MUMBAI: Nielsen Media Research in the US will launch a branding advertising campaign for ethnic groups this month.

The aim is to heighten awareness about who Nielsen is and how its TV reports accurately reflect the viewing habits of different kinds of people.

The informational advertising campaign is also designed to inform multicultural audiences about Nielsen's role in television ratings. As part of the campaign, Nielsen will roll out print ads featuring the faces of adults of various ages and ethnicities merged together, to illustrate the company's inclusive research methods.

The print ad copy is translated in Chinese, Spanish and English for respective audiences and will run in ethnic weeklies in and national publications that reach ethnic opinion leaders.

The radio ads will run on top-rated African-American and Hispanic (Spanish and English language) stations. The campaign also includes on-screen advertising in multicultural movie theaters.

Nielsen Media Research president and CEO Susan D. Whiting said, "The success of our research depends upon our ability to accurately measure and represent all TV viewers. So we strive to make sure that every ethnic group is included in the TV ratings.

"We spent a great deal of time meeting with and listening to communities from around the country in 2004. We valued the input. While we've been actively working with various ethnic groups to ensure that our measurements fully and fairly represent all television
viewers, we felt we could do more to inform people about what we do. The advertising campaign will be initiated in conjunction with our ongoing community outreach initiatives."