Schaumburg, Ill., December 17, 2008- The Nielsen Company today announced it has a signed a new, long-term contract with Constellation Brands, Inc., a leading international producer and marketer of wine, spirits and imported beers, to measure product movement, as well as to provide access to Nielsen’s database of more than 700,000 U.S. retail and on-premise locations.
Under the contract, Nielsen will track Constellation’s wine and spirits products through its Beverage Data Network (BDN), which collects, validates and delivers actual product movement data from the supplier to the wholesale distributor to the retailer for both in-home and out-of-home consumption.
Constellation will also subscribe to TDLinx, a service of The Nielsen Company and the leader in location information management. TDLinx codes supermarket, mass merchandiser, drug store, wholesale club, liquor store, cigarette, convenience store, restaurant, bar and nightclub, hotel, recreation, transportation, caterer and military outlets that sell alcoholic beverages.
“Nielsen’s experience and presence in the beverage alcohol industry at all levels of the three-tier system - - supplier, distributor and retailer - - was a driving factor in our decision,” said Chris Dorsey, vice president, Information Technology and Strategy, Constellation Wines U.S., a division of Constellation Brands. “By understanding what products are sold when and where, we can plan highly efficient merchandising and promotional campaigns. We see this as a strategic advantage and an opportunity to continue raising the level of our customer service.”
“We are extremely pleased to serve Constellation Brands as part of the long and growing list of beverage alcohol companies using Nielsen’s BDN and TDLinx services,” said Richard Hurst, senior vice president, Beverage Alcohol, The Nielsen Company. “Constellation chose Nielsen because of TDLinx’s position as the industry standard for account classification, as well as for our unmatched ability to organize retail outlet information, combine store location information with sales and customer data, and provide this business critical data to Constellation cleaner and faster than anyone else.”
Constellation Brands, Inc. is a leading international producer and marketer of beverage alcohol in the wine, spirits and imported beer categories, with significant market presence in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia and New Zealand. Based in Fairport, N.Y., the company has more than 250 brands in its portfolio, sales in approximately 150 countries and operates approximately 50 wineries, distilleries and distribution facilities worldwide. It is the largest wine producer in the world; the largest wine company in the U.S. based upon sales dollar value; the largest wine company in the U.K., Australia and Canada; the second largest wine company in New Zealand; the largest beer importer and marketer in the U.S. through its Crown Imports joint venture with Mexico's Grupo Modelo; and the third largest spirits company in the U.S. Constellation Brands is an S&P 500 Index and Fortune 500® company. Major brands in the company's portfolio include Corona Extra, Black Velvet Canadian Whisky, the SVEDKA vodka line, Robert Mondavi wines, Ravenswood, Blackstone, Hardys, Banrock Station, Nobilo, Kim Crawford, Inniskillin, Jackson-Triggs and Arbor Mist. To learn more about Constellation Brands and its product portfolio visit the company's Web site at www.cbrands.com.
