Confectionery marketing a new game in the digital world, says IRI

It claims confectioners must explore geo-targeting to ensure money is well spent.

In an interview with ConfectioneryNews, IRI talked up its new Digital Active service that allows confectioners to isolate and measure the impact of a single digital media campaign at a particular retail store. It says traditional methods have archaically tried to measure the impact of multiple digital marketing campaigns and normally at national level.

Explosion of channels

Carl Carter, head of Digital Europe – Solutions & Innovation at IRI, said this traditional marketing mix modeling had been the standard for measuring the success of media spend, but claimed it was tailored for TV.

“Digital media has completely exploded the path to purchase. You’ve gone from having a few channels to having hundreds and you don’t know where to spend your money.”

He said existing measurement models failed to cope with a proliferation of new marketing channels such as Twitter, Facebook, video services and Google ads.

Carter said a confectioner could for example be running a campaign on TV in combination with messages on Facebook and Twitter and Google ads. That company could enjoy a sales uplift, but it would be unsure which channel had the greatest impact. It’s difficult to isolate the driving force when measuring at national or regional level, said Carter.

Store level geo-targeting

IRI’s Digital Active is alternative modeling system that uses geo-targeting to measure how a single campaign is translating into sales at a particular store.

It’s intended to allow companies to account for every dollar spent in digital media advertising from Facebook, and Twitter to Google ads and video on demand.

For example, a company could run a geo-targeted Facebook campaign aimed at people living around a large supermarket in New York. Digital Active could help the company compare sales data from that store compared to a control store that had a Twitter campaign or no campaign at all

The service also allows confectioners to review demographics on the target store to ensure the message is aimed at the right age group.

A few food companies are using the service, but there no confectionery firms on board yet. IRI Digital Active launched late last year, but was updated in the last month.

Confectionery marketing a new game in the digital world, says IRI