New research from comScore and dunnhumbyUSA has found that advertising online will drive sales of consumer packaged goods (CPGs) at or above the levels usually associated with television commercials.
Over a 12-week period, sales of CPGs advertised online grew at retail by nine percent. This compares to the eight percent lift that Information Resources, Inc. (IRI) reported in its How Advertising Works research report. The number of campaigns run that showed a significant lift were higher online (80 percent) than on television (36 percent), according to figures from the two studies.
Gian Fulgoni, executive chairman of comScore, said in a press release, "These early results confirm the ability of online advertising to successfully build retail sales of CPG brands on par with the impact of television advertising. It is likely that the more precise targeting ability of the Internet - especially in terms of accurately reaching the desired demographic segment -- is a key reason for its effectiveness. That is meaningful in and of itself, but when you take into account the fact that online advertising is generally less costly than television, these results take on even greater significance."
"While there is no doubt that advertising can increase sales, measuring that effect is very hard to do. comScore and dunnhumbyUSA's robust methodology has without question achieved that goal and puts online display in the select club of media that can generate measurable sales in the short-term and build brands in the long term," said Hernan Lopez, COO, Fox International Channels and dot.Fox Networks.
Bill Pearce, senior vice president and chief marketing officer at Del Monte Foods, said, "The study results represent very encouraging news for CPG marketers online and offline because the data confirms the ability of online marketing to drive results offline at the shelf level."
Discussion Questions: What do you see as the implications of the comScore and dunnhumbyUSA research? Will we see marketers moving significant ad dollars away from television to online?