Study to help improve the value of CPG Brand Websites.

Accenture, comScore, Inc., and dunnhumbyUSA announced a groundbreaking initiative to help consumer packaged goods (CPG) marketers better understand the link between consumers’ usage of brand websites and their in-store brand buying behavior. The results of the study will help CPG brand managers understand how to increase the value from their digital marketing expenditures. The research is being conducted with the endorsement of the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) and the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), with the results to be presented in Spring 2011.

“CPG marketers currently invest millions of dollars in their brand websites, with limited to no visibility into whether these assets are attracting the brand and category buying segments they are targeting,” said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. “The aim of this important study is to quantify the retail value of the visitors to various brand websites, identify the most valuable content that can be provided on the site, and provide actionable insights into where else on the Internet marketers can best reach their brand buyers and prospects.”

Proposed Research Study

The proposed research will integrate valuable insights from each of the three companies. Accenture brings proven experience in operating and maintaining consumer packaged goods websites and will help identify those features that drive sales and in-store traffic. comScore will provide a continuous measure of websites visited by their panel of over two million people. Meanwhile, dunnhumbyUSA maintains data for 60 million U.S. households that contain in-store transactional data and behavioral based segmentation of shoppers.

The Accenture / comScore / dunnhumbyUSA study will be based on an integrated panel of one million U.S. Internet users who have given comScore explicit permission to have their online behavior continuously measured and matched to dunnhumbyUSA’s in-store brand buying data. This integrated panel will provide a single-source, privacy-protected data mart that contains each panelist’s online activities and their in-store buying behavior.

For participating CPG brands, the study aims to deliver both confidential brand-specific and general industry-level insights, which will provide participants with a competitive advantage and ways to improve the return from their existing digital investments. The research will address key questions, such as:

* What is the value of specific brand websites, as measured by the in-store brand buying of consumers visiting the websites?

* Which features (e.g. coupons, recipes, social tools) of brand websites correlate with high engagement among brand buyers?

* What are the common components of the most successful CPG brand websites?

* What are the lifestyles, interest and passions of specific brand buyers as measured by their favorite online activities and where can a brand best reach its target segments?

CPG brands interested in participating in this research should contact Mike Zeman, comScore Vice President of CPG Marketing Solutions at mz****@******re.com or at (312) 775-6630, or John LaRocca, dunnhumbyUSA Vice President, at jo**********@**********by.com or (513) 632-0613, or Mike Gorshe, senior executive, Accenture at mi**************@*******re.com or (312) 693-5818. The deadline to participate is January 31, 2011.