Two of the world's largest brands have announced plans to trial a new system to maintain a high standard of data quality in conjunction with the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF).
Coke and Unilever have agreed a deal with ARF to take part in the Quality Enhancement Process pilot, which will see the organizations develop improvements in data quality used in online research projects.
"Having the right quality data is critical for sustainable and informed decision-making," explained Stan Sthanunathan, vice-president of marketing strategy and insights at the Coca-Cola Company and co-chair of ARF's Online Research Quality Council.
"Data quality issues are becoming more serious with every passing day. This is an industry challenge that requires agencies and clients to collaborate and create an industry solution that will raise the bar significantly," he continued.
The agreement could include ways to use address data more effectively as part of advertising campaigns.
Direct marketing initiatives rely on high standards of data quality to ensure that they can reach the right audience.
During the current recession, experts have pointed to direct mail initiatives as offering businesses a cheap way to maintain contact with their customers, but for the best returns on investment, high standards of address data quality must be kept.