The Branded Pantry

At the end of January Nielsen announced it’s decision to terminate both further development and the then current state of the P.R.I.S.M. service. 

PRISM was Nielsen’s syndicated service to measure in-store media in Mass, Supermarkets, Drug and Club-stores…with the intention of combining that set of measurements with its measurements of broadcast media…giving buyers a better method of comparing medium.   Reasons given were the exit of Wal*Mart from participation in the program (rumored to be starting their own service), lack of client enthusiasm for the service, a downturn in client enthusiasm for shopper marketing and trying to engage the shopper at the shelf with brand messaging,  and a tight economy. 

Of course with the demise of the service it becomes hard to tell if In-Store Advertising is shrinking more than advertising through other channels.   At any rate, it is almost that the lack of measurement may well temper the ability of service providers and marketers alike to tune this new tool-set to be most effective at converting consumers.

So why DID P.R.I.S.M. die…and why DID Wal*Mart pull out?

Well it is certain that lots of folks have hunkered down to face this current economic storm.  Spending on a not-yet-complete syndicated measurement service would require a fresh budget, and that would be mighty hard to come by with manufacturers and retailers cutting back…and back….and back.    And there has been a tradition in cutting the research or the measurement expense in favor of cutting back the activity  (advertising or promotion) expense itself…under that theory that at least some of the advertising or promotion will generate consumer response. 

Another view, a bit more jaded, is that perhaps neither the retailer nor the manufacturer really wanted this measured.  From the retailer side there is always the possibility that in-store advertising, measured correctly, is simply not effective.  It could be that in the hustle and bustle of a retail environment the consumer either doesn’t respond or becomes immune to yet another voice in the cacophony of voices reaching out to tug on their sleeves.    Or that the measurement showed other activities (traditional promotion activities) were ineffective.    From the manufacturer side…what happens if the measurement comes out and we find that In-Store Media is VERY effective?  Much more so than out of store advertising.  In that case prices for advertising go up due to the finite amount of in-store “space available” tied to the demand of brands crammed together on the store shelves and amplified by the addition of the retailer’s OWN brand.   The retailer-as-media play alone could go along way toward equalizing profit margins across the food chain. 

Another thought…perhaps P.R.I.S.M. was not quite right for the end task.  I was always concerned that it looked like an audience measurement system and was missing an important component…accurate execution measurement.  The old Wanamaker adage that “half my advertising works, but I don’t know which half” was a simple equation.  The advertiser knew that his program was executed but did not know what audience members were effected.  At retail the prior issue in knowing whether the program was executed at all!  Further, sometimes companies are very good at innovation…sometimes it is a struggle to innovate while keeping the client value proposition in mind.    I believe that Nielsen in partnership with Arbitron had to close down another service in 2007 called apollo.  That service was broadly reported to be overbuilt, at least from a client based value perspective.    I wonder how a small, entrepreneurial group would have tackled the construction of a service to measure In-Store Media?