ACNielsen Introduces Expanded Capabilities for Monitoring Brand Performance across Countries; Global Track in-sights to Provide Marketers with Integrated Views across Borders.

PALM DESERT, Calif. -- ACNielsen Global Services, an operating unit of ACNielsen, a VNU business, today announced the launch of Global Track in-sights, a multi-country reporting capability accessible via the ACNielsen Answers(TM) on-line platform. ACNielsen / Global Track integrates brand performance information across countries, providing a single comprehensive means for manufacturers to monitor the progress of their products across borders. Through ACNielsen / in-sights reporting capabilities, ACNielsen / Global Track now delivers executive summaries, dashboards and graphical reports electronically, formatted for ease in viewing and distribution within a client's organization.

"Expanding the Global Track service with the capabilities of ACNielsen / in-sights reports represents a new level of ease and flexibility for clients," said Joe Palermo, vice president - marketing for ACNielsen Global Services. "The easy-to-use interface of ACNielsen / in-sights, combined with Global Track's rich multi-country information makes it a powerful resource for all levels of users."

Global Track aligns information and provides consistency whether looking within a particular country or across geographies. Through an intuitive desktop application, ACNielsen / in-sights assists users in quickly finding the answers they need for managing their day-to-day business issues. The reports are accessible through thumbnail images or through links to key business questions, providing the answers marketers on the go need to manage their business across multiple countries.

"Global Track in-sights is a very mobile reporting solution," said Palermo. "The reports are easily distributed via e-mail or downloadable via the Internet, to give regional offices or traveling professionals the ability to navigate and analyze their sales performance away from the office."

By developing Global Track in-sights, clients can benefit from valuable time-saving features, including:

--Executive summaries - "Flash" alerts are emailed by the system to keep business leaders informed on key metrics including category size and growth, corporate and brand share, and competitor movements by country.

--Picture-based report selection - Users can select their reports by choosing from a thumbnail picture and a brief explanation making it easy to find the appropriate analysis.

--Complete information storyline - All reports can be accessed through a linear question hierarchy, presented in a logical business process format, from Executive Summaries to more detailed country views.

--Dashboard navigation - Company scorecard information is hyperlinked to key business issues in order to capture all of the details.

--Integrated spreadsheet - The tables allow spreadsheet functionality, allowing users to drill, swap and nest data as well as insert formulas.

--Presentation-quality graphics - Tables and graphs can be easily exported to presentation formats such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Excel. The graph panel provides presentation-quality charts.

Global Track in-sights incorporates brand performance information from any of the more than 90 countries in which ACNielsen collects data and is currently being launched to multi-national marketers throughout Europe.

ACNielsen, a VNU business, is the world's leading marketing information provider. Offering services in more than 100 countries, the unit 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.

ACNielsen uses Six Sigma methodologies to continually improve the quality of the services it provides to its clients. Six Sigma is a rigorous, data-driven, continuous and breakthrough improvement program focused on achieving the highest levels of quality.

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