ACNielsen: Target, Kraft and Advantage Sales Named Category Masters of the Year.

Business Editors

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 21, 2002

Target Stores, Kraft Foods and Advantage Sales & Marketing were named winners of this year's Category Master of the Year awards, co-sponsored by three VNU Business Media magazines, BrandWeek, Progressive Grocer and Retail Merchandiser. The awards were presented here today at the seventh annual ACNielsen Category Masters Conference.

The awards honor one retailer, one manufacturer, and one sales agency in the consumer packaged goods industry that demonstrated the best category management practices over the past year.

Readers of BrandWeek, Progressive Grocer and Retail Merchandiser selected the winners. Retailers were asked to choose the manufacturer winner and manufacturers picked the retailer winner. Both manufacturers and retailers voted on the sales agency.

"ACNielsen applauds the outstanding efforts that these three winners have demonstrated in the arena of sound category management," says Tim Callahan, president, ACNielsen U.S. "Today, the most forward-thinking CPG companies are focused on getting the consumer back into category management. They have come to recognize the true value of 24 / 7 consumer understanding. The winners of this year's Category Master of the Year awards excel at putting the consumer first."

Target Stores is one of the fastest growing retailers in the world. The Minneapolis-based mass retailer generated more than $32 billion in sales from its 1,053 upscale discount stores last year, according to Retail Merchandiser's annual Fact Book on the Mass Retail Industry. Its compounded annual sales growth rate of the past five years was nearly 13%. Target's partnerships with suppliers, plus the support of its senior management, are the ingredients that make Target a leader in category management, according to Matt Bisciglia, Target senior buyer of category management.

"Target has a strong commitment to category management, from senior executives to buyers and senior buyers," says Bisciglia. He cites Target's investment in technology and services, such as ACNielsen's Category Business Planner, as among the types of investments that will help Target take category management to the next level. These systems provide the kind of information that a retailer needs, quickly and accurately, to make business decisions, he says.

With six brands that generate over $1 billion in sales a year and 61 other brands that take in more than $100 million annually, Kraft Foods believes it is uniquely positioned to help retailers drive category growth. Chris Hogan, senior director, Sales Information and Technology for Kraft Foods, says that being a category leader requires strong brands, as well as a commitment to technology and people who can deliver business insights and then turn those insights into action.

"There is an expectation on the part of retailers that we will bring these insights to their business," says Hogan. "Buyers want us to tell them what the numbers mean and then show them our program to drive category volume."

Hogan says that as the nation's population mix changes, category management's role will only become more important. "Category management will continue to evolve beyond scanning," says Hogan. "Through household panel data we will better understand the `why' of consumer behavior in addition to the `what.'"

Peter Holton, vice president of Category Management, says that Advantage Sales & Marketing targeted category management as a core competency early on when ECR (Efficient Consumer Response) was being introduced to the grocery industry in the late `80s. As a food broker that saw its future challenged by the massive consolidation of both retailers and suppliers, Advantage was able to leverage its expertise in category management in order to provide added value to the supply chain. "Our goal," says Holton, "is to be the leading category management vendor at the retailer."

Irvine, CA-based Advantage provides sales and marketing services to a host of retailers, both regional and national. "One of the beauties of the category management process is that it is very difficult to influence a retail participant to make a business decision that doesn't fit with the analysis you have done," says Holton. Thus, long-term trust is built. "It's about growing the category, not just growing the brand," he adds.

BrandWeek is the only newsweekly dedicated solely to the needs and concerns of America's top brand marketers. Progressive Grocer has been the comprehensive source of information for food retailers for over 80 years. Retail Merchandiser is the acknowledged authority on mass, drug and specialty retailing. All three are owned by VNU.

ACNielsen, a VNU company, is the world's leading marketing information company. Offering services in more than 100 countries, the company provides measurement and analysis of marketplace dynamics and consumer attitudes and behavior. Clients rely on ACNielsen's market research, proprietary products, analytical tools and professional service to understand competitive performance, to uncover new opportunities and to raise the profitability of their marketing and sales campaigns.

Category Masters is ACNielsen's annual educational conference for the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) industry.