• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, May 28, 2010

Rocket Fuel has begun to use offline purchase data from Nielsen to power campaigns for brand marketers online. Richard Frankel, president of Rocket Fuel, believes the agreement with the online measurement firm will take marketers deeper toward fulfilling the promise of online ad targeting.

The deal allows Rocket Fuel to use purchase data to understand audiences and help marketers reach the correct consumers. The purchase data is based on in-store purchases primarily in supermarkets and large retailers like Target and Walgreens. Drawing that connection between online advertising and what people buy in stores and supermarkets presents many challenges. Frankel calls it one more piece of the puzzle in assisting marketers in reaching the correct audience online based on offline purchases.

Rocket Fuel relies on the offline sales data to target "look-alike" consumer groups or audiences online that gravitate toward specific brands and who match the consumer attributes those brands look for. Early trials with a major consumer packaged goods manufacturer show the value of using Nielsen data to reach desired audiences, according to Frankel. "These groups of people may hang out in social groups or talk about their pets online, for example," he says.

Although the majority of commerce still takes place offline, marketers know they can't ignore online media consumption, or they will concede sales to competitors. And online and mobile commerce continue to pick up. Recently, comScore released its Q1 2010 U.S. retail e-commerce sales estimates that show online retail spending neared $34 billion for the quarter, up 10% from the year-ago quarter.

Growth in the first quarter was predominantly driven by upper-income consumers, with spending up 14% among the households that bring in more than $100,000. Online-only retailers continued to gain e-commerce spending market share from multichannel retailers. Larger online retailers also continued to generate higher growth rates than smaller retailers, but the smaller retailers are finally beginning to see positive growth once again.

Rocket Fuel's brand data targeting platform rolled out during the end of Q1, and today serves 10 customers. The platform supports mobile, but the focus has been on interactive displays, Frankel says. "We're trying to create a complete solution, and that solution must have the ability to reach the right audience, optimize the campaign, and measure that good things are happening," he says. "Nielsen is only one piece of the puzzle."

The other piece Frankel points to is the deal between Rocket Fuel and Dynamic Logic.

In April, Rocket Fuel launched a Real-Time Brand Optimization platform powered by Dynamic Logic. This offering delivers display ad targeting optimization based on brand perception and audience characteristics in real-time as ads are served up.