• The Wall Street Journal, Tuesday, October 14, 2008 12 PM

Marketers have long struggled to measure their ads across media platforms, particularly as those platforms have multiplied exponentially in recent years. The Wall Street Journal today writes about one firm that has devised a unique solution to do it: monitor what ads a consumer hears throughout the day through his or her cell phone.

The firm, a small media research company called Integrated Media Measurement, implants a chip on the cell phones of its nearly 5,000 panelists that listens all day long--regardless of whether the phone is in use--and recognizes designated ads or TV shows within range. IMMI panelists are paid $50 a month or receive free phone and data service in exchange for making the cell phone their primary phone, and carrying it with them at all times.

But the technology isn't perfect. For example, it presumably doesn't work well with print ads. And just because the cell phone can "hear" the ad doesn't mean a person is listening. Still, the big measurement players are taking notice, and the company itself already boasts clients like NBC and The Walt Disney Company.

Read the whole story at The Wall Street Journal »