Arbitron and VNU have signed Wal-Mart for a subscription to the pilot panel of Project Apollo, the single-source, national research service based on Arbitron's Portable People Meter system and ACNielsen's Homescan technology, reports MediaBuyerPlanner.

Wal-Mart will also join the Project Apollo Steering Committee, a group of seven advertisers that, along with their advertising agencies, are advising Arbitron and VNU on the design of the Project Apollo service.

These advertisers - which in aggregate spend more than $6.8 billion for advertising on measured media - are gaining early insights into the link between consumer exposure to advertising on multiple media and their shopping/purchase behavior by their participation on the board, according to the companies.

"Thanks to Wal-Mart's participation on the Steering Committee, we expect we will be better able to develop Project Apollo into an even more valuable and robust single-source research service," said Linda Dupree, executive vice-president, Portable People Meter New Product Development, Arbitron Inc., in a statement. "Wal-Mart will be able to provide unique insights into the role that retailers play in process of consumer marketing."

Arbitron and VNU have deployed a pilot panel of more than 5,000 households as a demonstration of the Project Apollo national marketing research service, which would collect multi-media and purchase information from a common sample of consumers.

The pilot panel is designed to show advertisers how the project would enable a better understanding of the link between consumer exposure to advertising on multiple media and their shopping/purchase behavior.

The pilot panel for the national marketing research service consists of approximately 11,000+ participants in 5,000 households, providing, for the first time, multi-media exposure and purchase information from a common sample of consumers.

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