ACNielsen Named Dr Pepper/Seven-Up's New Provider of Merchandising Software Solutions; ACNielsen Spaceman Software Selected Following Rigorous Evaluation.

Business Editors

SCHAUMBURG, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 1, 2003

ACNielsen U.S., an operating unit of ACNielsen, a VNU company, today announced that Dr Pepper/Seven-Up Corporation has selected ACNielsen Spaceman(R) as its new merchandising software solution. The leading soft drink manufacturer will use Spaceman in its work with retailers to optimize product assortment and shelf sets.

Craig Hodnett, Dr Pepper/Seven-Up vice president, Category Management, said, "We compared Spaceman to its leading competitors, really putting each software product through its paces, and the ACNielsen solution came out on top. We are very impressed with the flexibility offered by the ACNielsen Spaceman family of merchandising software solutions."

Joe Bucherer, vice president, ACNielsen Assortment & Merchandising Center of Excellence, welcomed the news. "Dr Pepper/Seven-Up is a tremendous win for our Software Solutions group," he said. "The fact that Spaceman was compared point-for-point against competitive offerings and came out as the preferred offering is a tremendous testimony to the work our teams have done to create solutions tailored to meet the specific needs of the industry."

Spaceman Professional Application Builder, which incorporates Microsoft Visual Basic(R) for Applications, will provide Dr Pepper/Seven-Up with unparalleled flexibility in the development of "planograms," or graphical depictions of a store's floor and shelf space. Excel-like macros can be written within the program to automate routine tasks or link to specific data sources. For example, a macro could perform a quality check each time a planogram is saved, guaranteeing optimal results before the planograms are implemented. Only Spaceman Application Builder offers these capabilities through industry-standard technology and open architecture - the same technology found in Microsoft Office.

In addition, ACNielsen's merchandising consultants will create a custom solution that will enable Dr Pepper/Seven-Up to streamline its assortment analysis. For example, a store's current planogram could be viewed within the context of the retailer's point-of-sale data for a category and the category's performance throughout the market. As decisions are made about assortment changes--adding products that are selling well in the market but are not carried by the retailer, for example--on-screen "wizards" will take users through an automated routine for changing the assortment and updating the planogram.

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.

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