ACNielsen Strengthens Beverage Alcohol Industry Information Capabilities with On-Premise Audits.

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. -- ACNielsen U.S. today announced the addition of On-Premise Audits to its comprehensive suite of beverage alcohol industry information capabilities. The new service measures and analyzes the presence of distilled spirits in bars, restaurants, hotels and recreational facilities in major markets across the country.

"Manufacturers need to know where their products are placed," said Danny Brager, vice president, ACNielsen Beverage Alcohol client service team. "Their sales are impacted by whether their brand is more or less visible than competing brands on the back of the bar in a nightclub or on the menu of a fine restaurant. With ACNielsen On-Premise Audits, clients can act on opportunities to place their brands where consumers are most likely to see them."

The ACNielsen On-Premise Audits are conducted in a representative sample of more than 2,600 establishments in 26 major U.S. markets. In each venue, the audit captures the presence of major distilled spirit brands on the back bar, and the presence and price of selected brands in the "well," or beneath the bar. The audits also capture information about table-top promotions, as well as which brands are featured on the menus of casual and formal restaurants, bars, nightclubs, hotels and recreational facilities. The data are projected across all establishments in each market.

"The audits are a key tool because they allow manufacturers to better understand their brand's presence across many key markets and types of establishments," according to John Evans, vice president, ACNielsen Market Decisions. "An enormous amount of energy and dollars are spent to create customer awareness. Our reports not only collect the consumer observable presence, but also differentiate between types of on-premise venues, all of which factor differently into a manufacturer's marketing plan."

In addition to the On-Premise Audits, ACNielsen provides the industry's most comprehensive tracking of beverage alcohol retail sales. The Scantrack(R) retail measurement service analyzes product sales across the grocery and drug channels; Convenience Track(R) monitors beer sales in the convenience store channel nationally and in 22 local markets; LiquorTrack(R) is the most comprehensive liquor store sales information service available, and the only source of both market-level insights as well as key account-specific information; census-based trade area reports analyze sales at specific retailers within their custom geographies; Sales Management Planner provides beverage alcohol manufacturer field sales forces with Internet access to key sales performance metrics; and the Homescan(R) consumer panel provides shopper insights across all off-premise channels.

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.

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