Consumer packaged goods companies have a new way to measure the direct sales impact of their mobile advertising campaigns.

Most mobile advertising cannot be connected to a consumer purchase. To address the situation, Nielsen Catalina Solutions and 4Info have teamed up to link purchase data with mobile viewing data so CPG brands can better understand how well mobile ad campaigns are driving buying behavior.

?For nearly all forms of advertising, it is difficult to directly tie exposure to advertising to the purchase of a product,? said Kirsten McMullen, director of marketing at mobile advertising firm 4Info, San Mateo, CA.

?Likewise most mobile advertising cannot be connected to a consumer purchase.

?At best, CPG brands and their agencies have used survey methodologies to assess the self-reported consumer impact of advertising exposure, resulting in metrics such as brand awareness and purchase intent,? she said.

The introduction of the new analytics service comes at a time when CPG companies continue to make inroads into mobile marketing.

General Mills recently became the first CPG company to run a promotion via deal-a-day service Groupon. The deal, which was available to consumers in Minneapolis and St. Paul via mobile and online, sold out hours after its launch (see story).

Better tracking encourages adoption
An executive with The Hyperfactory speaking at a recent Microsoft workshop revealed that Kraft Foods integrates mobile into its CRM strategy and is using mobile call-to-actions on packaging.

At the same time, the mobile industry is calling for brands to step up their efforts to use mobile as a channel and not strategy if they want to fully realize mobile?s potential.

The joint offering from Nielsen Catalina Solutions, Cincinnati, OH, and 4Info wants to help advertisers meet that potential by addressing demands for greater accountability from marketing efforts. The service links purchase data from 60 million shopper households tracked by Nielsen Catalina Solutions with mobile viewing data from 70 million unique users tracked by 4Info?s AdHaven mobile advertising platform. The data is matched using a third-party agent, aggregated and made anonymous.

As a result, CPG brands will be able to measure changes in brand?s sales volume based on exposure to the brand?s ad on 4Info?s mobile advertising network.

For example, a CPG brand that reaches 20 million unique users with an ad on 4Info?s mobile network will be able to determine after eight weeks the sales impact attributable to that advertising.

?Better tracking on the return on investment of mobile campaigns will encourage greater adoption of mobile [in the CPG sector], as effective marketing is documented and repeated,? Ms. McMullen said.

Final Take
4Info on mobile advertising