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Service Allows Marketers To Measure Online Marketing ROI

Knowledge Networks Inc and comScore Networks Inc announced the availability of a revolutionary new system to relate consumers' use of the Internet to their purchasing of consumer packaged goods (CPG) at retail outlets. By connecting comScore's online consumer behavior data with Knowledge Networks' supermarket purchase data, the new service enables CPG manufacturers to better measure the financial return on investment (ROI) from their spending on Internet-based marketing.

"This partnership represents a major leap forward in understanding how the Internet can be used to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of CPG manufacturers' marketing efforts," commented Gian Fulgoni, comScore Chairman and co-founder. "The CPG industry is struggling with stagnant consumer demand and rising costs; the Internet, with its unique targeting and interactive capabilities, can dramatically improve marketing impact. Our clients are increasingly seeking to learn how best to integrate the Internet into their marketing efforts, and with Knowledge Networks we've created a solution that makes this possible."

The new system combines the power of comScore's Global Network of more than 1.5 million representative Internet users -- the largest opt-in consumer measurement platform in the world -- with detailed, retail purchase data that Knowledge Networks has sourced from the frequent shopper programs of major retailers. All participants in comScore's network have given permission to have their online information appended to their retail buying information. Once this is done, the integrated data are cleansed of personally identifiable information to ensure complete privacy protection.

"Our goal at Purina is to improve the lives of pets and their owners," said Michael D. Moore, Director of Global Interactive, Purina Interactive Group at Ralston Purina Company. "The comScore/Knowledge Networks partnership integrates critical elements of insight to help us pursue that mission: data about the information consumers need and want online -- and the products they buy offline. We're excited about the business results that this innovative combination will help Purina produce."

Knowledge Networks and comScore have developed this integrated database for a large sample of more than 50,000 households. Using this powerful, granular resource, CPG marketers will immediately be able to better understand:

• The impact of online marketing on consumers' retail purchasing, and
• The online browsing behavior of the buyers of specific brands and product categories

The comScore/Knowledge Networks system will allow CPG companies to understand the Web usage of their target consumers in great detail -- what sites they visit, how long they stay on those sites and which pages are viewed, irrespective of whether that content appears on their own sites, competitors' sites or anywhere else on the Internet. This capability will facilitate the design of more efficient online content and improve marketers' ability to target specific consumer segments.

Additionally, the new service will allow CPG companies to identify important segments based on consumers' online browsing behavior, and understand precisely what brands and categories those segments purchase in retail outlets. Based on this information, marketers will be able to determine their financial return from online marketing investments -- both for their own and competitive brands -- while also identifying lucrative online and multi-channel marketing opportunities.

"For the first time, CPG marketers can obtain a clear correlation between cause and effect in online marketing," said Steve Kingsbury, Senior vice president of Knowledge Networks and head of its Promotion Decisions Inc subsidiary. "Using the services we've developed with comScore, our CPG clients can finally optimize interactive marketing expenditures based on empirical facts -- effectively moving online marketing one step closer to becoming a science."

About Knowledge Networks

Knowledge Networks was founded to meet marketers' growing need for rich, single-source consumer information, encompassing attitudes, media usage and retail purchase behavior. With a comprehensive, 360 degrees View of the Consumer, Knowledge Networks helps clients understand the impact of, and optimize, their marketing efforts. At Knowledge Networks' foundation is an MSN TV-enabled panel that is representative of the entire U.S population. Through this panel, marketers can access any segment of the population and maintain an ongoing market research dialogue with them using multimedia and rich graphics. For more information, please visit www.knowledgenetworks.com.

About comScore Networks

comScore Networks provides the Internet E-conomy with data-based infrastructure services that help improve sales and marketing effectiveness. Through its patent-pending Customer Knowledge Platform, comScore provides a confidentially captured, 360-degree view of the surfing behavior of more than 1.5 million opt-in Internet users, while simultaneously capturing detailed information on their online and offline buying. By leveraging this superior customer knowledge, comScore clients can optimize their decision-making and fuel high-performance, multi-channel CRM solutions. comScore's suite of services -- including netScore, comScore Global Network Solutions, and comScore Private Network Solutions -- provides enterprises with a detailed understanding of the surfing and buying behavior of today's online consumers - - including what they buy, how often, where, and how much they spend. comScore services are used by global leaders such as Microsoft, Kraft, Johnson & Johnson, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, GlaxoSmithKline, Hyatt Hotels, Dell, and AT&T.

For more information, please visit www.comscore.com and www.netscoreonline.com.

Contact Dan Hess, comScore Networks, 312-775-6477.