Environics Analytics to acquire Nielsen customer data

Environics Analytics has signed a deal to become the exclusive provider of Nielsen‘s Spectra consumer targeting products in Canada.

The deal will see EA acquire selected technology and data assets from Nielsen related to the delivery of its Spectra services. Spectra will, however, remain a standalone platform and continue to serve its existing client base. During the transition, Nielsen and EA will collaborate to deliver services to existing clients.

EA president and founder Jan Kestle said that Spectra will strengthen her company’s consumer insight and targeting services, especially in the CPG and grocery retail industries. Spectra will be offered alongside EA’s PRIZM5 segmentation system, with additional capabilities now available to users of both platforms.

“While we have a number of CPG clients for select services, we have not had a significant focus in this industry because it has been well served by Nielsen for many years,” Kestle told Marketing in an email.

The asset acquisition “means that we will offer our full range of target marketing services to the CPG industry,” she said, adding that EA provides a range of services through its PRIZM5 and Envision5 offerings that she believes Nielsen’s CPG and grocery clients will be interested in.

Spectra uses demographic, consumption and media data to profile consumer groups and help marketers target them. It also assists clients with retail channel development and identifying stores with high growth potential for certain consumer categories and product lines. EA also plans to license Nielsen’s HomeScan data, which Kestle said would help them further analyze which consumers and stores have the most potential for local trade areas.

EA has been steadily improving its analytics technology and growing its customer base through acquisitions such as Spectra. In October, EA acquired Pivotal Contact, a marketing analytics and data management company based in Toronto, and in January 2015 it acquired SM Research, a technology firm specializing in targeted sampling and data hygiene.

Nielsen Canada managing director Jeanne Danubio said in a release that Nielsen hopes to leverage EA’s deep view of the Canadian consumer and expertise in micromarketing to better serve its own clients. “With a client-first approach, we recognize that our clients’ needs are sometimes met better by others who can provide more specific expertise in certain areas,” she said. “In this case, we believe that EA is better positioned to serve our clients in this space.”