Kimberly-Clark Client for Meredith Engagement Dividend

NEW YORK, Nov. 29, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Meredith Corporation (NYSE: MDP; www.meredith.com) announced today that Kimberly-Clark Corporation signs on to become a "premier advertising partner" in the Meredith Engagement Dividend© program powered by Nielsen.  The program, introduced this summer for implementation in calendar 2012, provides advertisers with a guaranteed increase in sales performance for their brands advertising in Meredith's industry-leading portfolio of women-focused magazines.

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"This is a breakthrough product for the magazine industry," says Mark Kaline, Global Media Director, Kimberly-Clark, which features well-known brands such as Kleenex, Huggies and Cottonelle. "We believe its focus on driving return on investment (ROI) for advertising dollars is vital to marketers seeking to build brand sales and leadership.  We're impressed with the analytics, and applaud Meredith's focus on accountability."

The Meredith Engagement Dividend program sprung from a research study conducted over a 52-week period measuring ROI for higher frequency advertising campaigns that ran in Meredith magazines during 2009 and 2010. Using analytics from Nielsen's highly regarded Homescan system – paired with Meredith's industry-leading 85 million-name database – purchases by consumers exposed to Meredith magazines were measured against shoppers with no exposure.

On average, the Meredith readers bought 10 percent more of advertised brands in categories such as food, beauty, household goods and over-the-counter drugs. In addition to increasing product sales, the research also revealed that as many as two-thirds of buyers were new purchasers of specific brands.

Meredith will work with Kimberly-Clark's brand, integrated marketing planning and analytics teams – including its agency Group M/Mindshare –over the next year to measure and track performance for the brands participating in the Meredith Engagement Dividend Program.   

"GroupM is supporting this initiative as it is a step forward for the publishing business and accountability. We believe in print and its ability to drive business and are excited to be able to prove that" says Kelly Foster, GroupM, Senior Partner. "We look forward to working with our Kimberly-Clark clients and Meredith on this exciting new form of measurement."

Michael Brownstein, Chief Revenue Officer, Meredith National Media Group, says the response from marketers to the program has been overwhelmingly enthusiastic.

"Clearly in today's competitive marketplace, smart marketers are looking to their magazine media partners to deliver results that maximize their investment in our titles," says Brownstein. "This is especially true in today's difficult and uncertain economy."

About Meredith Corporation

Meredith Corporation (NYSE:MDP; www.meredith.com) is the leading media and marketing company serving American women.  Meredith features multiple well-known national brands – including Better Homes and Gardens, Parents, Family Circle, Ladies' Home Journal, Fitness, More and American Baby – along with local television brands in fast-growing markets. Meredith is the industry leader in creating content in key consumer interest areas such as home, family, health and wellness and self-development.  Meredith uses multiple distribution platforms – including print, television, online, mobile, tablets, and video – to give consumers content they desire and to deliver the messages of its marketing partners.

Additionally, Meredith uses its many assets to create powerful custom marketing solutions for many of the nation's top brands and companies. According to the Advertising Industry Reports (AIR) survey of more than 1,500 agency and marketing professionals, Meredith is the nation's "Highest Rated Media Company." Meredith has significantly added to its marketing solution capabilities in recent years through the acquisition of cutting-edge companies in areas such as digital, mobile, word-of-mouth, social and database marketing.

SOURCE Meredith Corporation