The Nielsen Company announced the lineup of keynote speakers for its annual Consumer 360 conference, taking place June 3-5 at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort & Spa in Phoenix. The consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry's premier educational and networking event attracts more than 1,000 industry professionals each year.

In keeping with this year's theme, "Make It Matter," industry leaders will offer insights for CPG companies to understand where to play, who to target, what to offer and how to execute. Following opening remarks by David L. Calhoun, chairman and CEO of The Nielsen Company, and John Lewis, president and CEO, ACNielsen North America, featured keynotes include:

Lisa Klauser, Vice President, Consumer & Customer Solutions, Unilever North America
"Shopper Showdown: How to Thrive in the New Economy" -- As shoppers are barraged daily with news of the mortgage meltdown, unprecedented price increases and a recession, they have developed a wide array of creative strategies to survive and thrive in the New Economy. In this session, Klauser will explore how consumers are evolving their shopping behavior and adjusting store and brand choices to offset increasing food and fuel prices, and offer insights for companies to learn how their shoppers are affected and what can be done to maintain and grow their businesses.

John McDonnell, Chief Operating Officer, The Patrón Spirits Company
"The Power of Premium Brand Building" -- Even in a challenging economy, there are successes to be had in marketing a premium brand. McDonnell will share how Patrón Tequila has become an industry benchmark in the ultra-premium white spirits category by analyzing a category, determining an unfulfilled consumer need, and developing and marketing the brand to consistently deliver to meet that need.

Greg Wasson, President & Chief Operating Officer, Walgreens
"FedEx Fast and Disney Friendly: Connecting with Customers Across 10,000 Points of Care" -- By 2012, Walgreens expects to operate 10,000 "points of care," intersecting with customers where they live and work -- from highly convenient brick-and-mortar stores to non-retail care sites, including worksite health centers, medical campus pharmacies, assisted living facilities, and specialty prescription sites. Wasson will share the company's three-pronged strategy, including broadening access through expansion of stores and alternate sites; leveraging retail stores to enhance the customer's experience through innovative store design, new product offerings and optimized assortments; and selectively expanding into related health and wellness services that strengthen core offerings beyond traditional pharmacy.

Simon Uwins, Chief Marketing Officer, Tesco's Fresh & Easy
"The Story of Fresh & Easy" -- Uwins will share how Tesco took their philosophy of creating value for their customers in Europe and brought that same philosophy to the United States. In doing so, Tesco had to create for themselves a new company, with a new culture, marketing a new brand in a new country. Uwins will discuss how Tesco used research to determine how they would create value for customers in the U.S. as they have in other parts of the world, as well as how Tesco is performing with the creation of the brand, the stores and the company.

Ann Mooney, Associate Marketing Director, P&G
Mike Hess, Global Research Director, OMD
Jack McGauley, Manager of Consumer Research, Schnucks
"Evolution of the Store as a Marketing Medium" -- The increasing fragmentation of consumers and media is driving more dollars in the store, and the need for an integrated marketing approach is more palpable than ever. The store, which is known as the last mass media opportunity, remains largely unmeasured as a marketing medium. Mooney, Hess and McGauley will present the impact of the growth in shopper marketing on the overall marketing strategy, and introduce new industry-standard metrics for evaluating the effectiveness of in-store marketing.

Renetta McCann, CEO, Starcom MediaVest Group
"Illuminating the Consumer Path to Purchase" -- The simple, linear process that once carried the consumer from exposure to an advertisement, through awareness and toward the shopping cart can no longer be trusted to deliver a meaningful consumer outcome. It is no longer sufficient to understand if a consumer saw, heard or read a commercial message. What CPG manufacturers and retailers need to know is whether or not we captured the consumer's attention -- the scarcest resource in today's economy. In her presentation, McCann will discuss how to master the consumer attention economy and effectively traverse it by leveraging a profound understanding of consumer intention.

"Our clients need immediate solutions on how to survive during these tight economic times," said Lewis. "A complete understanding of their consumers along with the right targeting and segmenting approach and innovative strategies will enable CPG companies to excel. That's what this conference is all about --providing our clients with insights and solutions to make it matter."

Registration details and the full conference schedule, including more than 25 concurrent and hands-on sessions, are available at www.consumer360.com.