The alliance has been billed as business move that will provide an improved means to help the fragrance industry better understand both the impact and interaction of consumer communication and how that impacts on their sales volumes.
"This spring's enhancement of NPD's Men's FragranceTrack will add a deeper understanding of how a fragrance's advertising strategy is linked to its awareness and image." said Diane Nicholson, president of NPD's Beauty business.
Nicholson went on to add that the move enhances its position as a market information provider with more than ten years experience in this field and that now the company was in an even stronger position to provide precise information on how advertising and editorial coverage can impact on product sales.
The companies claim that the enhancements to the service mean that detailed reports can be given on spending by company and brand, as well as providing a better understanding of how advertising dollars spent impact brand awareness, image, and news and editorial coverage.
The service, for which the development stage was first initiated in the fall of 2006, will be provided on a syndicated basis, backed up by custom reporting and analysis.
"NPD's consumer preference data enables us to tie the communication audit of the fragrance market to significant business outcomes" said Gary Getto, EVP Media Research at VMS.
"We are looking forward to providing insights, and leveraging our best-of-breed editorial and advertising content and analysis, as part of the Men's Fragrance Track report in spring, 2007," Getto added
VMS, which monitors thousands of different media sources across the globe, said it plans to partner up with NPD in the same capacity for a number of its other vertical markets, which include fashion, food and beverage, automotive and the beauty industry in general.
