Jacques Blanchard Joins Nielsen’s BASES Service as Key Advisor

December 4, 2007- New York City- The Nielsen Company today announced that it has retained Jacques Blanchard as an adviser for its BASES service, the world’s foremost provider of pre-market consumer insights for marketers of consumer package goods.  Blanchard will advise on strategy and product development.

Previously, Blanchard was a co-founder of the marketing consultancy firm Novaction, and one of the developers of its simulated test market system for new products.  Novaction was acquired by Ipsos in 2001. Blanchard retired as Chairman of Ipsos-Novaction earlier this year.

“We are extremely pleased to be working with Jacques,” said Tim Willke, Global President of BASES. “Jacques’ reputation and experienced leadership are outstanding.  BASES is recognized as the gold standard in forecasting, and over the last few years we have added a number of capabilities to improve the diagnostic power of our services.  We want to help clients make their new products better and more successful.  Jacques is an ideal person to help us progress even further.”

Added Blanchard: “I have been impressed with the evolution of BASES’ services, and in particular, Nielsen’s willingness to invest in and improve their offerings.  BASES has made significant progress on diagnostic capabilities and added an impressive array of new tools.  It is a tremendous opportunity to be working with Nielsen.”

About The Nielsen Company

The Nielsen Company is a global information and media company with leading market positions and recognized brands in marketing information (ACNielsen), media information (Nielsen Media Research), online intelligence (NetRatings and BuzzMetrics), trade shows and business publications (Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek). The privately held company is active in more than 100 countries, with headquarters in Haarlem, the Netherlands, and New York, USA. For more information, please visit www.nielsen.com.

About BASES

BASES, a service of The Nielsen Company, provides services that help clients achieve growth through successful new product innovation. BASES is known for analytical and forecasting expertise, its extensive database of experience (75,000+ new product initiatives studied), and providing global coordination and consistency. BASES offers a broad range of services related to innovation strategy, new product qualification and optimization, and initiative commercialization. BASES has offices in 22 locations, partnering with most of the world’s leading marketers across a wide range of business sectors.

 

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