ACNielsen, Spectra Join Forces to Provide Consumer Centric Tracking; New Alliance Provides a Platform for Increasing Marketing ROI.

Business Editors

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 15, 2000

ACNielsen U.S., an operating unit of ACNielsen Corporation (NYSE: ART), and Spectra Inc., a consumer marketing division of VNU, today announce the creation of Lifestyle Track(TM), a tactical management tool that allows brand managers to assess and improve the performance of consumer-centric marketing plans.

Lifestyle Track bridges the information gap between retail sales tracking and consumer panel data through Spectra's proprietary Lifestyle/Lifestage Grid. The joint product stems from long-term strategies by both ACNielsen and Spectra to provide clients with actionable consumer insights.

"We're out to solve the information disconnects that have prevented marketers from managing their businesses strategically on a day-to-day basis," said John Larkin, president of Spectra. "Marketers have developed brand strategies to target consumer groups, yet have managed their businesses according to a variety of other measures, such as volume within particular geographies and accounts. By creating the framework for managing brands day-to-day in a strategic consumer context, we're going to provide a platform for increasing Marketing ROI measurably and consistently."

Lifestyle Track enables managers to enhance the performance of marketing plans by monitoring 19 consumer lifestyle groups, nationally and regionally. For example, a brand manager who has targeted upscale suburban households may ask: Is my marketing plan delivering the expected volume from this lifestyle group? How do these results compare to competition? These insights, derived from Lifestyle Track, will drive better marketing execution.

"This is an important step in our long-term strategy of providing consumer knowledge for action," said Steve Schmidt, president, ACNielsen U.S. "Marketers need the tools to unlock the wealth of consumer understanding and to consistently increase brand business among targeted groups of consumers. Our relationship with Spectra and the introduction of Lifestyle Track is a perfect example of the kinds of alliances we will forge and product innovations we will develop to create timely, actionable information our clients need to manage their businesses."

Lifestyle Track expands on an existing relationship between ACNielsen and Spectra in which ACNielsen's Homescan(R) consumer panel is the leading panel used in Spectra's Advantage(R) software application, which provides targeting recommendations for manufacturers. While both organizations will actively support Lifestyle Track, clients will actually purchase the service from ACNielsen as a value-added supplement to their existing information contracts. This new service will be available in the first quarter of 2001.

About Spectra

Spectra Inc. is a division of VNU Marketing Information, Inc. (VNU MI, Inc.), a leading provider of innovative precision-marketing solutions. VNU MI, Inc. is a subsidiary of VNU, Inc, the fourth largest information services company in the United States, which also includes Nielsen Media Research, SRDS and VNU Business Media (Bill Communications, BPI Communications, VNU eMedia, and VNU Expositions).

Spectra Inc. (www.spectramarketing.com), headquartered in Chicago, IL, is the leading provider of intelligent targeting solutions to consumer packaged goods companies, Spectra is leading the development of information tools that establish a brand-specific framework for achieving Marketing ROI. The company pioneered the framework for identifying brand opportunity on a combined lifestyle-lifestage basis with the introduction of the Spectra Lifestyle/Lifestage Grid, which classifies consumer households according to six demographic and nine lifestyle criteria. Recently, Spectra has introduced widely used products to assign brand-target ratings to television shows and Web sites.

About ACNielsen

ACNielsen, with 1999 revenue of $1.5 billion, is the world's leading market research firm, offering measurement and analysis of marketplace dynamics, consumer attitudes and behavior, and new and traditional media in more than 100 countries. Clients include leading consumer product manufacturers and retailers, service firms, media and entertainment companies and the Internet community.

Note to Editors: Look for this press release and other ACNielsen and Spectra news on the Internet at http://acnielsen.com and http://spectramarketing.com.