NIQ // MAPIDEA Partnership - Insight View

Interview with Oliver Pape, Senior Sales Consultant at GeoMarketing, NIQ (NielsenIQ), on the role of Location Intelligence and the Strategic Collaboration with Mapidea, one month before the joint webinar “Boosting business value for Retail & FMCG using Geospatial Intelligence [NielsenIQ + Mapidea]” (more info an registration here).

Mapidea: Oliver, why is this collaboration with Mapidea strategically important for NIQ at this time?

Oliver Pape: At NIQ, our mission is to provide the most complete understanding of consumers and markets. That mission increasingly requires not just the right data, but also the right tools to activate that data in a meaningful way. Location has always been a critical part of consumer behavior - where people live, where they shop, how far they’re willing to travel - and yet many companies still struggle to analyze and act on geographic insights.

That’s why this collaboration with Mapidea is so valuable. It allows us to offer our clients not only world-class datasets - like purchasing power, retail turnover, and product-level demand - but also a powerful geospatial intelligence platform that makes those insights operational. It’s about closing the gap between data and decision-making.

Q: What does NIQ expect from working with a geospatial technology provider like Mapidea?

Oliver Pape: First, it’s about broadening access. We want more organizations to benefit from our data, and working with Mapidea helps us reach businesses that are ready to integrate spatial thinking into their daily operations - not just their strategic planning cycles.

Second, it’s about creating value through combination. Our data on its own is robust. But when combined with client data - like store performance, loyalty programs, or campaign ROI - and visualized spatially through a platform like Mapidea’s, the value multiplies. Insights become clearer, faster, and more relevant to actual business questions.

We also value the fact that Mapidea’s solution is accessible to business users, not just analysts or IT departments. That ease of use and flexibility is critical to empowering teams across the organization.

Q: How do you see the role of geography evolving in data-driven decision-making across industries?

Oliver Pape: I believe we’re just starting to unlock the potential of geography as an analytical layer. Businesses have been looking at "what" and "who" for decades - what is selling, who is buying. But "where" is now equally central.

Location connects everything: demand, competition, logistics, marketing, demographics. With more and more data sources becoming geolocated - mobile behavior, transactions, even social sentiment - the ability to explore and interpret that data spatially will define the next generation of business intelligence.

In that context, geography is no longer just a planning tool; it’s becoming a real-time performance and optimization dimension.

Q: Why Mapidea, specifically, as an NIQ Partner for this journey?

Oliver Pape: Mapidea stood out to us for several reasons. First, their focus on GeoSpatial Intelligence as a core capability, not an add-on, is aligned with our view of where the market is going. Second, their platform is designed with the user in mind - intuitive, no-code, and ready to integrate our data with other sources seamlessly.

But beyond the product, we’ve found in Mapidea an NIQ Partner that shares our vision: making data more actionable, more democratic, and more impactful. That cultural and strategic alignment is what makes this a strong, future-facing collaboration.

Q: Any final thoughts on what this means for clients of both companies?

Oliver Pape: This collaboration means clients no longer have to choose between depth of data and usability of tools. They get both. Whether it’s a retailer identifying new growth areas, a marketing team launching hyper-local campaigns, or a business analyst trying to understand market saturation - our combined solution provides the clarity, context, and confidence to act.

Ultimately, our goal is to help companies make smarter decisions. This collaboration is another step toward that mission.

Oliver Pape, Senior Geomarketing Sales Consultant at NielsenIQ, is a seasoned expert at the intersection of geospatial analytics and market intelligence. In Mapidea’s recent announcement of its partnership with NielsenIQ, Pape highlighted the powerful synergy between NielsenIQ’s geomarketing datasets and Mapidea’s spatial analytics platform, underscoring the value of integrating top-tier market data into strategic decision-making