For consumer
packaged goods companies, linking online advertising to offline sales has long proven a challenge. That disconnect explains in part why CPG marketers have historically been slow to shift ad dollars to
the Web. Through the first half of 2009, the category accounted for only 6% of total Internet ad spending, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau.
To help CPG companies tie online
spend to offline results, rich media ad network VideoEgg has partnered with comScore to launch a new offering that allows them to gauge the impact of online advertising on brick-and-mortar sales.
The new VideoEgg ROI service relies on a comScore solution combining panel-based audience tracking with third-party offline databases to measure lift in offline buying from ad exposure and interaction
via VideoEgg's network reaching 100 million unique monthly visitors.
The capability is part of comScore's newly introduced AdEffx software suite for measuring ad effectiveness on consumer
attitudes, behavior and online and offline sales. The move is part of the Web measurement firm's broader efforts to track online ad performance beyond impressions and click-throughs.
VideoEgg,
which is bundling the new ROI-tracking service with ad buys of $500,000 or more, hopes it will encourage CPG advertisers to boost online budgets. "To get at larger budgets, we have to prove impact at
retail," said Troy Young, the ad network's chief marketing officer. He added that the company this year has seen an increase of 5% to 15% in ad spending by CPG advertisers -- which include Procter &
Gamble and Unilever -- and wants to build on that growth.
"It's a category of advertising that has hugely shaped and influenced television, and what it's waiting for is more validation that the
online channel is in fact driving online and offline sales," said Young. With its rich media ads inviting interaction and a pay-per-engagement (PPE) model, VideoEgg believes it has an advantage in
attracting CPG ad dollars.
It points to campaigns for brand's including Hellman's Mayonnaise, Ore-Ida potatoes, Kellogg's cereals and Heinz ketchup featuring recipes, instructional videos,
coupons and other content driving engagement and offline buying. ComScore will pull out the various types of ad interaction from audience panel data and match it with anonymous offline purchasing
information from grocery store loyalty programs and other sources.
A study by comScore earlier this year estimated an average retail sales gain of 9% for CPG products from online advertising --
on par with the 8% lift from TV campaigns (as measured by Information Resources Inc.). With its focus on highly interactive ads, comScore senior analyst Andrew Lipsman believes VideoEgg campaigns
could generate even better results.
"TV has had the benefit of sight, sound and motion for impact, while online display advertising gets the benefit of better targeting," he said. "Now that you
have a higher level of engagement along with targeting, my guess is the lift would be higher." With the VideoEgg ROI tool just rolling out, it's too soon to tell.