Nielsen Marketing Research sees six direct applications of its information services to assist in the launch of a home improvement warehouse store.

1) Assessment of competitive advertising spending patterns

Nielsen tracks advertising expenditure levels by company and brand and, therefore, can review the historical patterns within the do-it-yourself/hardware market.

In 1991, there were 60 companies which advertised in this category, with spending ranging from only a few thousand dollars to more than $6.5 million.

Home Hardware and Beaver Home Improvement Centres dominated the spending, accounting for about 50% of the expenditure of the 60 organizations within the category.

With both companies, tv tended to be the dominant medium.

2)Review of tv creative

On the assumption the agency and client feel television is a medium for Home Store, Nielsen could provide examples of competitive tv creative.

These historical commercials are available on videotape or in a color storyboard format.

3) Review of competitive tv schedules

As part of the media planning exercise, Nielsen can provide the agency for Home Store with the monitored activity of Home Hardware, Beaver and any other competitors.

This information would look at the scheduling activity of each company by station, program and even position in the commercial break. Working with the agency, we would be able to assess competitive tactics and ensure the Home Store schedule is well positioned.

4) Nielsen television ratings reports

Nielsen produces five tv audience reports (Nielsen Broadcasting Index – NBI) for the Toronto market annually.

These reports could be used for the planning and negotiation of the television campaign. Nielsen NBI Report contains rating levels for a wide range of demographics, including adults aged 25-54, and would permit the agency to target activity against its defined target group.

5) Nielsen’s Television Spending Index (tsi)

In partnership with Compusearch and Harris Media Systems, Nielsen could provide a system to link its television ratings together with Compusearch’s ‘Lifestyles’ and with Statistics Canada Census information.

This would permit the agency to evaluate various tv spot opportunities against households that have a greater than normal likelihood to spend money on ‘do-it-yourself/home improvement.’

This system allows an agency planner/buyer to go beyond the traditional age/sex demographics and target on likelihood of the program to attract the right consumer.

For example, the following is a list of programs and their index in terms of composition of people likely to invest in ‘do-it-yourself.’

High Composition

Street Legal – 121%

Designing Women – 118%

Night Beat News – 116%

CTV News – 114%

Lower Composition

Home Improvement – 86%

America’s Most Wanted – 82%

Married, With Children – 81%

Geraldo – 68%

6) GRP Tracking

Once the tv campaign has been aired, Nielsen can track the gross rating points delivered in comparison with all other hardware/building centres. This will permit Home Store and its agency to determine its share of voice delivered during the campaign.

This could prove helpful in evaluating campaign success and incorporating this ‘share of voice measure’ with other information available to the agency.

For more information, contact David M. Tattle, group vice-president, Nielsen Marketing Research, 160 McNabb St., Markham, Ont., L3R 4B8. Tel: (416) 475-3344, fax (416) 475-8357.