• Ad Age, Thursday, December 8, 2005 12 PM

More than a dozen top packaged good marketers will reportedly use controversial "spy chips" to track promotional displays in Walgreens' 5,000 outlets. The marketers were not identified but are believed to include Procter & Gamble Co. and Altria Group's Kraft Foods. The new program calls for using RFID chips to electronically track when, how long and where displays are placed in stores. That allows marketers to track results of promotions by store or demographic cluster. It also lets participating manufacturers time local, regional or national advertising according to when displays are in place and send representatives to stores that haven't put up displays. RFID chips have been controversial in consumer applications. Critics call them "spy chips" and claim they could be used to spy on consumers. But the Walgreens installation is for store and supply-chain use only and would not involve placing chips on packages used by consumers. Proponents say the system is potentially the biggest advance in store promotion in decades.

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