Kimberly-Clark signs for Meredith Engagement Dividend

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Soft paper products company Kimberly-Clark is taking Meredith Corporation up on its program to deliver a guaranteed increase in sales for brands which advertise in its portfolio of women-focused magazines. Kimberly-Clark is the first advertiser to be officially announced as a participant in the Meredith Engagement Dividend Program, announced in July for implementation in calendar 2012.


“This is a breakthrough product for the magazine industry,” said Mark Kaline, Global Media Director, Kimberly-Clark, which features well-known brands such as Kleenex, Huggies and Cottonelle. “We believe its focus on driving return on investment (ROI) for advertising dollars is vital to marketers seeking to build brand sales and leadership.  We’re impressed with the analytics, and applaud Meredith’s focus on accountability.”

Kimberly-Clark will be a “premier advertising partner” in the Meredith Engagement Dividend program powered by Nielsen.  The program provides advertisers with a guaranteed increase in sales performance for their brands advertising in Meredith’s industry-leading portfolio of women-focused magazines.

The Meredith Engagement Dividend program sprung from a research study conducted over a 52-week period measuring ROI for higher frequency advertising campaigns that ran in Meredith magazines during 2009 and 2010. Using analytics from Nielsen’s Homescan system – paired with Meredith’s 85 million-name database – purchases by consumers exposed to Meredith magazines were measured against shoppers with no exposure.

On average, the Meredith readers bought 10% more of advertised brands in categories such as food, beauty, household goods and over-the-counter drugs. In addition to increasing product sales, the research also revealed that as many as two-thirds of buyers were new purchasers of specific brands.

Meredith will work with Kimberly-Clark’s brand, integrated marketing planning and analytics teams – including its agency Group M/Mindshare – over the next year to measure and track performance for the brands participating in the Meredith Engagement Dividend Program.   

“GroupM is supporting this initiative as it is a step forward for the publishing business and accountability. We believe in print and its ability to drive business and are excited to be able to prove that” said Kelly Foster, GroupM, Senior Partner.