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BOULDER, Colo., April 5, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- TapInfluence and Nielsen Catalina Solutions (NCS), the leader in helping CPG marketers optimize return on advertising spend with in-store purchase data, today announced a collaboration that will allow CPG brands to measure the in-store sales impact of their influencer marketing campaigns. Working with WhiteWave Foods to deliver a first-of-its-kind study, NCS measured a 10 percent incremental sales lift from consumers exposed to the TapInfluence powered campaign.

The collaboration between TapInfluence and NCS will, for the first time, allow brands to measure the real impact of their influencer marketing campaigns based on purchase data from over 90 million U.S. households via more than 18,000 major grocery and drugstore retailers.

"We've known for some time that proving the sales lift and ROI of influencer marketing is critical for brands as they consider shifting more of their digital ad budgets to influencer campaigns," said Rustin Banks, TapInfluence co-founder and Chief Product Officer. "As a marketer, it's hard to ignore these results, which demonstrate the effectiveness of authentic content and show that brands must rethink how they're approaching advertising and marketing in 2016 and beyond."   

"Understanding the actual in-store sales driven by a campaign allows marketers to conclusively prove the value of their advertising, rather than rely on directional indicators," said Leslie Wood, Chief Research Officer, NCS. "This shift in how advertising results are measured allows marketers to apply these insights and deliver even smarter campaigns with greater precision in the future."

WhiteWave campaign results

This first study to measure the sales lift of an influencer campaign was fielded in September, and focused on a campaign conducted by WhiteWave Foods on the TapInfluence platform for its Silk® brand of plant-based beverages. As part of the campaign, more than 250 top fitness and food influencers were selected to create unique content referencing Silk products and the brand's "Sideline Meat" campaign, the purpose of which was to encourage consumers to rethink what they eat and discover how satisfying plant-based meals can be, and share that content.

By tracking the in-store purchases of consumers who viewed these influencer posts, the study revealed significant results: incremental sales over the non-exposed group of $285 per 1000 impressions, exposed consumers bought 10 percent more Silk products than the non-exposed group, shifting sales away from competitive products, and a very positive return for every $1 spent.

The campaign content has generated 1.1 million impressions and counting on blog posts alone. Because the content is evergreen and lives online, it continues to draw new audiences every time it regains steam on social media. As the number of impressions increase, the cost per engagement continues to decrease.  Algorithms from TapInfluence showed a modeled decrease of the campaign's CPM by half every three months.  

"We've been running influencer marketing campaigns for six years and have found it to be one of the most effective ways to reach consumers with relevant content and conversation across the ever-changing consumer mindset and digital landscape," said Lori Ulanoff, Digital Center of Excellence Manager for WhiteWave Foods. "This study confirms what we intuitively knew and provides us with meaningful measurement of our success - beyond likes and shares - by clearly tying sales to our influencer marketing efforts." 

Starts with finding the "right" influencers

One of the campaign's keys to success was the initial influencer selection process. Rather than relying on basic profile data as the basis for choosing influencers with the right audiences, TapInfluence users can access detailed performance data for each influencer in the marketplace, including their cost per engagement based on prior assignments. Access to this data is shown to increase results three fold. In addition, the platform incorporates audience insights, allowing brands to select influencers based on an array of audience demographics.

To read more about the study, visit http://tapinfluence.com/roi  

TapInfluence, NCS and WhiteWave Foods will present the findings from this sales lift study during the State of Influence roadshow in New York, Chicago and San Francisco in April. Attendance is free, and seats can be reserved at: http://www.tapinfluence.com/stateofinfluence/ 

About TapInfluence 

TapInfluence is a leader and innovator in influencer marketing automation, connecting brands, influencers and consumers through trusted content. TapInfluence fuels brand success by providing the data, expertise and technology to connect authentic conversations to commerce, drive market share and increase revenue growth. Based in Boulder, Colo., TapInfluence works with leading brands such as Kraft, Horizon Organic, Silk and P&G, and partners with agencies such as Golin, RhythmOne and Ignite Social Media. TapInfluence's SaaS-based platform is the industry's only end-to-end solution automating influencer selection, content creation, distribution and program analytics. Through Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Vine and blogs, TapInfluence reaches over 1 billion consumers.

About Nielsen Catalina Solutions

NCS (Nielsen Catalina Solutions) is a purchase-based ad targeting and ROAS measurement firm serving the CPG industry. We integrate in-store purchase data from over 90 MM households with media exposure data from TV, online, mobile, print, radio and CRM to help consumer packaged goods advertisers, agencies and media companies define their most valuable audience, reach them with advertising and measure incremental sales from the campaign. The joint venture between Nielsen and Catalina has helped over 200 advertisers and 450+ brands optimize ad performance to drive revenue growth and increase return on ad spend. Visit us at www.ncsolutions.com to learn more.

About WhiteWave Foods

The WhiteWave Foods Company is a leading consumer packaged food and beverage company that manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells branded plant-based foods and beverages, coffee creamers and beverages, premium dairy products and organic produce throughout North America and Europe. The Company also holds a 49% ownership interest in a joint venture that manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells branded plant-based beverages in China. WhiteWave is focused on providing consumers with innovative, great-tasting food and beverage choices that meet their increasing desires for nutritious, flavorful, convenient, and responsibly-produced products. The Company's widely-recognized, leading brands distributed in North America include Silk®, So Delicious® and Vega™ plant-based foods and beverages, International Delight® and LAND O LAKES® coffee creamers and beverages, Horizon Organic® and Wallaby Organic premium dairy products and Earthbound Farm® organic salads, fruits and vegetables. Its popular plant-based foods and beverages brands in Europe include Alpro® and Provamel®, and its plant-based beverages in China are sold under the Silk® ZhiPuMoFang® brand. To learn more about WhiteWave, visit www.whitewave.com.

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SOURCE TapInfluence