Sundown for Project Apollo

Arbitron and Nielsen have ditched development of 'Project Apollo', their much-vaunted scheme to give a better understanding of the link between consumer exposure to advertising through multiple media and shopping / purchasing behaviour.

The trial - which was initiated in early 2005 - was extended last October to allow more time to demonstrate its benefits and test improvements to its data delivery systems (www.mrweb.com/drno/news7430.htm ). Last autumn, four major US radio industry firms agreed to add their audience data to the pilot, and this was to have been made available to the Project Apollo Steering Committee which comprised Kraft, Pepsi, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, SC Johnson, Unilever and Wal-Mart (www.mrweb.com/drno/news7416.htm ). The study had also collected data from seven broadcast television networks; 60 cable television networks; 101 magazines; 2,240 newspapers and five newspaper magazines; and 33 ad circulars & coupon booklets.

Today in a joint statement, the two firms said that despite a promising level of interest, they had not secured sufficient client commitments to make Project Apollo a sustainable venture. Perhaps significantly, this month saw the launch of a rival system for measuring and reporting 'True ROI Accountability' for advertising spend, by US firm TRA, Inc. TRA plans to match ads actually received with products actually bought for a massive 1,000,000 plus US households, and on its web site describes Apollo, along with IRI's BehaviorScan and Arbitron's ScanAmerica as 'important projects which, although ultimately not scalable solutions, have pointed the right direction for getting to true marketing ROI measurement and optimization' (www.mrweb.com/drno/news7941.htm ).

Arbitron Chairman, President and CEO Steve Morris commented: 'Everyone recognised from the outset what an ambitious effort we were undertaking: to harness the best in modern research technology and methodology to see if we could finally fulfil the promise of a single-source media and marketing research service.' Yet despite the years spent in development, the firms failed to obtain enough buy-in from advertisers, agencies and media companies to fund the costs associated with maintaining the consumer panel.

Tomorrow Arbitron will be hosting a conference call to discuss the financial implications of terminating the project, and to provide updated 2008 financial guidance. Web sites are at www.arbitron.com and www.nielsen.com.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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