In s i gh t s t oday f o r t omorrow’s dec i s i on s

W i n t e r 2 0 0 1

The Consumerization of Rx Products

Meeting the Category Pricing Challenge: Finding a Simple Path

A Look at Global Megabrands

Category Masters of the Year

Trend Watch: Biotechnology

Radio Frequency ID:A New Era for Marketers?

CONSUMERINSIGHT:

Understanding

the Voice of

the Consumer

For More Information

ACNielsen U.S.150 North Martingale RoadSchaumburg, IL 60173800.988.4ACNhttp://acnielsen.com/ci

ACNielsen Canada160 McNabb StreetMarkham, OntarioL3R 4B8, Canadahttp://www.acnielsen.ca

Winter 2001, Volume 3, No. 4

4Radio Frequency ID:

A New Era for Marketers?While many advances in technology have

made the CPG industry more efficient, few havetransformed the way we market to consumers.

The new advances in Radio Frequency ID have the potential to change this.

8The Consumerization of Rx Products

Before 1984, many of the top-selling OTC medications were available only by prescription.

The switch from Rx to OTC has had a profound impact on how manufacturers

market, how retailers merchandise, and howconsumers purchase these products.

13Meeting the Category Pricing ChallengePricing is one of the more risky elements

of Marketing. Mistakes can cost your brand dearly. By using a strategic framework

for category pricing, one can drive profitability for the brand and the category.

19A Look at Global Megabrands

What does it mean to be global? According to ACNielsen’s Global Services,

there are 23 manufacturers responsible for the large global brands today.

24Category Masters of the Year

For the third year, the annual Category Master of the Year awards were presented

at ACNielsen’s Category Masters conference.This year’s winners had something in common: a desire to collaborate.

In every issue…28 Trend Watch—

Biotechnology

Business Tools30 Consumer Behavior

32 Merchandising

33 Retailers

33 KnowledgeWorks

34 Retail Tracking

36 Custom Research

Volume 3, No. 4

Publisher

ACNielsen

Editors

Mark Chesney

Art Massa

Design & Layout

Marina Quaranta

Editorial Board

Gary Binkoski

Margaret James

Kathy Mancini

Elaine Noone

Mark Puccetti

ACNielsen Global Creative Services

Laurel A. Kennedy Marketing/Communications

Slack Barshinger & Partners

Copyright © 2002 ACNielsen. Printed in USA. All rights reserved. ACNielsen, the ACNielsen logo, ACNielsen Workstation Information✽ Server,Category Masters, Homescan, KnowledgeWorks,Priceman, Scantrack and Spaceman are trademarksor registered trademarks of A.C. Nielsen Company.Other brand, product or service names are trademarksor registered trademarks of their respective companies.

3

It is a time to

continue the

momentum of

building your

brand with

existing

consumers and

key prospects.

whose growth rates increased

in Q2 and Q3 included cost-

effective frozen unprepared

foods and comfort foods such

as frozen desserts, ice cream

and pizza/snacks.

• The alcoholic beverages depart-

ment ($15.7 billion) is another

which has experienced a slow-

ing growth rate. Beer, liquor

and wine have all seen growth

rate declines in Q2 and Q3.

As for what happened as a result

of the events of 9/11, we saw

behavioral changes like stocking

up on bottled water, canned

goods, flashlights and batteries.

• Other categories that went up

noticeably in the weeks follow-

ing 9/11 included baby food,

coffee, cookies, crackers,

peanut butter, jelly, milk (fresh,

powdered, shelf-stable and

canned), and at least one prod-

uct that had been in decline:

prepared foods (both dry mixes

and ready-to-serve). Among

non-food products, those that

spiked up included candles and

food storage containers. The

HBA department showed a

decline, as people apparently

took their attention off of

personal care items and focused

on essential food products.

While some companies will con-

tinue to be hurt by the lingering

effects of the terrorist attack—

In these unique and trying

times, many of you have

asked us about the impact of

the weakening economy and the

tragic events of September 11th.

While some of the findings below

are not surprising, I believe that

such trends present the CPG

industry with equal doses of

challenges and opportunities.

While the dollar sales growth

rate in most departments went

up during Q1, in seven of the 11

departments we monitor (repre-

senting 72% of total dollar sales),

the growth rate declined in Q2

and Q3. Unit volume growth rates

for nine of the 11 departments

also declined in Q2 and Q3.

Drilling down a bit further...

• The dry grocery department,

($145.6 billion across f/d/m

combined), is one of the

declining departments. Some

of the categories that showed

slower dollar volume growth

rates in Q2 and Q3 included

prepared foods, coffee, car-

bonated beverages, crackers,

pet food, shortening/oil, soup

and canned vegetables.

• The frozen department ($28.9

billion) is another of the seven

decliners. Among the frozen

categories that have declined

were frozen prepared foods

and frozen vegetables. Those

Continued on page 27

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Trying Times Present CPGIndustry with Challenges & Opportunities

Tim Callahan

President

ACNielsen U.S.

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© David Gould and Steven Hunt/Getty Images/The Image Bank.

Evolutionary theory holds that more adaptable species

will prevail in the primordial jungle. Darwinian economic

theory holds that adaptable methods of communication

will prevail in the commercial jungle as well. The emer-

gence of pervasive commerce, the latest development

in the technology of convergent economics, serves as a

case in point.

Sometimes dubbed the quiet revolution, pervasive com-

merce is redefining the CPG landscape with technologies

like smart labels embedded with transmitting sensors and

intelligent readers built into key areas where consumers

live and work. Wearable scanners convert painstaking

inventory control exercises into a real-time action as sim-

ple as the nod of a head. Objects speak to objects in an

unheard language, serving the interests of consumers and

producers via always-on, always-aware, always-active

pervasive c6ommerce initiatives.

From Bar Codes to Loyalty CardsTechnology first made its mark on the CPG trade when

bar codes debuted on June 26, 1974, at Marsh’s

Supermarket in Troy, Ohio, ushering in a new era of

high-speed checkout and data collection. Although bar

codes yielded significant efficiency and accuracy benefits,

they proved to be just a better way to capture and track

product sales and volume information.

The next “big thing”? Frequent shopper cards. While these

did a better job of linking consumers and their purchases,

loyalty cards were severely limited by the constraint of a

single retailer view. This skewed perspective gave retailers

a view of in-store loyalty trends, but it only let them see

the fraction of consumer spending at that format.

In addition to the constricting chain and channel blinders

of scanner data and loyalty cards, consider the usage,

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by John Stermer

Senior Vice President

eBusiness Market Development

ACNielsen

Radio Frequency ID:A New Era for Marketers?

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consumer demographic, psychographic and economic

blind spots of tracking data. Consumer panel information

was added to fill the gaps left by traditional tracking

information, and has been a step in the right direction.

However, something more integrated and holistic was

needed to provide a ubiquitous understanding of on- and

off-line consumer purchase behavior, attitudes and prod-

uct usage. The answer: RFID (radio frequency identifica-

tion) technology.

RFID: A True Paradigm ShiftRFID represents the first true breakthrough in the CPG

industry since the beginning of marketing time. Not just

an efficiency enhancement, but a true paradigm shift—

one that offers the potential to connect consumer pur-

chase to consumer usage across all classes of trade. RFID

technology actually can enable tracking of a product

through the entire life cycle, from the production line all

the way to the recycling center.

Each RFID tag is equipped with a digital memory chip

bearing a unique electronic product code (EPC). As envi-

sioned by the MIT Auto-ID Center, every smart label

would contain up to 96 bits of information, including a

40 bit serial number. Conceptually, the RFID tag is an ele-

gant combination of the UPC with an Internet IP address,

allowing detailed information for each product.

Products with RFID embedded in labels can continuously

transmit information ranging from a unique EPC, to con-

sumption status, to environmental conditions like temper-

ature and moisture content that impact product freshness.

In an industry first, RFID enables the linking of all this

product information with a specific consumer identified

by key demographic and psychographic markers.

The Great EnablerThree words best capture the major benefits of pervasive

commerce: speed, accuracy and savings. The pace of com-

merce accelerates from rapid to immediate, at distances

up to seven meters, despite the presence of dirt, wood,

steam, ice, plastic, paint, water or even people.

Accuracy improves from very good to near-perfect, at a

scant one error in 100 million reads. Savings range with

the application, but Swisscom, Switzerland’s largest

telecommunications company, reports that it has slashed

the cost of even the smallest purchase transaction by as

much as 70%.

As of this writing, a group of thought leaders in the CPG

world are putting pervasive commerce to the test. In the

business-to-business venue, ACNielsen, along with

Accenture, Philip Morris, Procter & Gamble and Wal-Mart,

are part of a 36-company consortium called Auto ID Center,

currently wiring the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, with RFID

equipment for tracking microchip-equipped packages. The

objective is to tag “everything that moves,” and trace goods

from plant to pallet to store shelf, in real time, without

human intervention.

Future Perfect Fully implemented, a pervasive commerce network could

work like this. Consumers armed with their personal digital

assistant (e.g., Palm Pilot, Visor, Blackberry), electronically

stroll the aisles of a virtual grocery store, downloading rele-

vant pricing information, menu suggestions, product and

ingredient specifics provided via wireless RFID transmissions.

Ticking off desired items on an electronic shopping list,

sell-downs are taken automatically, the order is placed via

the Internet, along with payment authorization, delivery

preference, address and driving directions. As each order

moves out the door, a portal reader records purchased

items, verifies accuracy, updates inventory at the retailer

and manufacturer, and transmits replenishment data, all

via satellite to Internet-resident databases.

Once at the home, intelligent refrigerators and

microwaves interpret smart labels to monitor storage

requirements, maintain the appropriate temperature and

humidity, determine cooking procedures and update the

family shopping list based on actual consumption.

The Missing LinkThe intelligent microwave and refrigerator loom as first

order RFID applications—good news for CPG marketers,

since 75% of the consumer products ACNielsen tracks

can be found in the bathroom or kitchen. Where once we

collected purchase information, now we can correlate

multiple points of consumer product purchase with con-

sumption specifics such as the how, when and who of

product use.

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One key to pervasive commerce success is the guarantee

of 100% compliance after installation. After securing a

consumer agreement to participate, the self-monitoring

infrastructure is put in place and operates unsupervised.

Much like the current ACNielsen NetRatings product,

pervasive commerce deploys non-intrusive, passive tech-

nology. Today, ACNielsen Homescan panelists use a

handheld scanner. Tomorrow, they’ll simply have to load

the mini-van, walk in the door, or open the refrigerator

for purchases to be recorded.

Pervasive Commerce and Object IQsOne point of hot debate in the RFID arena involves the

issue of object intelligence. While RFID is a very com-

pelling and elegant technology enabler, ACNielsen believes

that real value is derived only by linking the RFID to a

source of intelligence. True intelligence still resides with

the people who program these collection networks, inter-

preting and analyzing ever richer and more robust data.

The elegant enabler known as pervasive commerce requires

a reference architecture robust enough to recognize and

categorize every product and every retailer at every venue

in the U.S. including shopping malls, convenience stores,

mass merchandisers, food and drug stores. To realize the

full capability of pervasive commerce, ACNielsen has

invested in a multi-year effort toward this goal, developing

in-depth massive product reference databases, called

Product Reference, as well as the store-specific geographic

database called Trade Dimension (TD) Linx.

TD Linx captures more than 40 individual attributes per

product, including supply side characteristics such as case

and pallet, product characteristics such as weight and cat-

egory, digital images of each product, a standard industry

postal code and geographic availability data.

While there may be some debate about the intelligence of

objects, there is no debate that pervasive commerce, intel-

ligently deployed, will redefine the competitive landscape

for the CPG industry.

The basic operating principles of pervasive com-merce are pretty straightforward. In a typical RFID (radio frequency identification) system, each objectis equipped with a small, inexpensive tag (thetransponder) containing a digital memory chip thatbears a unique electronic product code.The inter-rogator, an antenna packaged with a transceiverand decoder, emits a signal activating the RFID tagso it can read and write data to it, then transferthat information to the host computer for furtherprocessing. The market for RFID tags is growingexplosively, projected to reach $10 billion annuallywithin the decade, according to IDTechEx.

RFID tags boast some unusual properties:

1] Data can be changed as the product navigates

the distribution system, from factory location

and date of manufacture, to anti-counterfeiting,

pricing, warranty or other product information.

2] When electronic display technologies such as electronic inks hit the market, manufacturers will be able to dynamically change text on the package, updating advertising, safety and quality statements.

3] Sensitive microprocessors will be able to monitor the product environment to

ensure that foods arrive fresh, shipped under the correct temperature and moisture conditions.

How It Works

RFID products in home RFID in car

© Siegfried Layda/Getty Images/Stone.

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by Bart Roselli

VP, New Business Development

ACNielsen

The Consumerization of Rx Products

Success or leadership as an Rx product does not ensure leadership as an OTC product.

Recent Rx to OTC SwitchAs an Rx Brand As a Consumer Brand

(share to switch segment) ($)

Brand Segment OTC CategoryBrand Position Share of Rx’s Position Share Share

Brand A 54 Brand A 26.6 9.8

Brand B 24 Brand B 9.7 3.3

Brand C 13 Brand C 42.5 17.1

Brand D 9 Brand D 2.5 1.0

Pvt. Label 18.6 7.1

Chart 1Consumerization of Rx Products

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New Health Care DecisionsVisit any drug store, supermarket or mass merchan-

diser and products such as Advil, Kaopectate, Afrin,

Aleve, Gyne-Lotrimin, Pepcid AC, Zantac 75,

Rogaine and Nicorette Gum are all readily available.

For some, it is hard to consider life without their

easy accessibility, but before 1984 all of these drugs

required a doctor’s prescription. Rising health-care

costs, HMO involvement, easy access to health care

information and the explosion of direct-to-consumer

advertising are just some of the reasons behind the

expanding availability of over-the-counter (OTC)

drugs reclassified from prescription status.

Proponents believe this availability allows consumers

to take a more active role in their own health care

and serves to reduce overall health-care costs.

Opponents argue that forcing patients to self-

diagnose and self-treat takes the doctor out of the

equation and raises questions about the quality of

the patient’s care. There is also concern about the

increased cost to the consumer, since OTC drugs are

generally not covered by healthcare insurance.

A Profound ImpactThe switch from prescription (Rx) to OTC has a

profound impact on the manufacturers that produce

the drug, the manufacturers of competing drugs

and the retailers that merchandise these products.

Consider the introduction of non-prescription smok-

ing cessation products. Their introduction in 1995

created a new over-the-counter category and caused

a 41,000-percent dollar volume increase in 1996.

Prior to their introduction, sales of OTC nicotine

replacement generated just $300,000 in sales across

all retail channels in 1995.

In some cases, a prescription product may impact the

sales of an existing OTC category. Consider the

impact the new blockbuster prescription drugs Vioxx

and Celebrex are having on the OTC analgesics

category. Are the users switchers from existing

analgesic products? Are they still purchasing OTC

analgesics in addition to their prescription? These

questions can be answered through additional

research. What is known, however, is that the aware-

ness of these prescription products is extraordinary.

For perspective, according to Nielsen Media Research,

these two products spent $225 million in direct-to-

consumer advertising in the year 2000. Moreover,

the industry spent $2.2 billion in direct-to-consumer

advertising last year.

Does Success TranslateThe success or leadership as a prescription product does

not ensure leadership as an OTC product. Research

shows that while prescription products do carry their

brand equity as they move to OTC status, it does not

necessarily translate into a similar OTC share.

In Chart 1, Brand A maintained a 54 share of prescrip-

tions as a prescription brand, but as a consumer brand,

it now only delivers a 26.6 share of the OTC segment

(prescription products) and a 9.8 share of the total

category. Interestingly, Brand C went from a low 13

share of prescriptions to a whopping 42.5 share of the

segment and 17.1 share of the total category. It is impor-

tant to note that private label captured an 18.6 share of

the previous prescription segment, nearly 2.5 times the

private label share of the category.

Does ‘First Switch’ Drive Success?The first product to enter a new category or segment has

advantages, but it does not guarantee success. For exam-

ple, in Canada, the upset stomach remedy Pepcid was the

first to enter the OTC market, but it ended up in second

place after the number-one prescription brand Zantac

switched over. Consumer recognition and doctor

recommendation undoubtedly played a large part. The

private label counterpart in this category also caused a

tremendous impact as it took a large share of the market.

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Feature

In addition to the extraordinary focus on media spend-

ing, two of these launches were characterized by multi-

ple executions for each brand, often targeted to different

demographic segments. Given the huge media budgets,

this is not surprising. These media levels resulted in

Other category switches proved disappointing. After the

switch of anti-smoking products, sales never materialized

to anticipated results. The fact that medical plans would

no longer cover the product and the introduction of

“newer” anti-smoking prescription products may have

discouraged some consumers.

Case in PointPrescription remedies are globalizing and growing.

As the world moves toward one big market, the policy

differences on prescription medications become more

apparent. Many prescription brands in the U.S. may be

OTC in Canada or Mexico. In some cases, the opposite

is true. To understand the magnitude of the consumeriza-

tion and implications of prescription to OTC switching,

ACNielsen BASES, the world leader in the simulated test

marketing field, has tested virtually every Rx-to-OTC

switch in the last 15 years.

The benefits of testing products with consumers prior

to a launch are significant. Not only are OTC usage

patterns studied, but efficacy and safety perceptions are

also analyzed. In addition, label compliance, price sensi-

tivity and cannibalization are dissected. This translates

Chart 2Advertising Spending in Year 1

into a high degree of switch success. When validating a

forecast, ACNielsen BASES re-runs the model with the

actual executed marketing plan and then compares the

results against actual sales. For switches, ACNielsen

BASES has completed 11 validations and has been within

their quoted confidence range 10 of those 11 times.

The Importance of AwarenessHow important is brand awareness for Rx-to-OTC

switching to occur? In a word: very. Advertising, con-

sumer sampling and physician marketing all play critical

roles in the successful marketing of the Rx-to-OTC

switch. ACNielsen BASES research shows that the

average switch brand spends seven times as much on

advertising as an average non-switch OTC brand. And

three of the brands examined spent at least $50 million

on media, far above the normal level for an OTC intro-

duction. These ad spending levels are phenomenal for a

new brand in year one [See Chart 2].

Source: BASES Validations

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Take Brand A, for example, which focused heavily on

professional marketing. It captured 71% of all details

directed against physicians for the category, dropped

80% of physician samples and was competitive on

journal ads. The result: Brand A was highly successful,

gaining the majority of doctor recommendations

[See Chart 4].

Chart 3Concept Purchase Intent with Doctor Recommendation

Chart 4Physician Recommendations (post switch)

enormously high awareness, with three of the brands

approaching 90%. While two of the three brands started

out with substantial awareness levels, one product built

to 90% from virtually nothing. Further increasing

awareness, one of these brands dropped more than one

sample for every household in the U.S.

The Doctor Is InPhysician endorsement is another key marketing variable

crucial to the success of a brand switch. Not only is it

important and quantifiable, but it translates to a high

degree of consumer acceptance. In three separate cases,

the consumer’s intent to purchase was considerably higher

after a doctor recommendation was given [See Chart 3].

A Powerful ForceThe ripple effect of Rx-to-OTC switching has a powerful

impact on the channel dynamics, the distribution of the

product and the total category. While one might think

that prescription switches would be most impactful in

the drug channel, ACNielsen research shows differently.

In the examples studied, prescription switches established

the largest proportion of total category sales in the

mass merchandiser channel (43% of the new segment),

followed by drug (39%) and food (33%). It is evident

that consumers take advantage of the deeper discounts

found in the mass channel.

The impact of prescription switches on product distribu-

tion is also evident. Backed by millions of dollars of con-

sumer advertising, it is not surprising that “switch

brands,” the secondary alternative to the initial launched

brand, achieve quick distribution. When comparing a

switch brand to a leading product launch in OTC,

ACNielsen found that two of four switch brands far sur-

passed a benchmark product launch distribution in the

first four weeks of the introduction. On a channel-by-

channel basis, the same is true. In drug, the blockbuster

OTC product achieved an 84% ACV distribution during

the first four-week period, while two switch brands hit

Source: BASES Tests

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91% and 93% during the first four weeks. The same

held true in the mass channel (86% distribution for

leading product vs. 95% and 96% for switch brands).

With OTC switches representing over 30% of the total

category, the share of base brands changes dramatically.

Switch brands have a tremendous impact on existing

brands that may compete for similar consumers or that

may be impacted by the prescription switch. In the

example below, Base Private Label becomes stronger

(156 index), while the second-leading Base Brand B was

negatively impacted [See Chart 5].

$ Share to Total CategoryIndex

Base A 20.9 15.1 72Base B 19.2 6.9 35Base C 13.5 8.5 63Private Label 10.7 16.7 156Base D 11.8 5.4 46Base E 9.6 4.4 46

Pre Introduction Post Introduction

Chart 5What Happened to Major Base Brands?

When switches occur in a category, manufacturers and

retailers of the base products need to understand their

base product consumer differentiation from the switch

products and think about how to target to the new

prescription switch consumer.

Industry ImplicationsThe growing importance of understanding the consumer-

ization of prescription brands and the implications are

far-reaching. ACNielsen and BASES research shows

general observed trends:

• Base brands do not react to higher-priced switch

products with price reductions.

• Switch brands receive very high in-store support

early on in the switch, and continue strong for the

first year.

• Private label has a higher-than-average share in the

prescription switch segment.

• Successful brands add SKUs (sizes) over time and

provide additional consumer benefits.

The trends that currently drive the consumerization of

prescription medications will continue. Consumers

will become even more involved in their medication

decisions both for prescription items as well as OTC

products. Manufacturers and retailers need to better

understand who their consumers are and what else they

are purchasing as part of their medicine cabinet.

13| Consum

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Feature

Fear is one of the great motivators. It pushes us

to go where we have not gone before, to do

things we may not otherwise have done.

However, fear often causes the opposite reaction—

an inability to act. One of the biggest issues with

regard to category pricing is this “rule of fear.”

The underlying reason? Call it The Great Unknown.

Better to not change pricing, goes the thinking, than

to change it and negatively impact sales. And in our

high-stakes marketplace, this thinking is not totally

unfounded. However, by using a strategic framework

for item-level price management, we can reduce the

fear and drive profitability for the category.

The Key Questions Within this framework, there are four key questions

the category manager needs to answer. First, “Which

items are most important?” This can be done by

breaking the category into strategic groups of items,

based on their pricing velocity and sensitivity.

The next steps include: determining how the items

respond to changing price; what the pricing envi-

ronment is for key items; and finally, what the key

price points are.

These four questions help to define a common set of

information to drive better pricing decisions. These

questions are relevant to the key pricing “audiences”

in retailer, broker and manufacturer organizations,

and are adaptable to different pricing management

environments and applications.

John Porter

VP, KnowledgeWorks

ACNielsen

Jeff Ritchie

Director, KnowledgeWorks

ACNielsen

Four key questions1. Which items are most important?

2. How do items respond to changes in price?

3. What is the pricing environment for key items?

4. What are the key price points?

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FeatureSeparate the CategoryTo address the first question, one needs to break the cate-

gory into strategic groups of items. These groups can be

used against any product category. Chart 1 shows that

items with high velocity and price sensitivity should be

given high pricing priority, since they will have the

greatest tactical impact. Items such as snacks, cereals

and carbonated beverages have high pricing priority and

should be considered “flagship” in your pricing scheme—

with pricing that calls attention to the items.

Likewise, those categories with more moderate velocity

and sensitivity should be priced competitively, but not as

loss leaders. Finally, items that have medium-to-low

velocity and sensitivity should use appropriate pricing

strategies.

change at all, they have to be reduced (otherwise con-

sumers will buy something else). And by reducing price,

marketers are then faced with boosting volume to cover the

difference—a slippery slope if there ever was one.

The good news, however, is that by performing category

pricing analyses, marketers can actually find the places

where increasing price is a good thing, and in some cases

can even increase volume as a result. The key is to under-

stand price elasticity.

For any given category, the following variablesmust be considered when understanding andimplementing pricing plans:

Velocity—high-velocity items move off the shelvesmore quickly. Typically, consumers are also moreaware of pricing changes for these items

Price Sensitivity—this metric refers to theresponsiveness consumers have to changes inprice for a given item

Margin—the revenue gained is different fordifferent items based on purchase price, tradepromotions, etc.

It is generally accepted that revenue for highsensitivity items is strongly influenced by price, andthat high-velocity items typically drive volume. Thesefactors, combined with margin, can help determinepricing tactics to support category strategy

Chart 1Start by Breaking the Category into Strategic Groups of Items

Sensitivity

High Response Medium Low Response

High Velocity Flagship Pricing Competitive Pricing Manage Margin(High Visibility)

Middle Tier Competitive Manage Margin Take MarginPricing

Slow Movers Build ROI

Fear RulesSince price is the driver of revenue and profit, it is no

wonder that marketers are hesitant to change a product

price once it is established—the aforementioned rule of

fear. The corollary is the impression that if prices are to

Velo

city

Elasticity—How Items Respond Elasticity is simply a measure of how items respond to

changes in price. The goal is to provide reliable reporting

of the sensitivity of an item to a change in shelf price.

In analytical terms, elasticity measures the impact of a

one-percent change in shelf price (increase or decrease) on

revenue. An elasticity of 1.0, for example, would indicate

a one-percent decrease in revenue relative to the price

change. An elasticity of 2.0 would show a two-percent

15| Consum

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decrease in revenue for the price change, and so on.

Clearly, as the elasticity numbers grow larger, the item is

defined as being more price sensitive.

The important thing is to start by looking at facts, which

helps to focus on fast moving, price-sensitive items as well

as identify “margin improvement” items.

Benchmarking ElasticityACNielsen has been studying the relationship between

price elasticity and channel for more than a decade.

During the late 1980s, mass merchandisers had the highest

overall elasticity, and drug the lowest of all the channels.

This means that changes in price more drastically affected

volume in mass than they did in drug. Perhaps not an

earth-shattering discovery, but when combined with the

fact that mass merchandisers had the lowest overall prices

while drug had the highest, one can begin to see that high-

er pricing does not always negatively impact volume.

Our latest look at the findings considered three channels,

50 categories and roughly 35 items per category that were

sold in all three channels. What we found was that there are

distinct differences between channels [See Chart 2, page 17].

While the median elasticity was near 1, the variation

ranged significantly among mass, food and drug. Within

each channel, the price elasticity also varied widely by cate-

gory. All channels had categories that were quite elastic, as

well as relatively inelastic categories [See Chart 3, page 17].

There are also differences in elasticities within categories.

Most categories show a range of item sensitivities—most

have a mix of elastic and inelastic items. For example, in

the light duty detergent category, the elasticity ranges from

-0.7 (low sensitivity) to -1.6 (high sensitivity).

Perhaps the most enlightening insight from the research is

that consumers seem to shop “in context.” For example,

while food products are fairly inelastic when purchased in a

food channel store (changes in price caused less drastic

changes in sales), these Food products were typically 30%

to 40% more elastic when purchased in drug and mass.

The reason for this? One theory is that since shoppers visit

channels based on destination products (healthcare remedies

in drug, bread and milk in food channel, etc.) they are not

as likely to buy the impulse (i.e., “non-context” items)

unless the price is attractive. More study is definitely neces-

sary for the underlying reasons. But it is definitely impor-

tant to consider when developing channel pricing strategy.

Aside from this finding, however, the variations make it dif-

ficult to generalize rules of elasticity relative to channels or

categories – diversity in categories and channels is the rule.

And that is why shelf price management must be a catego-

ry/channel specific activity, focusing on the category’s role in

the store and the competitive environment in addition to

price sensitivity.

Continued on page 17.

A Test:

Put the following products in order of elasticity,starting with the most elastic and finishing with the most inelastic.

❑ Crest 6.4 oz Tube Toothpaste

❑ Pert Plus 13.5 oz Shampoo with Conditioner

❑ Yoplait 6 oz Strawberry/Banana Yogurt

❑ Motrin 50 count Regular Strength Gelcap

❑ General Mills 20 oz Cheerios

❑ Kibbles & Bits 20 Pound Dry Dog Food

❑ Dawn 28 oz Liquid Dishwasher DetergentAnswers on page 18.

Elasticity measures theimpact of a one-percent

change in shelf price(increase or decrease)

on revenue.

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The Premium Foods Company was contemplating a price increase

on their olive oils. They had two products, Virgin Olive Oil and Extra

Virgin Olive Oil (the higher end of the two brands). Profitability was

critical for each brand, and the company also wanted to maintain

the premium image of the higher priced Extra Virgin oil.

Premium Foods needed to understand: a) how much of a price

increase they could profitably take; b) whether they could raise

prices on both brands to maintain a premium positioning; and c)

how their products should be priced relative to Private Label.

In addition to analyzing price points, gaps and sales levels,

ACNielsen looked at elasticity across brands for the two Premium

Foods brands and Private Label. This allowed determination of the

effect of price changes on any of the three brands.

Private Label was most often parity priced with Extra Virgin and had

a higher sales rate than Extra Virgin’s. The Premium Virgin brand

was typically priced around $2.00 less than the other two and had

the highest overall sales rate.

All three brands examined were shown to be inelastic (less price sen-

sitive). Therefore, Premium Foods could raise prices and increase

profitability without putting much volume at risk. In addition, since

both Premium Foods product prices could increase, Extra Virgin could

maintain its high-end positioning in the marketplace [See Chart 1].

The company also needed to understand the interaction between the

Premium brands and Private Label in the face of a price increase, to

show retailers that a price increase by Premium would not negatively

affect either Private Label or the category as a whole.

What the company discovered was good news for everyone.

Premium Virgin Olive Oil sales were entirely a function of that product’s

own price and did not interact with the other two brands. A price

increase by Premium’s Virgin Olive Oil would not affect the sales vol-

ume of either Extra Virgin or Private Label. In addition, Premium Virgin

was not affected by either of the other two brands changing their price.

For Premium’s Extra Virgin brand, there was a price relationship with

Private Label. Premium’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil impacted Private Label’s

volume when Premium raised its price, but Private Label did not impact

Extra Virgin when Private Label increased in price [See Chart 2]. This

supported the hypothesis that some consumers might switch to Private

Label following a price increase.

So how was this good news for Premium? Using Price Simulator,

Premium Foods simulated a 5% price increase on both their brands

and Private Label. The modeled result showed Premium increasing

profitability by 4%, with the retailer increasing by 20%. Premium

used these results to develop their annual pricing plan, and they

were able to present to retailers the feasibility of the 5% price

increase, which was then accepted and subsequently implemented

[See Chart 3].

A Case Study From Canada*

*Key information for this case study has been masked

Average Most

Price Sales Common

Range Rate Price Elasticity

Premium $9.99–

Virgin $13.99 16 $9.99 -0.66

Premium $10.99–

Extra Virgin $14.79 10 $11.99 -0.77

Private Label $5.99– 14 $11.99 -0.90

$12.79

PremiumPremium Extra PrivateBrands VirginRate Virgin Label ElasticityPremium Virgin -0.66 — — -0.66Premium —

Extra Virgin-0.77 — -0.77Private Label — -0.90 — -0.90

Chart 1: All brands are inelastic

Chart 2 Relationships Between BrandsPremium Extra Virigin affects itself and Private Label

Across=brands that affect youDown=brands you affect

% Change % Change % ChangeCurrent Proposed % Change in in Dollar Premium Retail

Brand Price Price Unit Sales Volume Profits ProfitsPremium Virgin $9.99 $10.49 -3.20% 1.60% 3.30% 29.10%Premium

ExtraVirgin $11.99 $12.59 -3.70% 1.10% 5.80% 14%Private Label $11.99 $12.59 0 5.00%19.20%Total

-2.30% 2.60 4.20 20.54%

Chart 3 A Price Increase Across the Broad Increased Profitability

| Consum

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17

Consumers seem to shop‘in context.‘

The Pricing EnvironmentPricing is decided in a very competitive environment.

Marketers need detailed, reliable reporting of how an item

is priced, relative to the market and channel, to understand

how best to set and/or adjust price. By understanding the

pricing environment, we can provide a richer view of the

way a consumer sees pricing in a channel—whether by most

common price, lowest price, average price, highest price or

by key price points.

One current method is to look at average price for a partic-

ular retailer compared to the overall trading area. By using

a pricing environment template, one can try to summarize

pricing and positioning across channels. These price man-

agement tools provide the ability to systematically capture

and present more pricing detail.

How does this look in the real world? Usually one needs to

build pricing environment rules. These can be defined in dif-

ferent ways, according to the particular need. Sometimes,

rules are set relative to competition. Typically, pricing rules

are summarized in ways that support managers in making

tactical pricing decisions: “I will be within 5% of the lowest

price in my trading area” or “Price Zone 1 will be priced

above 75% of the other retailers in the area.” [See Chart 4].

Chart 3Category Elasticity Findings

Each channel had a wide range of elasticities, depending on the individual category• All channels had categories that were quite elastic• All channels had relatively inelastic categories

Chart 2Channel Elasticity Findings

The channels are quite different in their price sensitivities

Chart 4Building Price Environment Rules

DESCRIPTION: BRAND B QUARTER: Q1 2001

Market Average Most Common Low Price 15% 25% 35% 50%

Retailer A $9.28 $9.29 $9.19

Total Drug $9.11 $8.99 $7.99 $8.99 $8.99 $8.99 $9.29

Total Food $9.33 $9.99 $7.99 $8.69 $8.99 $9.99 $9.99

Market 50% 75% Highest

Retailer A $9.39

Total Drug $9.29 $9.39 $9.69

Total Food $9.99 $9.99 $10.49

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Feature

Price threshold: price that is accompanied by a marked change in consumer behavior

Answer to sidebar on page 15.Product Description ElasticityKibbles & Bits 20 Pound Dry Dog Food -1.68Yoplait 6 oz Strawberry/Banana Yogurt -1.53Dawn 28 oz Liquid Dishwasher Detergent -1.33General Mills 20 oz Cheerios -0.98Pert Plus 13.5 oz Shampoo with Conditioner -0.93Crest 6.4 oz Tube Toothpaste -0.86Motrin 50 count Regular Strength Gelcap -0.48

By using good environment summaries, one can provide a

fact-based approach to setting competitive pricing metrics.

Key Price Points So now we know the item’s role and margin, the price sensi-

tivity (elasticity), and the pricing environment. Can we set any

price? Usually, we can, but a final element in developing a

pricing strategy is to determine the key price points. All items

come with price thresholds: prices that are accompanied by a

marked change in consumer behavior [See Chart 5].

It is very important to determine the thresholds for key items.

It should also be noted, however, that determining thresholds

can be a very time-intensive analysis, and should therefore be

used for key items only.

Meeting The ChallengeThere are four questions related to pricing management:

Which items are most important? What is the pricing

environment for key items? How do those items respond to

price? Are there key price points? Answering these four ques-

tions is the first step in defining a common set of informa-

tion to drive better pricing decisions. It is also a helpful tool

in driving away the fear of implementing strategic pricing at

the store shelf.

Chart 5Price Threshold Checks For Key Items

45

90

40

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

$5

.90

to

$5

.99

$6

.00

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to

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.89

19| Consum

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Feature

Jane Perrin

Managing Director

ACNielsen Global Services

Clare Nishikawa

Manager, Global Reports and Communication

ACNielsen Global Services

What does it mean to be global?

Despite a proliferation of

brands in the marketplace

and a focus by major manufacturers on

expanding into new territories, there are

relatively few global megabrands in the

consumer goods world today. ACNielsen’s

Global Services group recently completed

a study of top global CPG brands. Rather

than providing a simple tally of shipment

sales from a company’s annual report,

ACNielsen has measured actual retail

sales from 30 countries that account for

90% of global GDP. The following is a

rationale behind the choosing of the

brands and a brief summary of the study.

Note: Due to the fact that no one measure can include all channels of consumer purchasing, this study is heavily weighted towards purchases from retail stores. The data in this study was sourced fromlocal ACNielsen information. Products most often purchased within a retail store benefit from ACNielsen’s retail coverage. Purchases from kiosks, bars, restaurants and vending machines were not for themost part included. Although the list of brands may not be all-inclusive due to coverage limitations, it does provide a significant look into the globalization of our consumer brands.

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FeatureThere were three main criteria that a brand had to meet

to be included in the study. First, the cumulative sales for

the 12 months ending with the first quarter of 2001 had

to be equal to or exceed US$1 billion. Second, the brand

had to have a measurable presence in each of the four

major geographic regions—Latin America; Asia Pacific;

North America; and Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Finally, sales outside of the home market had to repre-

sent at least 5% of the global sales value.

To define and determine a “brand,” we looked for con-

sistency in terms of product packaging, marketing and

consumer views of the brand. In addition, we segmented

brands within their specific category. For example,

Pampers wipes were not combined with Pampers dia-

pers. Brands also had to use a consistent name world-

wide. For example, Lays and Walkers (Europe) were not

combined as a single chips & snacks brand, nor were

Always and Whisper (Asia) combined as a single

sanitary protection brand.

We looked at well over 200 brands in this study and

although more than half had a global presence, they did

not have more than $1 billion in sales. Of the total, only

43 actually met the criteria of having a global presence

in each region and having over $1 billion in sales. The

43 brands on the list represent 23 global manufacturers

and more than $125 billion in sales.

Among the 43 brands, most had the largest concentration

of sales in their region of origin. Additionally, most of the

brands had a high concentration of sales in either North

America or Europe (62% on average). For three brands

(Gillette, Pedigree and Always), both North America and

Europe had equal predominance [See Chart 1].

Beverages Are Number OneNot surprising to any global traveler, the category with

the most billion-dollar global brands was the beverage

category. Nearly one-third of the brands included in the

final list (13 of the 43) were a beverage, including car-

bonated beverages, juice, sports drinks, coffee and beer.

Although local taste preferences may be accommodated

# of countries Brand Segment included, 30 maximum

Total Coke Carbonated Beverages 30Coke (Regular)*Diet Coke/Coke Light*

Marlboro Tabacco 25Marlboro (Regular)*

Marlboro Lights*Total Pepsi Carbonated Beverages 30

Pepsi (Regular)*Diet Pepsi/Pepsi Light*

Budweiser Beer 25Campbell’s Soup 21Kellogg’s Cereal 27Pampers Diapers 27Benson & Hedges Tabacco 21Camel Tabacco 24Danone Yogurt 25Fanta Carbonated Beverages 29Friskies Pet Food 24Gillette Blades & Razors 29Huggies Diapers 25Nescafe Coffee 29Sprite Carbonated Beverages 30Tide Laundry Detergent 11Tropicana Still Beverages 17Wrigley’s Chewing Gum 27Colgate Toothpaste 29Duracell Batteries 28Heineken Beer 26Kodak Consumer Films 13L&M Tobacco 18Lay’s Chips & Snacks 22Pedigree Pet Food 25Always Sanitary Protection 22Doritos Chips & Snacks 20Energizer Batteries 28Gatorade Sports Beverages 22Guinness Beer 23Kinder Chocolate 28Kleenex Facial Tissue 26L’Oreal Colorants 27Maxwell House Coffee 19Minute Maid Still Beverages 16Nivea Moisturizers/Cleansers 29Pantene Shampoo/Conditioners 30Philadelphia Cheese 25Pringles Chips & Snacks 30Seven-Up/7-Up ) Carbonated Beverages 30Tylenol OTC Pain Remedies 9Whiskas * Cat Food 24

*Denote sub-brands which independently meet the global billion dollar mark but are included in the total for the brand

Chart 1Billion Dollar Global Brands

21| Consum

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by different product formulations distributed under the

same brand name, essentially consumers around the

world are all drinking variations of these same brands.

The total Coke brand was number one among beverages

at well over $15 billion in sales, with its two sub-brands,

Coke and Diet Coke, having more than one billion dol-

lars in sales in their own right. Pepsi, with its associated

sub-brands, Pepsi and Diet Pepsi (including Pepsi Light,

Pepsi Max and Pepsi One) ranked as the number-two

beverage brand.

Snack, Pet and Tobacco Also Strong Although no other single food group had as significant a

number of brands included as the beverage category,

there were three snack foods that stood out with over

one billion dollars in global sales (Pringles, Lay’s and

Doritos). Soup, cereal, yogurt, cheese, chewing gum, and

chocolate all had one brand each on the list. Pet foods

were represented by a dog-food brand (Pedigree), a cat-

food brand (Whiskas) and one that caters to both cats

and dogs (Friskies).

Four tobacco brands had a significant global presence

and met the billion-dollar criteria: Marlboro, Benson &

Hedges, Camel and L&M. Like the beverage category,

local formulations may differ, but consumers in every

region are smoking these common brands.

The Remaining Mix Of the remaining fourteen brands, no one category

emerged as dominant, with 12 categories each having

representation: battery, diaper, shampoo & conditioners,

colorants, moisturizers & cleansers, toothpaste, facial

tissues, OTC pain remedies, film, blades & razors, and

sanitary protection. Interestingly enough, there was

only one household product on the list: Tide Laundry

Detergent. Although manufacturers market similar

household and cleaning products around the world,

they are often marketed under different brand names.

The Mega-Manufacturers Of the 23 manufacturers that are responsible for market-

ing these billion-dollar global brands, eight had more than

one brand on the list. PepsiCo had the most brands with

six (when including 7-Up, which is distributed by Cadbury

Schweppes in the U.S.). Procter & Gamble and Philip

Morris (Kraft included) each had five, with the Coca-Cola

Company having four brands. Kimberly-Clark, Gillette,

Mars and Nestlé each had two brands included.

In the tobacco category, although Marlboro and L&M

are definitely Philip Morris brands, the other two brands

both have some type of multi-company relationship.

British American Tobacco, Philip Morris and Gallaher,

for example, all have an interest in Benson & Hedges,

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Feature• Eight of these brands have at least 70% of their sales

within the region: Benson & Hedges, Guinness,

Heineken, Kinder, L&M, Nivea, Whiskas and Camel.

• Guinness Beer (country of origin: Ireland) and Kinder

Chocolate (country of origin: Italy), each had over

90% of their sales within Europe.

• On the opposite end of the spectrum, Tylenol is in only

a handful of countries in Europe and plays a relatively

minor role in the region.

Asia Pacific (Five countries)

• Of the 43 brands that made the list, none originated in

this region.

• As mentioned above, Nescafé had a strong presence in

Asia Pacific as one the top five brands in the region.

Over thirty percent of its sales are in this region.

• P&G’s Always product plays a fairly insignificant role

in Asia Pacific as another similar P&G product is mar-

keted under the brand name Whisper. L&M also has a

fairly small presence in this region.

• In addition, as with Europe, Tylenol has a fairly

insignificant presence in Asia Pacific.

Latin America (Three countries)

• Gillette’s Razors and Blades brand has a strong presence

in Latin America, and in fact, is one of the top five

global brands in the region.

• Carbonated beverages rated high in this region. This is

not surprising, since Mexico has one of the highest per

capita consumption of carbonated beverages around

the world.

• One of the most significant findings regarding Latin

America is that a number of global brands (Maxwell

House, Minute Maid and Tide) although present, were

significantly under-developed.

• Although globally Benson & Hedges is larger than

L&M tobacco products, in Latin America, L&M

has a larger presence.

and both RJReynolds and Japan Tobacco distribute

Camel (depending on the country).

As mentioned earlier, the 43 brands reported in the

study accounted for over $125 billion in sales. Nearly

three-quarters of these sales were attributable to the

eight manufacturers with multiple brands on the list.

Global Growth Echoes Consumer Trends The growth across the 43 brands over the last two years

shows little consistency. However, two trends could be

identified: Perceived healthy products, such as juice, sports

drinks and yogurt, have experienced double digit growth

over the last two years; and products with a convenience

image, such as snack food entries Lay’s and Doritos, as

well as Wrigley’s gum, also showed significant growth.

Sales in Regions Closely Follow Global FindingsWithin each of the four regions (North America; Latin

America; Asia Pacific; and Europe, Middle East &

Africa), the regional sales of the global brands closely

follow the global findings. For example, in each of the

four regions, Coke and Marlboro were consistently the

top two brands of the 43 brands studied.

North America & Europe Are the Largest MarketsOne key finding mentioned in the Global Summary is

that all of the brands included in the global list had their

largest markets in North America or Europe, Middle East

& Africa. Three of the 43 brands were equally strong in

the two regions (Gillette, Pedigree, and Always). This is

not surprising considering that based on the countries

included in the report, North America accounts for 32%

of the world’s GDP and Europe 33%. Asia and Latin

America represent 20% and 5%, respectively.

Regional DifferencesAlthough the global findings are fairly consistent across

the regions, there are a few regional variations:

Europe, Middle East & Africa (Twenty countries)

• Of the brands on the list, Europe, Middle East and

Africa is the dominant region for 16 of the global brands.

23| Consum

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The study includes 30 of the world’s top markets divided into four geographical

regions. These markets account forapproximately 90% of the world’s

consumer goods ACV:Europe, Middle East and Africa Asia PacificGermany JapanUnited Kingdom ChinaFrance Korea, Rep. (South Korea)Italy AustraliaSpain Hong Kong, ChinaRussian Federation Netherlands Latin AmericaSwitzerland BrazilBelgium MexicoSweden ArgentinaAustriaTurkey North AmericaDenmark United StatesPoland CanadaNorwaySaudi Arabia South AfricaGreecePortugalIreland

• Three brands had over 90% of their sales in North

America: Campbell’s Soup, Tide Laundry Detergent,

and Tylenol Pain Remedies.

• Within categories, there are some strong regional pref-

erences. For example, Maxwell House ranks higher

than Nescafé in North America. In Europe, Asia Pacific

and Latin America, the picture is reversed.

• As detailed in the report, an element of the criteria to

be included in the global report was that in addition to

having a presence in each region, more than 5% of a

brand’s value sales had to be outside of the home mar-

ket. If this 5% criteria had not been included, several

other strong North American brands would have made

the list (e.g., Enfamil Infant Formula and Mountain

Dew Carbonated Beverage).

• Kinder Chocolate and L&M are strongly European,

and although they have a presence in North America,

they do not play any major role in the market.

• Fanta Carbonated Beverage is somewhat unique.

Although in three of the four regions the carbonated

beverage has a strong presence (within the top five

global brands), the brand does not have a significant

presence in North America.

A Sign of Things to ComeOverall, the beverage companies appear to be the farthest

ahead on the globalization curve, both in the number of

global products and in the magnitude of sales. Tobacco

companies also have a significant number of global

brands on the list (four out of 43). Although growth

across the 43 brands is on average less than 10%, eight

of the 43 brands have experienced double-digit growth

in the most recent year.

Although there is a proliferation of brands on the market,

this study illustrates that there are a relatively few brands

that one can truly call global. Over the next few years,

we expect the picture of global brands to change signifi-

cantly. The number of brands considered truly “global”

should increase as businesses work to develop and grow

new markets.

North America (Two countries)

• North America is the dominant region for 24 of the

global brands on the list.

• Eleven of these brands have at least 70% of their sales

within the region: Budweiser, Campbell’s, Gatorade,

Kodak, Kleenex, Lay’s, Maxwell House, Minute Maid,

Tide, Tropicana, Tylenol.The complete text of Reaching the Billion Dollar Mark—A Review of Today’s GlobalBrands is available online at http://acnielsen.com/billion or by contacting Matt Bell at847-605-5686.

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Feature

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The Coca-Cola Company, Publix Super Markets and

Acosta Sales and Marketing Company are winners of

the third annual Category Master of the Year awards,

co-sponsored, with ACNielsen, by Brand Marketing

magazine and its sister publication, Supermarket News.

Presented at ACNielsen’s Category Masters conference,

held in August in Boca Raton, Florida, the awards honor

one manufacturer, one retailer and one sales agency (the

last being a new category this year) in the consumer

packaged goods industry that have achieved excellence

in the field of category management.

Winners were selected by polling a portion of the

readership of Brand Marketing and Supermarket News.

Retailers were asked to choose the manufacturer winner

and manufacturers the retailer. Both manufacturers and

retailers selected the sales agency. The common element

to all the winners was a total management commitment

to category management that included reorganizations

of departments to address category management issues.

Here are the profiles of this year’s winners and some

examples of their category management expertise.

Coke: An Open EarAlthough category management as a business term was

coined in the early 1990s, Coca-Cola North America has

been aiding retailers in the quest to expand the beverage

category and increase sales for over a century. Coca-

Cola sees category management as a retailer’s business

process, meaning it listens to what retailers want to

accomplish in a category and helps them build their

businesses accordingly, said Dave Campbell, director

of category-management services at Coca-Cola North

America, who accepted the award at the event.

“We see category management as a means to increasing

the size of the category, while leading sales growth,”

Campbell said.

To facilitate category growth among all its customers,

Coke assembled a two-part team consisting of headquar-

ters staff and field managers. At headquarters, Campbell

leads teams specializing in technology and applications

support, consumer insights, retail plan development and

training. Including field-based managers, more than 600

associates are involved in the category-management team.

The system has been successful for Coke. For example,

at one retailer, the number of stock-keeping units was

reduced 30%, while sales stayed the same in the category.

But it’s not just about sales and efficiencies, Campbell

added. It’s about excitement. “Consumers’ tastes are con-

stantly changing,” he said. “Having the ability to create

excitement in the category is a lot of why we’re in this.”

Publix: The Team ApproachPublix Super Markets, Lakeland, Florida, has been utiliz-

ing category-management initiatives since 1991, when the

company restructured its buying department. Since then,

Publix has evolved from pilot efforts in selected categories

to the creation of a purchasing department and a system

consisting of 12 category managers and their category

teams. These teams report to four business development

directors, who handle nearly all of the grocery purchasing

for the 670-store chain, according to Dave Bornmann,

vice president of grocery purchasing at Publix.

Publix attributes its category-management success to its

team approach. “Category managers are continually

asked to improve our sales and shares and profits, and

they’re also responsible for understanding the changing

trends and wants of our customers. Without that, it

would just be traditional buying,” Bornmann said.

When asked why he thinks manufacturers view Publix’s

category-management initiative so favorably, Bornmann

points to the retailer’s strong working relationship with

its suppliers. “Publix’s willingness to share more openly

its data and future plans, where it is mutually beneficial

for Publix and our suppliers to reduce waste, has gotten

our suppliers’ attention,” Bornmann said.

Publix works best with suppliers who view a category as

a whole. Publix’s best planning partners are suppliers

who help drive total category sales. Such suppliers know

that, in turn, their sales will increase, said Bornmann.

Publix also looks for suppliers with new merchandising

ideas and knowledge of trends and product attributes.

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Feature

AcostaFrom the early days of category management, Acosta

Sales and Marketing has been at the forefront, helping

retailers and manufacturers increase sales and cut costs.

The company provides category management expertise to

major retailers like Kroger, Albertson’s and Safeway,

while also working closely with major brands, including

Clorox and Dannon.

Paul Price, vice president of marketing at Acosta, heads

up an extensive category-management team that includes

400 associates across the country. Each division is geo-

graphically focused on a major retailer to ensure that

customer demands are met.

Acosta’s category management and merchandising skills

were demonstrated with their recent introduction of the

new line of Disney juice and drink items. Their first step

was to execute a complete analysis of the aseptic and

multi-serve juice and drink categories. For each retailer,

Acosta business managers reviewed shares and trends by

manufacturer, brand and package within the two cate-

gories. They also reviewed pre-schematic share of shelf

and space-to-sales for all items.

The next step was to execute an efficient product assort-

ment analysis to help retailers optimize their product lines

for the aseptic and multi-serve juice and drink categories

and to justify the new Disney items. With the results of

the analysis, Acosta made objective recommendations on

items to be discontinued, items that should be retained

and items to be added. The recommendation to add items

often included items that Acosta was not representing.

Sales meetings were set up with all major accounts and

the results of the category analyses were presented along

with a strong sales pitch for the new Disney items. The

Acosta business managers recommended the placement of

the Disney line in a “Disney Zone” between the aseptic

and multi-serve categories. The sales presentations lever-

aged not just the strength of the Disney juice and drink

items and the strong merchandising program for the line,

but also the strength of the entire Disney franchise.

Apart from its vast experience with category manage-

ment, Price noted that what sets Acosta apart from its

competition is the fact that it continues to invest in its

category-management resources. “We have constantly

invested in the best people and systems, and in training

to get the job done,” he said.

Acosta utilizes all existing category management soft-

ware, so that it is compatible with any retailer’s system.

“In addition, we take such a broad focus on so many cat-

egories, that we provide more coverage than anyone else

in the business. One of our best assets is that we place

precious knowledge at the business manager’s fingertips.

It is not just data—it’s knowledge,” Price added.

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27

Chart 1All Departments, All Outlets Combined

Percentage Growth Rate vs. Same Period Year Ago

Source: ACNielsen Strategic Planner

Chart 3HBA Department

Dollar Volume Percentage Growth Rate vs. Same Period Year Ago

Source: ACNielsen Strategic Planner

Chart 4All Departments, All Outlets

Combined Percentage Growth Rate vs. Same Period Year Ago

Source: ACNielsen Strategic Planner

Chart 2Impact of 9/11

Dollar Volume Percentage Growth Rate vs. Same Period Year Ago

Source: ACNielsen Strategic Planner

film and camera companies are hurt when people vaca-

tion less—in most other categories purchasing levels

seem to be getting back to pre-attack levels. Question

marks still remain, however, about both the war on

terrorism and the economy.

Consumers are also eating out less often, a trend that

could benefit food retailers. However, some retailers

are noticing consumers “trading down”—switching

from lunchmeats to peanut butter and jelly, for exam-

ple, as they tighten their belts. This would be a good

time to focus on helping consumers find easy and

affordable meal solutions. But it is also a crucial time

to use the vast amount of consumer insights to build

loyalty among your most valuable shoppers.

Bottomline, it’s all about the consumer. To that end,

I am excited to announce that we have just completed

some groundbreaking work that aligns with the

University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index in

linking total consumer purchasing behavior with those

all-important consumer attitudes. Shortly, we will be

offering a new service that will track key attitudinal

and economic driving forces effecting changes in the

American consumer’s purchasing habits.

Trying Times Present CPG Industry with Challenges & OpportunitiesContinued from page 3

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In these times, anything with the prefix “bio” may

cause great uncertainty, and even fear. Biowarfare.

Bioterrorism. Biotechnology? What is it about

biotechnology that raises concern among consumers, and

what exactly is it?

The FMI defines biotechnology as “the use of genetic

science to create new products from plants or animals.”

Now, everyone knows that it is not nice to fool with

Mother Nature, and classic fables from Frankenstein to

Trend Watch

28

BiotechnologyJurassic Park bear this message out. But what many

consumers probably don’t realize is that since ancient

times, people have been combining different organisms to

develop hybrids that serve human needs more beneficially.

The difference is that today, much of this is being done on

the molecular level.

It would probably be surprising to many consumers how

much biotechnology is already a part of our everyday

lives. Currently, biotech is used in the area of agriculture

29| Consum

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to reduce reliance on pesticides and produce higher vol-

umes of food in less space. Many vegetables and fruits,

including corn, soybeans and tomatoes, are being devel-

oped to contain lower fat levels while tasting better. The

GMA estimates that as much as 70% of all processed

foods may contain biotech corn or soy.

In the future, biotech foods could offer enhanced nutri-

tion, higher vitamin levels, reduced fat and increased fiber.

According to the Biotechnology Industry Organization

(BIO), biotech even makes possible something called the

“edible vaccine,” which are enhanced fruits and vegeta-

bles containing vaccines against deadly diseases such as

hepatitis, cholera and malaria. Fruits and vegetables are

also being modified to offer higher levels of anti-oxidant

vitamins that help ward off cancer and heart disease, and

Vitamin A to prevent blindness.

While not a new concept, biotechnology has been a focus

point in the consumer news media, and the focus is typi-

cally on the sensational. After all, the Starlink incident—

the modified corn that was FDA-approved for animal

consumption but mistakenly found its way into human

food products—was some consumers’ first introduction

to biotech. More recently, gourmet chain Trader Joe’s

announced it would be eliminating all genetically engi-

neered foods from its private-label collection as a result

of consumer pressure.

Even with the hype, however, consumer awareness about

biotechnology and genetically modified foods is relatively

low. According to the International Food Information

Council (IFIC), which recently conducted their fifth annual

food biotechnology survey of American consumers, only

36% of consumers are aware of the presence of biotech food

in grocery stores, a decrease from last year’s IFIC survey.

What do consumers worry about in their foods? Not

surprisingly, top concerns included things like fats,

cholesterol, sugar and carbohydrates. Even when specifi-

cally asked about their concerns of food safety, consumers

named packaging, food handling and disease/contamina-

tion before mentioning genetically engineered food (which

only garnered a 2% response). A New York Times article

that referenced the Trader Joe’s incident also interviewed

specialty grocer Stew Leonard, who stated that although his

stores carry foods that are certified organic (currently the

only certification that ensures that food isn't genetically

altered), they have sold poorly, because the organic crops

lacked visual appeal and because customers expressed

concern about a link between E. coli bacteria and

organic produce.

This enormous information gap among most consumers is

an opportunity for both CPG manufacturers and retailers

to educate the consumer in advance of negative or sensa-

tionalistic media reports. Providing consumers with accu-

rate information about biotech food can create loyalty and

trust, key to any long-term relationship. If the benefits and

perceived issues are communicated honestly to consumers,

they may see the advantages of biotech foods greatly

outweighing any potential downsides.

And there exists the potential to lead with positive news.

For example, when asked in the IFIC survey how likely they

would be to buy produce that was genetically modified to

protect from insect damage (requiring fewer pesticides),

90% of consumers indicated “totally” or “very likely.”

Over the next few years, biotech foods will most likely

become a larger consumer issue. The current lack of infor-

mation has given consumers a one-sided (and primarily

negative) message. This presents a larger potential oppor-

tunity for retailers and manufacturers to become a trusted

advisor to their constituents, since an informed consumer

will be more confident in making sound decisions in

choosing what to buy and eat.

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Understand Combined U.S. and CanadaConsumer Behavior

The ACNielsen Homescan® North America service providesthree detailed summary reports for executives to makestrategic decisions based on consumer purchases in the U.S.and Canada. Through the Market Summary Reports, youcan develop more effective marketing, promotion andmerchandising strategies by leveraging powerful consumerinsights for the U.S., Canada and a combined NorthAmerican region. Also, Demographic Profiles help you tounderstand what type of household is currently shoppingyour category and brands as well as the various retailers.The Trial & Repeat Evaluations can assess introductoryperformance of your latest product launch or line extensionby measuring initial product attraction (trial) and ongoingproduct acceptance or retention (repeat). Promotionalimpact (measured via deal purchasing) on trial and repeatpurchase occasions is included to evaluate the success ofintroductory marketing efforts.

ACNielsen Homescan North America captures all-outletpurchase information from over 67,000 demographicallybalanced and statistically reliable U.S. and Canadianhouseholds. Panelists use patented hand-held scanners to record every UPC-coded item purchased. The NorthAmerican Homescan service helps you make soundstrategic decisions based on a complete understanding ofhow consumers shop your categories and how consumersrespond to brands differently.

Powerful New Insights into the Wal-Mart Consumer

ACNielsen’s Homescan Panel is the Gold Standard forunderstanding why consumers buy. Now, ACNielsenHomescan also provides you insights into the Wal-Martconsumer. Six new Homescan consumer solutions providepowerful insights into the Wal-Mart consumer:

Wal-Mart Private Label Pricing Analysis defines pricegaps and illustrates consumer purchasing sensitivity tothese differences.

Wal-Mart Private Label Brand Impact Analysis allowsmanufacturers and retailers to better understand theimpact of Wal-Mart private label on consumer brand andretailer loyalty.

Wal-Mart Custom Category Cross Outlet✽ Facts Reportdelivers new insights into outlet loyalty among Wal-Martcore and occasional shoppers.

Wal-Mart Supercenter Source of Business Analysis providesan assessment of volume gains from other retail outlets and retailers.

Wal-Mart Key Item Report identifies key items purchasedin Wal-Mart, providing both manufacturers and retailerswith a unique opportunity to manage assortment moreeffectively to better serve Wal-Mart consumers.

Wal-Mart Demo-Fit Analysis correlates key consumer seg-ments in Wal-Mart to their product-purchasing behavior.

Mirroring the landscape of the entire U.S. population, theACNielsen Homescan panel is the foundation for insightsthat are unmatched in the industry. Notable facts include:

• Homescan panelists have shopped in more than 90%

of all Wal-Mart stores over the past year.

• ACNielsen can report at both Division One and

Supercenter granularity because of the high number of

static panelists who shop in Wal-Mart.

• ACNielsen has very strong C and D County coverage,

providing an advantage in tracking Wal-Mart sales

given the chain’s rural concentration.

• Homescan is the only source for price paid and dollar

volume in Wal-Mart.

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Understand Hispanic ConsumerShopping Habits

The ACNielsen Homescan Hispanic Consumer✽ Facts—LosAngeles Report captures the shopping habits of Hispanicconsumers, both acculturated and non-acculturated, from all retail outlets. Category and product group level information within almost 900 categories and morethan 110 product groups reveals a wealth of consumerinsight into the buying behavior of Hispanic households.Hispanic Consumer*Facts compares the purchase behavior of Hispanics across all language segmentsincluding Spanish-only/preferred, bilingual and English-only/preferred.

The Mid-year 2001 release is now available and includesthe following:

• Los Angeles market

• All categories

• Food only

• Non-food only

• Drug only

• Individual categories

• Custom category definitions available

• Easy-to-use and improved CD-ROM application

Call Sharon Abish at ACNielsen at 516-682-6011 formore information.

Understand How Consumers Respond to Price and Promotions

ACNielsen’s Homescan Promo Focus Segmentationprovides essential information about consumer’s attitudesand perceptions toward price and promotion. PromoFocus segments enable retailers to increase the effective-ness of their marketing efforts by acquiring an in-depthunderstanding of how consumers respond to price andpromotion activity. For a manufacturer, understandinghow consumer attitudes towards price and promotiondiffer by banner helps maximize the efficiency of trade spending.

The Promo Focus household segmentation includes sixdistinct segments:

• Promotional Oblivious

• Store Loyal/Brand Disloyal

• Promotional Junkies

• Multi-Store Shoppers

• Branded Bargain Hunters

• Opportunistic Price Savers

Promo Focus tells which banner’s shoppers are likely tohold certain views towards price and promotion. Forexample, which banner’s shoppers…

• always look for coupons or other promotions

• will readily shop at different stores to get a deal

• are intrigued by offers of a free gift and will purchase

a product to get one

• are brand loyal and very store loyal

• are not interested in store loyalty cards and programs

• are not enticed to switch from their favorite brand

because of promotional offers

For more information, please contact Simon Small atsimon.small@acnielsen.ca.

Available in Canada only Available in USA only

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Maximize Your Shelf Space

In today’s competitive market, retailers and manufacturersspend valuable time analyzing the outcome of categorychanges or shelf resets that best maximize available space.With ACNielsen’s Spaceman, the space managementprocess is streamlined and validated, giving way to increased category management and competitive advantages.

Spaceman® Suite v6.0 includes more than 172 enhance-ments, including improvements in Spaceman’s outputcapabilities, such as a completely new Page Setup dialog boxthat combines all layout capabilities in a single location.

Spaceman Suite v6.0 gives you a host of new features,including:

• Shelves can have a positive slope and/or can be rotated

at any angle between 0 and 359 degrees.

• Fixture assemblies can now be stored in and retrieved

from the libraries for even more efficient replication of

advanced merchandising situations.

• An easy-to-use Find Product/Fixture capability to locate

a product or a fixture in any 2D planogram view and

the Product List.

• The Renumber Fixture ID feature now supports flexible

combinations of segment number, fixture number (total

or by segment), user-selected separator, prefix and

suffix to create unique Fixture IDs for all fixtures.

• The option to export only selected fields.

• You can import data for Fixtures and Positions.

• Direct import of ACNielsen data from ACNielsen

Workstation Information✽ Server™ 2.x and

Workstation Plus 4.1 and later.

Aggregate Financial Performance for the Entire Store

Spaceman Store Designer lets you accurately capture andaggregate financial performance by store, department, category and more. Spaceman Store Designer links the traditional merchandising function with those of store planning, operations and buying to properly evaluate Category Management performance.

Using Spaceman Store Designer, information is nowseamlessly passed between applications and stored in onecommon database. Proven store footprints are developedto maximize investments and space management. AndSpaceman Store Designer is the only store-planning toolthat utilizes an AutoCAD file, which returns informationback to a merchandising environment.

33| Consum

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Maximize Category and PricingManagement

Endorsed by the Professional Pricing Society, Priceman™

3.3 strengthens the industry’s leading strategic pricingtool with new features and functions, including:

• Increased performance

• Ease of use

• Rules integration

• Processing large data pulls

• Additional enhancement

• Defaults on standard fields

Also available, Pricing✽ Insights delivers information onelasticity, promotion and average price. Pricing✽ Insightscombined with Priceman offers compelling insights tomaximize category and pricing management.

Call your local ACNielsen Merchandising ServicesRepresentative for a product demonstration today.

Determine your Optimal Pricing Strategy

ACNielsen’s INSIGHT Pricing Solutions can help youdetermine the optimal pricing strategy needed to achieveyour brand marketing goals and identify the tacticalactivities most critical to successful implementation. By determining your brand’s elasticity, INSIGHT PricingSolutions assesses the volume risk associated with aprice change.

INSIGHT Pricing Solutions help you to:

• Determine if your pricing strategy supports your

brand goals.

• Evaluate the sales and profit impact of price changes.

• Identify critical price points or price gaps that create

tactical risks or opportunities.

• Analyze sensitivity to competitive price changes.

• Pinpoint which regions are more price sensitive than

others.

For more information, please contact Mike Ljubicic atMike.Ljubicic@acnielsen.ca.

Available in Canada Available in USA

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Additional Retailers Sign On for the New, Industry-Leading Category Business Planner

The list of retailers continues to grow for CategoryBusiness Planner, the revolutionary, web-based businesssolution for collaborative category management. Retailerssuch as SUPERVALU, Albertson’s, Bruno’s, Meijer, HEButt, Walgreen’s, Wakefern, Eckerd, CVS and Hannafordhave chosen Category Business Planner as their preferredmethod for performing category reviews. The “one-num-ber” method for delivering category information supportscollaboration among retailers and manufacturers,improves efficiency and enables both client groups tofocus on growth initiatives.

Category Business Planner provides the common groundfor a true meeting of the minds between retailers andmanufacturers. How? By delivering category informationin the retailer’s customized view. Powerful web-enabledtools let your drill down and do in minutes what oncetook weeks. Imagine, the hours you once spent on datacompilation and analysis can now be spent workingtogether to create thoughtful, effective category plans. Your productivity will be improved and your business partnerships strengthened. Finally, you canrealize the full potential of category management.

Category Business Planner presents insights in a mannerthat is intuitive for you to understand, quick to learn, fast

to use and comprehensive in its abilityto create actionable strategies and

tactics. Accessed through theACNielsen Answers™ web por-tal, Category Business Planneruses patented modeling tech-

nology, delivering alerts andheadlines for drilling down into

the data to understand what is goingon with a given category and why.

Visit http://acnielsen.com/cbp for a complete overview.

Convenience Store Measurement at the Local Level

ACNielsen Convenience Track™ measures retail salesperformance and conditions in convenience stores andgives you two levels of measurement (market-level andaccount-level), which combine for incredibly powerfulinformation.

Convenience Track is the only source for:

• NACS Level II Category Management market

level data

• Fastest growing list of retail account reports

• Year-over-year comparison for Total U.S., local mar-

kets, cross-market analysis, product-level analysis—

Celebrating three years of on-going service

• Multi-channel/cross-channel analysis

• Extensive market list that aligned with ACNielsen

Scantrack® definitions

Convenience Track Service—Total U.S. and 30 MarketsMarket representation is paramount to your informationneeds. With scanning penetration at less than 35%, a hybrid service of scan and audit is necessary to continueto measure all convenience store sales. ACNielsencontinues to provide clients with a service that focuses on the representation of the total convenience storeenvironment and offers more than just a scanning view.

35

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Convenience Track Service—Account Level ServicesACNielsen Convenience Track retailer account-level datais available in all categories. The service offers over fifty-five retailer-specific data to lead to a better understandingof any category’s sales, distribution and merchandisingimpact for both the retailer and their respective market.Without local market data, retailers and manufacturerscannot perform the NACS Level II category managementprocess. ACNielsen is the only data provider in the indus-try with this unique capability. Full Level I fact sets areavailable, and with weekly information.

Market-level data allows a retailer and manufacturer tobenchmark key elements such as sales, pricing, and assort-ment to a local convenience market. This helps identifytop-selling items carried in markets but not carried by theretailers. With Convenience Track’s extensive list of mar-ket-level data, manufacturers can measure their perfor-mance, search for category opportunities, and help theretailers uncover new opportunities for the entire categoryin selected markets, cross outlet.

Available in Canada Available in USA

New Convenience Track Categories for 2002• Cookies

• Crackers

• Salty Snacks

• Nuts

Current categories include:• Beverage

• Beer

• Malternative Beverage

• Other Tobacco

• Bulk Ice Cream

• Frozen Novelties

• Energy Bars

• Meat Snacks

• Candy and Gum

New Convenience Track Account Level Services in 2002• BP/Amoco

• Crown Petroleum

• Kum N Go

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Maximize the Power and Potential of Brands

The Power of brands is immense—strong brands lead tocustomer loyalty and company profitability. ACNielsen’sWinning B®ands™ helps you achieve sustainable compet-itive advantage with your brands. Winning B®ands tracksthe underlying strength of the relationship between thecustomer and the brand, and creates effective strategies toenhance that relationship. And Winning B®ands providesmonitoring to protect and improve your brand’s health.

Using focus groups and quantitative interviews, categoryusers are interviewed to gain their perspective on the brandsin the category. Winning B®ands uses a flexible techniquethat allows the collection of various measures, dependingon individual client and category needs. Topics can include:

• Category usage and attitudes

• Brand relationship, awareness, consideration

and preference

• Brand associations

• Willingness to pay a premium price

• Advertising awareness and diagnostics

• Other marketing program awareness and diagnostics

• Corporate image

And Winning B®ands can be part of an on-going track-ing program. Interviews are repeated at regular quarterly,semi-annual or annual intervals to monitor any changesin brand equity over time.

Winning B®ands helps you to:

• Track your brand versus the competition in relation to

consumer measures such as brand awareness, usage,

consideration and image and monitor changes in brand

performance over time.

• Assess the impact of your own marketing programs and

competitive activity on your brand’s equity.

• Identify opportunities and threats to your brand—

not just from competitors but from the category

as a whole.

• Determine the long-term potential of your brand and

its competitors.

• Integrate these findings to create better brand manage-

ment strategies.

For more information, please contact Tim Hoddap atTim.Hodapp@acnielsen.ca.

How Satisfied are your Customers?

The only true judge of quality is the customer. A quality-focused, customer-driven strategy creates industry leaders,which translates into profitability and success. All organi-zations must ask critical questions of their customers:

• Are they satisfied?

• What makes them satisfied or dissatisfied?

• What drives their behavior?

• What are their requirements?

• What do we need to do to keep them loyal?

• How do we perform against the competition?

• How can we deliver best-in-class customer service?

ACNielsen’s Customer eQ gives you the answers to thesequestions. A total approach to the measurement andmanagement of customer satisfaction, Customer eQoffers long-term strategic direction to optimize resourcesand build and maintain customer equity, beyond the lim-its of simple customer satisfaction measurement.

The Customer eQ Profitability-Loyalty Matrix providesorganizations with a focus for customer satisfactionimprovement directly linked to profitability. It identifies“Star” customers—those who are loyal and highlyprofitable to the company—and those customers that are “At Risk”—highly profitable to the organization, but not particularly loyal.

For more information, please contact Roxanne Menziesat Roxanne.Menzies@acnielsen.ca.

Target Canadians Online

ACNielsen’s Internet Planner 2002 is a strategic blueprintfor understanding and trending Canadians online. Theinsights in this report will enable your business to identifyand leverage opportunities by fine tuning target segmentsand integrating findings into:

• Profitable online marketing and advertising programs

• Relevant promotions

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February 3–5Food Marketing InstituteMarketechnics ConventionACNielsen Booth # 2033Spectra Marketing Booth # 2133San Diego Convention CenterSan Diego, CA

February 11–14National Grocers Association2002 ConventionParis Las Vegas HotelLas Vegas, Nevada

January 13–15Food Marketing Institute Midwinter Executive ConferenceThe PhoenicianScottsdale,Arizona

January 13–15International Housewares ShowMcCormick PlaceChicago, Illinois

• Building brand awareness

• Strengthening loyalty programs

This annual study measures the attitudes and onlinebehaviour of a representative sample of Canadians.Included is a comprehensive demographic section thatprofiles a wide range of target groups from adultfemales, youth, and seniors to home-based businesses.

Core areas explored include:

• Effectiveness of web sites—tailor your online advertis-

ing programs to suit the needs and preferences of your

target market.

• E-commerce purchasing behaviour.

• Online Transactions—attitudes towards pricing and

online security.

• Usage and preferences with respect to advertising and

permission marketing.

• Telecommunications, Portals and ISPs—focuses on

emerging trends and opportunities.

• Financial Services—explores how online activity can

be used to market greater use of services such as day-

to-day banking, credit, investment and insurance.

• Government and Public Policy—focuses on trends and

the potential for leveraging the Internet as a vehicle to

enhance program delivery.

• Healthcare—examines the Internet as a source of

health-related products, services and information.

For more information, please contact Josie Cirasella atJosie.Cirasella@acnielsen.ca.

Available in Canada only Available in USA only

Emphasize ?e-commerce

do I targetWho

Competeacross channels?

Who can afford to waste time wading throughinformation? You need consumer knowledge foraction. ACNielsen Homescan gives you consumershare of mind, wallet, basket and stomach.Scantrack offers unparalleled insight into the retailmarketplace—plus the tools you need to act.Contact your ACNielsen representative to learn more.Visit acnielsen.com. Or call 1.800.988.4ACN.

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kno

wle

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issu

esyo

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HIGHEST QUALITY DATA | FASTEST DELIVERY SPEED | BEST CONSUMER COVERAGE | BEST RETAIL OUTLET COVERAGE© 2002 ACNielsen. ACNielsen is a trademark of A.C. Nielsen Company.

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