NEW YORK: The search for the elusive measurement ’Holy Grail’ was joined by a mighty player last week when Nielsen Media Research agreed to share its audience and demographic data with Porter Novelli.
NEW YORK: The search for the elusive measurement ’Holy Grail’ was
joined by a mighty player last week when Nielsen Media Research agreed
to share its audience and demographic data with Porter Novelli.
The arrangement, a non-exclusive one-year contract, is Nielsen’s first
with a PR agency. Until now, the company had only shared its research
with advertisers, ad agencies and others within the broadcasting food
chain.
’We didn’t understand the PR business,’ admitted Nielsen VP Clay
Herrick.
’We didn’t know how they would use our information.’
PN’s SVP and director of national media relations Belle Gauvry, however,
said the agency plans to use the information in much the same manner
that ad agencies do. ’It’s not just about how many people we’re
reaching, but also who we’re reaching.’
In theory, the concept is tantalizing. To date, measuring gross
impressions has been the rule.
But factoring socioeconomic data into the mix will allow PN and other
agencies who partner with Nielsen to determine whether they are reaching
their clients’ target audience. Firms with extensive consumer or
healthcare practices are among the most likely to benefit from such
affiliations.
For an agency such as PN - highly invested in youth marketing and
anti-tobacco efforts - the data might find the most effective placements
for clients wanting to reach the teen market. ’Getting cable
demographics is essential,’ Gauvry said. ’Teens don’t watch Dateline or
the local news.’
The incorporation of the Nielsen data will likely be a gradual one, both
for PN staffers and the firm’s clients. ’We’re not abandoning gross
impressions, but it’s certainly a different way of thinking,’ stressed
Mazur.
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