National Consumer Panel

PRIVACY NOTICE

NCP PRIVACY NOTICE

Effective Date: May 12, 2023

National Consumer Panel LLC (NCP) is a joint venture between its two members - the two leading consumer insights providers in the United States - Cirana (formerly "Information Resources, Inc." or "IRi") and Nielsen Consumer LLC ("NielsenIQ" or "NIQ"). NCP provides the highest quality, actionable consumer data to support the needs of both Circana and NielsenIQ.

We take privacy very seriously. We have created this Privacy & Cookie Notice (this "Notice") to help answer questions you may have about how we protect and use your information.

This Notice states that NCP has the express consent of each member of your household, including the parent or guardian of any minor in your household, to collect and use personal identifying information about you and them (both adults and children) as described below, unless you contact us to advise us otherwise. Please be sure each member of your household reads this Notice carefully.

• Our privacy commitment
• What information we collect
• How we contact you
• How we use the Information you provide us
• When we share your information
• Your choices and access
• Cookies and other Internet technologies
• Third party sites
• Data security & transfer
• Data retention & Deletion
• Termination for Certain Activities
• Rewards Points Maximum
• About children
• Updates to this Statement
• Contacting us
• CCPA Notice - California Residents Only
• Financial Incentive Notice - California Residents Only

A. OUR PRIVACY COMMITMENT

We protect the identities of our participants. We will NOT use your personal identifying information to advertise, promote, or market goods or services directly to you and we do not allow our clients to market directly to you.

"Personal identifying information" means information that by itself - like your first and last name, home postal address or personal e-mail address - or in combination with other information, could identify a specific individual.

B. WHAT INFORMATION WE COLLECT

  • Information you give us.During the recruitment process, the panel registration process or as part of a research survey, you provide us with information about you and others in your household. This may include your name, mailing address, telephone number, and e-mail address. You also provide us with demographic information such as gender, birth date, marital status, occupation and other information. We may also (but may not) request more detailed demographic information such as race or ethnic group, religion, political views, and/or more detailed financial information including net asset value. Through your participation in our panels, we collect your behavior and preference data. "Behavior data" is when, why or how you do things such as how frequently you shop for groceries. "Preference data" means the choices you make such as which breakfast cereals you buy. If your household participates in a panel that involves healthcare information, we or our service providers may collect certain health-related information about you and the members of your household, including healthcare services received, prescriptions and over-the-counter medications used, the conditions for which these medications are used, and other pharmacy products that you purchase or use. We or our service providers will anonymize all such health-related information prior to it being sent to our clients.

We may also administer surveys to some members. These surveys request additional market research information and help us better understand consumer behavior, use, and trends. Your participation in a survey is always voluntary, and you therefore have a choice whether to provide the requested survey information.

  • Information from your use of our scanners or software, Site and on the Internet. Depending upon the panel, information may be collected manually via scanners or automatically, and automatic data collection may not always be obvious to you. If your household participates in a panel that involves online or Internet or mobile device activity information, we may collect information about your activity on such devices, either directly or automatically through the use of software, cookies, web beacons or other technology.

If you download our application software onto your mobile device, we will receive data when you voluntarily activate hardware functions such as your camera. With your consent, we may also collect information about the location of your device once you download our application software onto your mobile device.

We may also automatically receive information about your system, device, network, and application software. This includes technical information, such as your Internet Protocol (IP) address, the type of browser you are using, the date and time of your visit, the web page you have visited immediately prior to visiting this Site, device identifier, device model, operating system, and language set. Cookies, pixel tags, web beacons, clear GIFs or other similar technologies may be used in connection with the Site. Please see Section G on Cookies for more information.

  • Information we get from other sources.

  • - We employ analytics vendors to gather anonymous or aggregate information about how users interact with our scanners or software.
  • After you join a panel, we may receive additional information about you from other sources, including other NCP measurement products. This may include information such as what you watch or buy, and your exposure to advertising. We obtain this information from many sources, including outside sources. These include, for example,
    • Census data,
    • The manufacturers and sellers of the products you purchase or use,
    • "Loyalty" programs (like those that offer rewards and points),
    • Organizations that collect online data,
    • Data suppliers,
    • Companies that combine purchase information, and
    • Other entities that have a legal right to provide such information to us.

We may combine the information from your household with these additional data. We will use it only for the purposes described in this Notice. By participating in this panel, you agree that we may obtain this information about you and combine it in this way.

C. HOW WE CONTACT YOU

  • By participating in the National Consumer Panel, you agree to receive communications from NCP for purposes including (but not limited to):

  • Reminders to transmit your shopping trip data
  • Newsletters and other updates
  • Sweepstakes and contests
  • Information about your scanning technology
  • Requests to return your scanning equipment (if necessary)
• NCP will utilize various types of communication methods, including (but not limited to):
  • email
  • phone - utilizing both live Panel Support Specialists and IVR automated calls
  • Panelist website message center
  • Push messaging (for mobile app users)
  • Text messaging
• Pursuant to FCC regulations, you have the right to opt in/opt out of receiving telephone calls from NCP:
• Individuals applying for panel membership may elect not to provide a phone number during registration (however a valid email address must then be provided).
• Existing Panelists may elect to be added to NCP's "Do Not Call" list by either logging into the Panelist website and changing their personal settings or by contacting our Panel Support Center (however a valid email address must then be provided).
• In order to maintain your panel membership, NCP requires at least one method other than standard mail in which to contact you - either a valid email or phone number. If you request to opt out of both forms of communication, your panel membership will be subject to cancellation.

D. HOW WE USE THE INFORMATION YOU PROVIDE US

  • Information you provide during the recruitment process is used to determine eligibility for participation in one of our panels. After you join a panel, we use the information we collect to create a variety of research insights for our clients. We use tools and methods to make sure that there is no reasonable possibility of identifying an individual participant in the reports that we create for our clients. For example, we combine the responses we collect from you with the responses of others to produce "aggregated" reports. We also create scientific reports based upon modeled information. "Modeled information" is data we have developed based upon demographic and behavioral characteristics (like your gender, age, and purchasing habits) to predict what people with similar or matching characteristics would buy. This allows advertisers to identify the likely audience for a marketing campaign.

Our research insights help our clients make choices about where and how they advertise, including on print, broadcast television, radio, online and mobile. Among other things, our solutions have helped clients:

  • Understand which detergents appeal to households with pets
  • Identify the types of breakfast cereals consumers in different demographic groups would be likely to buy
  • o Understand what products consumers purchase more than once versus those they only try one time
  • Determine the audience that would be more likely to respond to a particular advertisement

  • We may use the information you give us to contact you, whether you are a current or former member of our panels. When we contact you - by phone, e-mail, text message, or postal mail depending on what information you provide to us - we will usually do so for one of the following reasons: to respond to your inquiries; to validate answers you gave; to update our records to ensure your information is correct; to ensure that the equipment is working properly; to send you important information regarding your participation such as how to redeem rewards; to provide notice regarding changes to our terms, conditions, and policies; to ensure compliance with terms of active panel membership; or to offer you expanded research opportunities through panels and surveys. For instance, if our service will be temporarily suspended for maintenance, we might send you an e-mail. Generally, you may not opt-out of these communications, which are not promotional in nature. If you qualify for a sweepstakes, we may use the e-mail address that you have given us to send you a confirmation of your sweepstakes entry. We will use your contact information to let you know if you have won a sweepstakes. When contacting you by phone, we may do so using automatic dialing systems and/or pre-recorded messages. We may also send you push notifications through our software.

  • We may also use the information for business purposes, such as data analysis, audits, developing new products, enhancing our Site and software, improving our services, identifying usage trends and determining the effectiveness of our communications.

If we combine non-personal information with personal identifying information, the combined information will be treated by us as personal identifying information as long as it is combined.

E. WHEN WE SHARE YOUR INFORMATION

We employ third parties who provide services for us such as website or application hosting, data analysis, infrastructure provision, IT services, customer service, email delivery services, credit card processing, auditing services, reward, incentive, sweepstakes, and other similar services.

We also work with other companies for the purposes of data processing or market research product development purposes, which, as part of the services being provided, may be given access to or come into contact with your information. These companies are contractually required to keep your information confidential and are not permitted to use this information for any other purpose except to carry out the services that they are performing for us. In accordance with market research guidelines, we may also provide individual level information to other companies. If we do, they are bound to keep the information confidential and use it only for research or statistical purposes.

In consideration for your participation in NCP, NCP may share and/or disclose your information, from time to time, for the purposes set forth in and subject to the terms of this Notice, to each of NCP's members, being Circana and NielsenIQ. We may disclose your information to other members of the NielsenIQ and/or Circana family of companies for the purposes described in this Notice.

We will provide your information to a third party if the law requires it or if it allows us to exercise our legal rights or take action regarding potentially illegal activities, or to protect the safety or rights of any person or legal entity. If all or part of our company is sold, merged or otherwise transferred, we may transfer your information as part of that transaction and will take steps to ensure that your information is protected as described in this Notice.

F. YOUR CHOICES AND ACCESS

Participation in an NCP panel is always completely voluntary. If you participate in an NCP panel, you may review your contact information at any time by logging into the panel member website at www.ncponline.com. You may also contact us if at any time you would like to correct or update the information we hold about you or if you wish to withdraw your consent and stop your participation. Please see the "Contacting Us" section below.

Opt Out Rights:
Panelists may request and obtain from us once a year, free of charge, a list of the third parties or affiliated companies with whom we have disclosed their personal information (if any) for their direct marketing purposes in the prior calendar year, as well as the type of personal information disclosed to those third parties. See the "Contact Us" section for where to send such requests. NCP will not sell your information to third parties if you do not wish us to do so. Accordingly, you can prevent disclosure of your personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes by clicking on this form.

G. COOKIES AND OTHER INTERNET TECHNOLOGIES

General Use:
Cookies are small files that store certain data on a device or computer. We use both session and persistent cookies on our recruitment and panel member websites. Cookies, pixel tags, web beacons or similar technologies may be used on some of our website pages and HTML-formatted e-mail messages to, among other things, manage panels and to enhance your experience as a panelist. We may also use these technologies for security purposes, to facilitate navigation, to display information more effectively, and to better serve you with more tailored information, as well as for site administration purposes, e.g., to gather statistical information about the usage of our websites in order to continually improve the design and functionality, to understand how users use our websites, and to assist us with resolving questions regarding use of the websites.

Additionally, we may allow our member recruitment vendors to use Web beacons and cookies on our registration pages for purposes such as payment verification. We have no access to or control over these cookies. This Notice covers the use of cookies by NCP and members of the NielsenIQ and/or Circana family of companies only and does not cover the use of cookies by any of our vendors.

Audience Measurement and Ad Effectiveness - Panel Members Only:

After you become a panelist, we also use cookies for audience measurement purposes. These cookies are used to track exposure to advertising and relate it back to purchases. If you are an existing panelist and you do not want to participate in NCP's online audience measurement research, please click here to get an opt-out cookie. Please note that because this is a browser-level opt-out, if you use more than one browser, you will need to opt out in each. If you delete your cookies, you will have to opt-out again. To learn more about the use of cookies in general, please visit www.allaboutcookies.org, located outside the Site.

H. THIRD PARTY SITES

This Notice does not address, and we are not responsible for, the privacy, information or other practices of any third parties, including any third party operating any site to which this website contains a link. The inclusion of a link on this website does not imply endorsement of the linked site by us or by our affiliates.

I. DATA SECURITY & TRANSFER

We may store and process your information, including your personally identifiable information, in any country where we have facilities or in which we engage service providers. The data protection laws of other countries may differ from those in your home country, but you may be assured that your information will be stored using administrative, managerial and technical measures to protect your information against unauthorized access, loss, destruction, or alteration. Please remember that storage and communication of data cannot always be one-hundred percent secure.

By participating in this panel, you consent to the transfer of your information to countries outside of your country of residence.

J. DATA RETENTION & DELETION

We generally retain your personal information for as long as necessary for the performance of the agreement between us with you as a panelist and to comply with our legal obligations. You can request to have all your personal information deleted entirely. Please note that if you request the deletion of your personal information:

  • We may retain some of your information as necessary for our legitimate business interests, such as fraud detection and protection and enhancing safety.
  • We may retain and use your personal information to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations. [For example, NCP may keep some of your information for tax, legal reporting and auditing obligations.]
  • Information you have shared with others (e.g., Reviews) may continue to be publicly visible on the NCP Platform, even after your account is cancelled. However, attribution of such information to you will be removed. Additionally, some copies of your information (e.q., log records) may remain in our database, but are disassociated from personal identifiers.
  • Because we maintain the NCP Platform to protect from accidental or malicious loss and destruction, residual copies of your personal information may not be removed from our backup systems for a limited period of time.

K. TERMINATION FOR CERTAIN ACTIVITIES

NCP reviews information, materials, and activities regularly to ensure compliance with rules, regulations, NCP policies and terms, and the spirit of NCP. NCP reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to suspend or disqualify an account from NCP if it is determined, in its sole discretion, that an act or activity taken by you may be inconsistent with applicable laws, regulations, policies and terms, and/or the spirit of NCP. NCP reserves the right, in any such prospective suspension or termination, to nullify any and all rewards that your account may have accumulated through NCP, if it is so determined in each of their sole discretion.

L. REWARDS POINTS MAXIMUM

You may accrue up to 999,999 rewards points earned from engaging in certain activities, including transmission of shopping information and completing surveys. You may redeem reward points in exchange for certain products, gift cards, and other incentives. You will not be able to accrue any additional rewards points above the 999,999 rewards points maximum. As a result, NCP may begin notifying you, encouraging you to redeem rewards points, upon your accrual of at least 900,000 rewards points. Once your reward points exceed a total of 950,000 rewards points, NCP may, unilaterally and automatically, redeem a portion of your rewards points for items of value, the form, amount, and value of which shall be determined by NCP in its sole discretion, and notify you of such redemption, which you will typically receive within two weeks. Such redemption will typically be for approximately 200,000 rewards points, based on the value of the reward points upon the date of redemption, such evaluation to be made by NCP at such time, in its sole discretion. This NCP redemption will allow you to continue to accrue rewards points for certain activities and also reap the benefit of the value of such rewards points as provided and offered by NCP.

M. ABOUT CHILDREN

If we collect information about children, we take special care. When we collect information online directly from very young children (under age 13), special regulations apply. The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act ("COPPA") requires that we get the verifiable, informed consent of the parent or guardian and we comply with this law. The parent or guardian may cancel this consent at any time. You may also contact us at any time if you would like to learn about any information we may have about your children. All of the other provisions of this policy apply to information about both adults and children of every age.

N. UPDATES TO THIS STATEMENT

We may change this Notice. Please take a look at the "Effective Date" at the top of this page to see when this Notice was last revised. If we were to make a material change (the kind of change to the way we use your data that might make you reconsider participating in this panel) we will notify you at the most recent mailing address or e-mail address we have on file and we will provide you with access at least 30 calendar days prior to its implementation, giving you time to resign from the panel if you want. You may view the currently effective Notice at any time by checking the Notice posted on this Site. Your continued participation in our panel after the effective date of any changes will constitute your acceptance of all effective changes.

O. CONTACTING US

If you have questions or complaints regarding our privacy statement or practices, please contact the NCP Panel Support Center at 1-800-962-6700, or email us. You also can write to us at The National Consumer Panel, 6800 Jericho Turnpike, Suite 102E, Syosset, NY 11791-4401. Please note that online communications are not always secure; so please do not include sensitive information in your inquiry to us. If you wish to make a request to access the personal information we collect and retain about you, please complete this form.

P. CCPA NOTICE - CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS ONLY

The California Consumer Privacy Act, as revised by the California Privacy Rights Act (collectively, CCPA) requires NCP to provide California consumers with the following information about how their Personal Information is processed and the rights available to them with respect to their information.

Categories of Personal Information that is Collected, Disclosed, and Shared

The categories of personal information about California consumers that will have been collected and disclosed in the preceding 12 months for a business purpose are as follows:

  • Name, Contact Information, and Identifiers: name, postal address, unique identifier (NCP ID number), online identifier, Internet Protocol address, email address, account name, or other similar identifiers.
  • Customer Records: electronic customer records containing personal information, collected for account management and the rewards program, such as name, age, address, or telephone number.
  • Demographic Information: demographical information such as marital status, occupation, financial status, or other information.
  • Behavioral Information: information about when, why, where, or how you do things such as how frequently you shop for groceries.
  • Preference Information: information about the choices you make such as which breakfast cereals you buy.
  • Protected Classifications: demographic information of protected classifications under California or federal law such as race, ethnic group, or religion.
  • Purchase History: commercial information including products or services purchased, or obtained, or other purchase histories.
  • Usage Data: internet or other electronic network activity information including, but not limited to, information regarding a consumer's interaction with the Site or the App.
  • Location Information: with your consent, information about the location of your device may also be collected.
Categories of Sources of Personal Information
  • From you, directly and indirectly as described above.
  • From service provider(s), third parties, or other sources as described above.
Purposes for Collecting Personal Information

What is collected and how your personal information is used is described in Section B - Section D above.

NCP does not sell your information as defined by the CCPA; rather, we may disclose deidentified or aggregate information and/or Demographic Data about you to commercial partner(s) and/or other third parties in aggregate or deidentified form and may also provide other aggregate or deidentified information to such third parties. Aggregate or deidentified form includes demographic information about a person or household without specifically or reasonably identifying the person. For example, this information does not contain Personal Information such as an email address, nor does the combination of demographic information make it readily possible to identify the person.

Categories of Third Parties with Which Personal Information is Shared
  • Service Provider(s)
  • Commercial Partner(s) and Other Third Parties
  • Law Enforcement
  • Affiliate(s)
  • Business Transfers
For further information, please see Section E above.

California Consumer Rights

You have the right to make the following requests, at no charge, up to twice every 12 months:
  • Request a copy of the specific pieces of personal information that has been collected about you in the prior 12 months.
  • Request deletion of your personal information that has been collected about you, subject to certain exemptions.
  • Request that we disclose what personal information of yours has been collected, used and sold.

How Do I Submit a California Consumer Rights Request?

If you wish to make a consumer rights request, including to access to or deletion of the personal information we collect and retain about you, please see below:

Q. FINANCIAL INCENTIVE NOTICE - CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS ONLY

If you are a California resident, starting January 1, 2020, you have a right to receive this Notice of Financial Incentive, as defined in the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, Civil Code §1798.100 et seq. (CCPA). This Notice is to provide you with information regarding any financial incentive that may be provide to you in exchange for your personal information. All terms are used in this Notice as defined in the CCPA or applicable regulations thereunder.

Summary of the Financial Incentive

NCP allows you to earn rewards for transmitting your data when making purchases in stores and/or online. In exchange for your participation, you have the opportunity to earn points for transmitted data and other methods in exchange for rewards as well as to have your data transmissions digitally organized to allow for easy look-up and analysis.

How Do I Qualify for the Financial Incentive?

The incentives that are offered are financial rewards in exchange for the disclosure of certain information (i.e., the categories of information as stated above). In order to redeem rewards through NCP, you must register for NCP with an email address that has a linkable domain, including a personal email address through Gmail, Yahoo, or Microsoft. If you register for NCP with an email address other than the foregoing, you may be able to earn points through NCP but you may not be able to redeem those points to acquire rewards.

In some instances, you may have the opportunity to provide personal information on an ongoing basis in exchange for rewards or other financial incentives, on an ongoing basis, the amount or nature of which will be specified in each instance at the time the personal information is to be submitted.

Please review this section carefully prior to registration to ensure the email address you register with will allow you to redeem rewards through NCP. We review NCP information, materials, and activities regularly to ensure compliance with rules, regulations, NCP policies and terms, and the spirit of NCP. We reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to suspend or disqualify an account from NCP if we determine, in our sole discretion, that an act or activity taken by you may be inconsistent with applicable laws, regulations, policies and terms, and/or the spirit of NCP. We reserve the right, in any such prospective suspension or termination, to nullify any and all rewards that your account may have accumulated through NCP, if we so determine in our sole discretion.

Opt-In/Opt-Out to the Financial Incentive

You can opt-in to the financial incentive by downloading and successfully registering for NCP's App (including connecting your email address) and transmitting data.

If you subsequently wish to withdraw from the financial incentive, you may do so at any time by contacting us at support@ncponline.com. For other methods please see Section P above.

Valuation

Each financial incentive is reasonably related to your submission and the use of your information, which is based upon good-faith estimates by us of the value of such information. To value this exchange, items taken into consideration include, without limitation, estimates regarding the anticipated revenue generated from such information, the anticipated expenses which might be incurred in the collection, storage, and use of such information in the operation of NCP, and other relevant factors related to the estimated value of such information to our commercial partner(s), as permitted under the CCPA.

This Notice replaces any other statement, whether written or oral, made to you about our practices with respect to the collection and use of personal identifying information.