P-O-P Advertising A Measured Medium.

A who’s who of national brands teamed with Point-Of-Purchase Advertising International (POPAI), the global, non-profit trade association of the at-retail marketing industry, in a national, groundbreaking research study that makes P-O-P a measured medium for the first time in the industry’s history.

“Our goal is to make point of purchase advertising a measured medium with proof of placement, proof of cost effectiveness and proof of sales effectiveness – on par with print and broadcast,” says Dick Blatt, President & CEO of POPAI, the trade association that initiated the research. “Over $17 billion is spent annually on point-of-purchasing advertising materials, yet before now no major measurement systems were in place to quantify placement, audience delivery or the incremental sales results driven by various forms of P-O-P advertising,” Blatt says.

“With the results of these studies, we can better utilize our point of purchase advertising dollars to gain incremental volume and share,” says Barbara Daugherty, Director of Merchandising Strategies & Design at Frito-Lay, Inc. and Chair of POPAI’s Board of Directors. “Frito-Lay is excited that POPAI continues to lead the industry with research in multiple channels of trade.”

Over recent months POPAI, with methodology developed with the Advertising Research Foundation, studied 94 products in 8 major categories in more than ten major markets across the country, including supermarkets, convenience stores, and combo convenience stores and gas stations. A drug store study is slated for the near future. Brands studied included products from Frito-Lay, Pepsi, Anheuser-Busch, Cadbury- Adams, Dr Pepper/Seven Up, Inc., Procter & Gamble, and Quaker.

The POPAI research results from Convenience Stores include these findings:

· Product photos on P-O-P can lift sales by 11.2 percent, especially for beverages.

· Brand messages that create a connection between the product and the consumer hike sales 8 percent.

· Brand logos get quick customer recognition and can up sales by 8.1 percent.

· Outdoor P-O-P lifts sales indoors — especially for cough and cold remedies, health and beauty care products, and beer.

· Front door signage did not contribute to sales lifts for any of the 8 brands that used them.

· Small convenience items at the checkout delivers 30 percent sales lifts when combined with brand logo, a photo, and price savings.

· Custom beer P-O-P drives sales lifts of 28 percent.

· In-store ads on cooler doors – with a photo of the beverage – lifted soft drink sales by as much as 33 percent.

More findings were obtained in a study of supermarkets across the country, and next month POPAI will release the industry’s first at-retail marketing audience measurement methodology developed with the Advertising Research Foundation.

“We want retailers to know that we now understand the combination of placement and signage that works best for each product category. Our research gives retailers a roadmap for potential annual sales lifts of $6 billion more in supermarkets, $1 billion more in convenience stores and billions of dollars more in other channels,” says Dick Blatt.

For more information at http://www.popai.com