By Kathryn P.G. Casavant, CEO, Kantar Shopcom

We know consumers are king in terms of what and how they choose to connect with the brands and content they love.  Similarly, they have just as much power to ignore the rest.  As a result, while brands have more options than ever before to interact with consumers, brands also have a greater chance of getting lost or ignored in the shuffle of devices, apps, platforms and content providers.  Simplifying this complexity and defining the touch points for brands where choice and opportunity converge created the need for a company like ours.

Kantar Shopcom connects what people see, feel and do via its vast purchase behavior database, its data connection platform and its commercial partner network to help marketers grow their brands.  We’re all about pushing boundaries and raising effectiveness.  That’s why we’re so excited to be partnering with Videology to quantify the power of online video—one of the fastest growing sectors of digital media—to drive results for Consumer Packaged Goods marketers—one of the largest constituencies in brand advertising.

Our work with Videology ties online video advertising exposure to offline purchase behavior (as well as online purchase behavior).  As such, we are building a body of ROI intelligence that has the potential to influence how millions of CPG media dollars are invested.

For decades, CPG advertisers have relied on traditional television’s ability to drive brand metrics.  In-stream video is particularly exciting, with its inherent similarities to traditional television and its direct measurability.   As such, online video is a medium with a unique ability to prove quantitatively how interactive digital content drives consumer-brand engagement and delivers meaningful, measurable financial results.  

We began working with Videology earlier this year.  To date, a growing number of CPG advertisers are signing on to use Videology’s solution which incorporates our data, analytics and insights to provide visibility across the path-to-purchase:  from first exposure right through to the in-store sale.  Simply put, the results are very impressive.

While each online video campaign yields different results, our initial work with Videology has shown those exposed to online campaigns buy more and spend more, and that online video campaigns attract new buyers to the brand.  In addition, we are able to track online behaviors such as click through, completion and frequency of exposure, linking these online behaviors to offline purchases.

We often hear about the Holy Grail of marketing—knowing how, why and when advertising leads to an actual sale.  Through our work with Videology, we are helping online video advertisers direct their messages to the right audience and understand what the impact of that message is on consumer purchase behavior, directly measuring  if exposure to that message translates to a sale at the checkout counter.  As far as ROI goes, I cannot think of any more important metric for CPG advertisers.