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Analyzing Preliminary P.R.I.S.M. Data

OMD, Clorox execs offer preview of P.R.I.S.M. data

By Peter Breen

Click to view complete audio-enabled Flash presentations of these two sessions: Early data from the Pioneering Research for an In-Store Metric (P.R.I.S.M.) project have industry executives anticipating "a transformational shift in thinking about retail."

That quote came from Mike Hess, director of global research and communication insights at media agency OMD, New York. The marketing veteran teamed with Stephen Garry, director of advanced analytics at The Clorox Co., for a two-part presentation outlining preliminary insights from, and potential applications for, the ongoing project at the In-Store Marketing Summit in April.

The two executives offered complementary viewpoints, with Hess focusing on P.R.I.S.M.'s potential to "change the way we do business" and Garry explaining how it will improve the way Clorox evaluates its current in-store activity. The P.R.I.S.M. project is being developed for syndication by Nielsen In-Store, Chicago, under the guidance of the ad hoc In-Store Metrics Consortium.

OMD's work to pinpoint the optimal marketing mix for clients has found that in-store "recurrently arises as [offering] effective methods for delivering on some of our desired communication goals," even if the client's primary goal is to build brand awareness, Hess said. The store is "not just a place to execute, but a place to communicate," he said.

With assistance from OMD colleague Path SanGupta, Hess discussed preliminary findings from the P.R.I.S.M. research that, "aren't completely the way we want them to be" yet, he noted. But because the store offers a "unique advantage" by delivering a targeted audience that is close to a potential purchase ("recency") and receptive to marketing messages ("relevancy"), "I'm just glad the data exists. It's going to start the wheels turning."

Comparing data collected at two unidentified supermarket chains over a 13-week period last summer proved that "there really is a difference" in shopper traffic from retailer to retailer, Hess said. But while one chain had significantly higher traffic totals, the patterns at each were consistent, with overall levels rising and falling in the same periods. (Totals for both peaked at the beginning of the month, for instance.)

Using such data, a brand marketer could conclude that the chain with the higher traffic count may warrant more of an outlay for media and merchandising, but that the periods in which to execute programs at each wouldn't differ, Hess suggested.

Traffic in specific sections of the stores varied widely, with the checkout area garnering the highest numbers and the greeting cards/party supplies department receiving significantly fewer visits, according to the data. But while overall traffic counts varied across chains and even across stores within the same chain, the demographic makeup of shoppers visiting each store area was remarkably similar, Hess noted. (Nielsen is attaining demographic profiles by "superimposing" information from its HomeScan consumer panel onto the P.R.I.S.M. data, Garry noted.)

Preliminary data also found that closure rates -- the percentage of shoppers who ultimately buy a product -- varied widely, and were significantly higher for such categories as carbonated soft drinks, cookies, milk and water than they were for butter, vitamins, hot cereal and mayonnaise. Brand marketers could "work against" this data by helping retailers develop strategies to improve their rates, Hess said.

OMD is also examining data on the effectiveness of various types of P-O-P materials (derived by comparing total shopper impressions with sales of the product in question), but will need more detailed information before reaching any general conclusions, he said.

A member of the P.R.I.S.M. consortium (as is OMD), Clorox hopes that the data will let it "decompose" trade promotion activity into its various elements to become "more effective and more efficient," explained Garry. "We spend close to half a billion dollars a year on trade, so we're very much interested in how much money we're getting for what we're putting in," he said. "We want a better way to drive volume, but we don't want to go broke doing it."

The Oakland, CA-based company devotes significant resources to evaluating the return it gets on its marketing investment, and expects P.R.I.S.M. data to "provide measures of effectiveness about specific in-store activities that we just don't have now that are going to be critical to us. We can take our ROI calculations to a new level."

The ability to analyze the relative effectiveness of various in-store programs, and compare that with ROI from other marketing activity, ultimately could "make a big difference in how we spend our money" Garry said.

"It's way too early to come up with any empirical generalizations about what really works better," he concluded. "But, stay tuned. We'll get there."

While P.R.I.S.M. data currently is exclusive to members of the steering consortium, Nielsen In-Store expects to begin syndication in third quarter 2008.

Published: May 2008

Source: In-Store Marketing Institute

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