, Safeway, Kroger, Meijer, Ahold USA and Price Chopper, among others. They have opened their stores to audience measurement and in return will receive data on their own traffic, as well as a comparison to that of other (unnamed) retailers in their market. Retailers pay no fee to the Consortium, which is supported by manufacturers, agencies and Nielsen In-Store. Wishart said other retailers, which he declined to name, have joined the Consortium recently.

Executives from two of the largest Consortium participants, Wal-Mart and Procter & Gamble, both said they saw value in the PRISM program during a session at the In-Store Marketing Expo in Chicago.

“We all know that there are activities and programs in-store, like displays, signing and other marketing materials, that are not adding value to our customers,” said Wal-Mart's Bratspies. “The richness of PRISM data will complement our organizational expertise to help us better understand what is working and what isn't — by store, by department, by aisle, by the day and even by day part.” Wal-Mart is one of the largest users of in-store digital screens, with PRN's checkout network installed at 3,150 Wal-Mart stores.

Nielsen In-Store's Wishart estimated that about $250 million in trade dollars are being channeled to digital signs — a relatively small slice of the $18.6 billion total spent in supermarkets on trade promotions. But with the advent of standard audience measurements, the in-store media is starting to be seen as a “brand-building opportunity,” with the potential to draw from the pool of traditional media (TV and radio) dollars earmarked for that purpose, said Peter Hoyt, executive director, In-Store Marketing Institute, Skokie, Ill. “That's the big win.”

“Certainly, I would expect marketing investments to change because of PRISM, but those changes will be based on facts — facts that are transparent, independent and reliable,” said Bratspies.