PlaceIQ Unveils Tool to Measure Holistic Impact of Ads on In-Store Visits
Quick-service restaurants that rely primarily on cash transactions have traditionally had a tough time understanding the real world impact of advertising on channels like television and desktop. A new product released jointly by the data and technology provider PlaceIQ and the cross-platform measurement company comScore promises to change that, closing the gaping hole in attribution for businesses, like QSR restaurants, that can’t easily link transaction data to in-store visits.
PlaceIQ PVR powered by comScore measures lift in retail visits resulting from television, mobile and desktop advertising, which enables brand marketers and agencies to better understand the holistic impact that advertising is having on driving consumers into physical locations. The new tool represents a major addition to PlaceIQ’s portfolio of location-driven technology solutions, providing the company’s clients with a more accurate way to justify marketing investments.
While PlaceIQ PVR powered by comScore was designed for retailers, automotive dealerships, and restaurants, PlaceIQ also expects there to be interest from media sellers, who can use it to prove the value of their inventory and its ability to drive consumers to brick-and-mortar stores.
Although this isn’t the first time PlaceIQ has collaborated with comScore—the two firms had a collaboration with Rentrak that used television data to further supplement audience analytics and media—PlaceIQ CEO Duncan McCall says today’s release is a major step forward in the race to provide brands with the most accurate cross-channel measurement possible.
“We’re giving marketers ‘piece of mind’ for knowing if their campaigns are working, and if not, which channels to optimize against,” he says.
For comScore, the collaboration offers the first commercially available solution to connect the company’s expertise in television, mobile, and online measurement with location-aware context. For PlaceIQ, this marks the first time the company has provided its Place Visit Rate metric to comScore.
“This solution is different because it’s a collaboration between two best-in-class data companies coming together to solve one of marketers’ highest priorities: accurate cross-channel measurement,” McCall says.
McCall points to a new study showing that 81% of marketers rank location data as the first or second most important element in their measurement stack for driving successful cross-channel campaigns. That type of data helped guide his team as they searched for more accurate ways to provide clients with detailed pictures of campaign-exposed consumers.
In addition to understanding these campaign-exposed consumers based on demographics, PlaceIQ PVR powered by comScore also includes the ability to segment groups based on advanced audience descriptors, like likelihood to engage with other brands across different shopping categories. With this data in hand, brands are better able to understand the broader interests of their target customers, and they can use this knowledge to more accurately refine future marketing messages. Brands can even measure the times of the day when digital is adding the most benefit for foot traffic and optimize against that.
“With location data, [businesses now have] an accurate gauge of how TV ads alone, or in tandem with digital ads are driving consumers into stores, which is a powerful proxy for sales,” McCall says.
Positive success with early adopters has made McCall optimistic, not just about the success of his company’s latest tool but about the possibility for future collaborations between PlaceIQ and comScore, as well.
“Moving forward with comScore, you can expect to see other joint products introduced,” he says, “those specifically designed to provide a sophisticated measurement view that marketers are demanding, to adapt to shifts in consumer shopping.”
Stephanie Miles is a senior editor at Street Fight.
