Unilever and Nielsen have signed a deal for the use of Nielsen Online Campaign Ratings reach, frequency and GRP measurement for all Unilever brand Internet ad campaigns in the U.S. Unilever is the first major advertiser to sign on with Online Campaign Ratings for comprehensive measurement for all 2012 digital campaigns across its suite of nearly 40 brands in the U.S. Unilever will use the new service to improve and enhance its online campaign media planning, buying and results.
Unilever’s collaboration with Nielsen is just the latest leading strategic initiative from the mega-advertiser. In recent years Unilever has brokered several “first” media deals, including the first-ever Reverse Upfronts that asked media companies to develop content deals around brand plans; inking a deal to be the presenting advertiser on Apple’s iAd platform in 2010; and, most recently, signing on as the unprecedented global advertising sponsor of 20th Century Fox’s drama Touch, launching in more than 100 countries on 3/18.
Unilever and Nielsen will co-present some of their learnings from Online Campaign Ratings studies at the Advertising Research Foundation’s Re:think 2012 convention in NYC 3/27 at 2pm.
“In our business, we look for the best marketing return on investment—and the best tools to gauge that. The Nielsen Online Campaign Ratings platform is an exciting resource that brings a more rigorous standard to our online campaigns and consistency in measurement strategy across our portfolio of brands,” said Jennifer Gardner, Director, Media Investment and Partnerships at Unilever. “We are excited to be at the forefront of the industry, taking full advantage of this new standard to help us more exactly understand and interact with our audiences online.”
Nielsen Online Campaign Ratings launched in August providing the first-ever Media Rating Council (MRC)-accredited GRP for online advertising campaigns of any size with metrics similar to those used for TV advertising, enabling cross-media planning and analysis. Nielsen Online Campaign Ratings also provides a measure of breakthrough for web campaigns for a more complete view of campaign performance, including how much of the total audience actually recalled the ad. The service will be expanded to international markets, beginning with theUK, later this year.
In the United States and Canada the Unilever portfolio includes brand icons such as: Axe, Becel, Ben & Jerry’s, Bertolli, Breyers, Caress, Consort For Men, Country Crock, Degree, Dove personal care products, fds, Good Humor, Hellmann’s, I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!, Just for Me!, Klondike, Knorr, Lever 2000, Lipton, Motions, Nexxus, Noxzema, Pond’s, Popsicle, Promise, Q-Tips, Ragu, Simple, Skippy, Slim-Fast, Soft & Beautiful, St. Ives, Suave, tcb, TIGI, TRESemmé, Vaseline, and Wish-Bone.
