Meredith introduces Magazine Advertising Performance Guarantee.

Meredith Corporation unveiled The Meredith Engagement Dividend, a new product for marketers that would provide a guaranteed increase in sales for their advertising investment in Meredith magazines.

“This is truly groundbreaking within the magazine media industry,” says Tom Harty, President, Meredith National Media Group. “In an era of increased expectations for accountability, Meredith magazines are delivering sales increases and improved return on investment (ROI) across the board. We believe The Meredith Engagement Dividend© will significantly change how marketers measure and evaluate performance among magazine brands.”

Using analytics from Nielsen’s highly regarded Homescan offering, and Meredith’s database of 85 million consumers for its leading magazines, Meredith and Nielsen measured how advertisers in categories such as beauty, household goods, OTC drugs, and food were able to increase their product sales an average of 10 percent.

The research study was conducted over a 52-week period measuring ROI for higher frequency advertising campaigns that ran in Meredith magazines during 2009 and 2010. In addition to increasing product sales the research also revealed that among product purchases for several brands, as many as two-thirds of buyers were new purchasers of the brand.

According to Randall Beard, Global Head of Advertiser Solutions for Nielsen, most of the past research done for magazines tended to focus on areas such as purchase intent or brand engagement but not on determining a specific sales ROI. “This is a unique breakthrough in our how industry leading Nielsen information matched with the demographic, psychographic, and buying behavior data from leading Meredith magazine brands can prove the sales value of magazine advertising for marketers.”

“The ROI for advertiser investment was significant,” says Richard Porter, President, Media Sales, Meredith National Media Group. “As marketers look to invest their dollars wisely in today’s highly competitive environment, improved sales performance is exactly what they want to see on their bottom line and we will guarantee them results.”

In order for advertisers to participate in The Meredith Engagement Dividend utilizing Nielsen analytics, marketers must commit to a minimum level of advertising impressions over a 12 month period across several Meredith titles. The commitment is based on category, with minimum thresholds for frequency and can only be applied for marketers with national advertising schedules. Porter notes that “Meredith will work with a limited number of partners this year as we bring the product to market.”