Wal-Mart Moves Signal New Power Shift From Retailers To Consumers
Two possibly interrelated moves signal a profound shift for the world's biggest retailer. They may also signal a fundamental shift in the power of consumer marketing. Retail giant Wal-Mart Thursday announced its support of Arbitron's and VNU's Apollo project, and said it would subscribe to the data generated by a pilot project for the new single-source research system that simultaneously measures what advertising and media consumers are exposed to and what products they purchase in retail outlets.
Wal-Mart marks the first big retailer to sign on to the project, and coupled with its other recent moves, including its plans to announce a new ad agency roster, may reveal its need for greater consumer insights than it might have needed in the past. Among other things, one of its new agency partners, Carat, has a division that is deemed the best company at marketing mix modeling, a sophisticated form of marketing research that can also measure how advertising and media directly impact consumer purchases.
The developments are significant, because they also mark another radical shift in the power of marketing information - what some might call the Third Wave of mass marketing. [ MORE ]
Also see: Arbitron Press Release, AdWeek, Reuters
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