Tag: Consumer Insights

Singapore – Global trend forecasting WGSN has announced the launch of their latest consumer tech vertical aptly called the ‘WGSN Consumer Tech’ which will aid brands in Asia in providing specialized vertical insights from up-to-the-minute movements to 10-year forecasts of the consumer tech scene in the region.

Said vertical is led by Lisa Yong, content director for consumer tech at WGSN, who has 20 years experience in product design and is currently based in Silicon Valley.

With a focus on product experience and driven by technology’s ever-growing presence, WGSN Consumer Tech will help brands, product designers, manufacturers and business owners to innovate with purpose and create meaningful consumer-first products and experiences.

For Yong, the observable breakneck speed at which Asian consumers are adopting new technologies has only been accelerated by the global pandemic and active programs by regional governments to digitize their economies, adding that the next 10 years will see technology transform or disrupt almost all industries, changing the way of live, work, play and move in the new reality.

“As technology continues to permeate all aspects of our lives, it’s vital for companies to understand new behaviors and expectations in tech consumerism, and develop the right products that consumers will want and need for years to come. WGSN Consumer Tech works across industries to outline the shifts that can be actioned today and built on tomorrow,” she stated.

As part of the launch of their consumer tech vertical, WGSN has also published its first flagship report entitled ‘Future of Consumer Tech 2030’, providing actionable insights to help tech businesses adapt and make the most out of the systemic changes affecting the post-pandemic world. 

Key insights in the report include the rise of the augmented self, an increased focus on regeneration and survival, and a post-pandemic focus on wellness that will accelerate consumer adoption of health-tech.

“WGSN Consumer Tech offers specialized insights into evolving consumer tech trends, from up-to-the-minute movements to 10-year forecasts, on one platform. With a talent map of over 250 people around the world, WGSN provides global trend insights and expertly curated data. We empower clients to develop products and services today, for tomorrow’s world,” said Carla Buzasi, president and CEO at WGSN.

Manila, Philippines – At a time when there is stronger imperative for brands to deliver data-driven brand experiences and campaigns, global advertising agency network dentsu in the Philippines has announced a new leadership movement within its data department – the elevation of Roki Ferrer, its former Connections Strategy and Research Lead, to now assume the role of Head of Data. 

The network’s Filipino team said that the new leadership is in line with its goal of keeping the agency’s commitment to delivering ideas-led, data-driven, and tech-enabled work. 

The appointment of Ferrer commences with immediate effect and will report directly to dentsu Philippines’ CEO, JC Catibog. 

Ferrer is a marketing and communications expert who boasts over 16 years of experience in brand management, corporate communications, and integrated marketing communications, as well as connections planning experience. His foundation of business understanding and campaign management can be seen through the success of the campaigns he had worked on as a client marketer. 

These campaigns include work for Coca-Cola, Globe Telecom, and SkinWhite. In the past five years, he has worked on the agency side and widened his perspectives of different planning tools, frameworks, and approaches to deliver custom solutions in solving complex business problems for both local and global brands

Catibog said that during Ferrer’s stay with the agency, which started in 2019, he has enabled the team to become thought-leaders in the realm of consumer and media by spearheading webinars, media bulletins, and bespoke research consultancies, most especially in the pandemic, where insight-building activities surfaced “new truths.”

“Roki’s marketing acumen and knowledge of the power of data will sharpen consumer understanding of our clients and future-proof the agency to unlock audience identity solutions, solutions that help navigate challenges in the digital world,” said Catibog.

For his new role, Roki will be expanding his strategy and research remit to equip and accelerate the data offering of dentsu Philippines and create business value through data services and products for clients.

Ferrer himself commented, “People-based marketing is the way forward and data will be the spine that bridges brands closer to the ever-evolving consumer beliefs, dispositions, and behaviors.” 

“I am looking forward to working with the team to deliver next-generation data products as we evolve our proprietary audience panel and planner, and find key technology and media partnerships to build new platforms. It is definitely an exciting time for dentsu,” he added. 

Singapore – The digital disruption during the offset of the global pandemic has made businesses in the Asia Pacific prioritize investment in improving insight and analytics capabilities, a new report from computer software company Adobe shows.

The APAC-centric report shows around 49% of businesses willing to invest in insight and analytic solutions for their business to achieve their top marketing goals this year. In addition, one third (35%) of ANZ leaders believe their organization has strong capabilities in accuracy, actionability, speed, and access of insights, while Asian leaders are far more pessimistic at around 9%.

With that in mind, leaders in ANZ think their interest in investing to analytic support is a focus on personalized customer experience as 33% of respondents agree to this reasoning, while Asian leaders are committed to enabling digital customer acquisition (35%).

Duncan Egan, vice president of DX Marketing, APAC, and Japan at Adobe commented that organizations with better access to insights are more likely to say their customers are positive about their digital experience compared to their peers with lower levels of insight.

“For brands across every sector, 2020 brought a loss of predictability. Organizations of all kinds were driven online at an accelerated rate, creating a wave of new digital customers with increasing expectations. Customers now have the upper hand in the ‘digital relationship’, with more than half of marketing respondents across APAC reporting unusual changes in customer behaviors and journeys in 2020,” Egan said.

He added, “A company with a strong customer experience (CX) strategy is more likely to achieve long-term growth than its competitors, as they are better positioned to adapt to changeable customer behaviors and markets. This report highlights that organizations need to accelerate their insight and action capabilities by moving to more flexible technologies and cloud-based platforms, as well as a unified and real-time view of the customer journey.”

The report also showed that respondents who are confident about their company’s customer experience feel optimistic about their corporate strategy (63% in ANZ vs. 73% in India vs. 56% in Asia) and their own prospects for career growth (61% in ANZ vs. 70% in India vs. 57% in Asia). In addition, organizations across APAC report three significant barriers that are hampering marketing and experience: legacy technology and systems (51% in ANZ, 37% in India and Asia), workflow issues (38% in ANZ, 33% in India, and 48% in Asia), and a lack of digital skills and capabilities (34% in ANZ, 24% in India and 43% in Asia).

Egan explained that the manifested data has been a result of the current shift to remote work, which in turn has a significant and enduring impact on businesses moving forward, requiring new marketing strategies for reaching and keeping customers.

“Companies have never been more interested in being agile and adding new capabilities for seamless digital execution, with one third (34%) saying they’ve been unusually agile and able to make quick decisions,”said Egan. 

“A hybrid approach to technology – comprising cloud and other data management systems – allows organizations to be flexible and collaborative, letting them work better with existing solutions and quickly integrate new ones. The effects of such an approach within these organizations can be seen in the improved capability in key areas of analytics and insights, added Egan

Furthermore, the report also found that transparency is still lacking with only a small number of leaders (13% in ANZ and 12% in Asia) claiming their organization is effective at communicating how data is collected and used. Also, only 10% in ANZ and 13% in Asia believe they are highly effective at communicating the value offered in exchange for customers’ consent when they first encounter the brand.

Lastly, Adobe reported that most organizations are still a long way from authentically displaying digital empathy. Just over a third (37%) of Indian executives have significant insights into customer mindset, followed by 27% in ANZ and 19% in Asia. Drivers of purchase, friction points, and attribution of how marketing actions relate to customer behavior fare only marginally better.

Singapore – Consumer insights tool InsightzClub has announced the rollout of its new data discovery tool for its existing insight dashboard, aimed at driving real-time automation of insights discovery.

Through the tool, InsightzClub allows customers to run self-discovery with the accumulated data with an accessible user interface (UI). Traditionally, to obtain cross tabulations involves data processing on statistics which are time-consuming and exhaustive.

The release of the tool comes after the launch of its passive embedded insights technology on its app last December 2020, to gather data behaviorally rather than survey-based data.

“The data discovery tool is a no-code, drag and drop tool aimed to support insights and marketing teams to have the power to explore the data. The addition of the data discovery tool to our real-time dashboard is also part of the end-to-end customer automation stack,” said Padmanabhan Ramaswamy, co-founder of InsightzClub.

Jakarta, Indonesia – A large majority of consumers across Asia Pacific are receptive to contextually relevant ads, according to a new report by digital ad verification Integral Ad Science (IAS).

According to the report, 96% of consumers in Indonesia, 91% in Singapore, 86% consumers in Australia, and 75% in Japan prefer digital ads to appear alongside relevant content. Consumers value seeing ads that are related to the topics or articles they’re consuming online. Relevant ads are not only more memorable, but also more likely to foster a favorable consumer opinion toward the brand, noted the report. 

Furthermore, consumers don’t just simply prefer contextual relevance; their perception of an ad is also impacted by it. Roughly 9 out of 10 consumers in Singapore and Indonesia and more than 7 out of 10 in Australia and Japan say their perception of an online ad is impacted by the surrounding content on the page.

Consumers in APAC tend to prefer contextual relevance of the ad be present across all verticals. Across the board, consumers paired the ads they prefer with articles categorized in the same content vertical. For example, 90% of consumers in Japan, 86% in Australia, 82% in Singapore, and 76% in Indonesia preferred entertainment ads alongside entertainment articles, and a similar sentiment was observed across verticals.

“[The] research shows that the quality of an advertising environment can influence how consumers perceive ads and associated brands. The APAC data clearly shows contextually relevant ads impact consumers beyond their immediate response, forming part of their longer-term recall and favorability towards a brand,” said Laura Quigley, SVP for APAC at IAS.

She added, “Contextual targeting represents a major opportunity for brands in 2021 and understanding how context influences consumers’ perception of ads is critical to capture long-term interest. For marketers, this is essential to stand out within increasingly crowded marketplaces and drive action as a result of ads.”

London, United Kingdom – Market research company YouGov has announced upgrades to its online tool Global Fan Profiles, an insights service platform, which now includes tracking of fan sentiments regarding esports globally.

Initially, Global Fan Profiles is built upon more than 300,000 interviews per year collected on a continuous basis. It provides an instant view of the size, make-up, attitudes, and behaviors of fan bases in 32 key esports markets including the United States, China, India, Brazil, Germany, South Korea, and Malaysia.

Furthermore, the online tool is designed to help properties, sponsors, and rights holders identify the size of their fan bases, who their fans are, how fans consume content, and how they align with the thousands of brands and audience trends YouGov tracks on a daily basis.

According to the company, the enhanced Global Fan Profiles means shedding light on the nuisance marketers often face when dealing with the specifics and market base for the esports industry.

“It gives an instant view of fan bases around the world, providing comprehensive and precise data across 200 leagues, 50 events, 45+ game titles, and 2,000 teams in sport and esports. Subscribers can easily create side-by-side comparisons of individual game titles, leagues, events, tournaments, and team fan bases,” the company said in a statement.

YouGov Global Fan Profiles provides a much deeper dataset than just isolated esports and sports attitudes. Subscribers can connect data across sport and esports with core demographics, media consumption, brand preference, and interest, as well as following, viewing, and awareness.

Some of the benefits also include:

  • –Sponsorship: Develop compelling propositions using real data on the number of fans a title, league or team has, who they are, and how they align with potential sponsors 
  • –Esport properties: Create side-by-side comparisons of individual game titles, leagues, events, tournaments, and team fan bases 
  • –Marketing: Use media consumption data to more effectively and efficiently reach target consumers 
  • –Strategy: Assess international market differences in fan base size and make-up to inform strategic plans and decisions 
  • –Broadcast: Prove growth and composition of a fan base to support broadcast negotiations 
  • –Sponsor activation: Use fan profile data to create laser-focused activation strategies with real impact 
  • –Benchmark: Compare fan bases with key competitors for internal analysis or external validation 

For Nicole Pike, YouGov’s global sector head of esports and gaming, the Global Fan Profiles tool can aid in “moving the conversation away from generic ‘esports fans’ and toward a more nuanced view of the distinct fan bases within this growing space.”

“Esports is such a valuable and fast-developing industry that properties, partners, and rights holders deserve to have accurate and always-on data at their fingertips. Sponsors are getting more sophisticated about how and where they choose to invest in the space, and YouGov Global Fan Profiles is the most comprehensive, in-depth, and valuable dataset in the market,” Pike stated.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – New report from integrated car e-commerce platform Carsome showed a significant change in private car ownership and the aspect of buying and selling of cars among consumers in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand despite COVID-19.

Malaysian and Indonesia consumers have shown a greater interest in buying cars after the pandemic lockdowns, with up to 32% and 12% of consumers respectively showing interest compared to pre-lockdown behavior.

Meanwhile, all three markets saw an increase in consumers wanting to sell their cars, with Malaysia registering a 133% spike of consumers, followed by Indonesians (up 52%) and Thais (up 15%). 

As more and more consumers are selling their old cars due to getting more cash on hand, the usage of car selling platforms, including Carsome, also became popular 55% among Malaysian respondents, 34% among Indonesian respondents and 19% among Thai respondents. 

The increase of consumers selling their cars all have primary reasons in doing so due to financial constraints brought by unstable income and lack of budget. Other reasons include selling the much older car in favor of an existing usable car in their property, savings for future circumstances, and uncertainty of the economy after the pandemic woes.

On average, most Malaysian respondents (58%) plan to buy a car in a span of 1-6 months, while Indonesians (64%) and Thais (63%) plan to buy a car in a span of 7-12 months. Those that buy a car in a shorter time span reason out that a car is urgent to carry on daily duties. 

In terms of selling their cars, all the three markets shared an equal view of selling their cars in a span of 12 months, adding up the reason for replacing the car and optimism for the economy post-pandemic on reasons why to sell the car, aside from extra finances. In addition, all markets have shared the same perception that car dealers and car inspection centers are vital in selling cars to reduce contact of COVID-19 (Malaysians, 83%; Indonesians, 92%; Thai, 94%)

More than 50% of Malaysian and Indonesian respondents have lessened their car usage, while Thais have maintained the level of car usage pre-pandemic and post-pandemic. 

“The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way Southeast Asians think of car ownership and mobility. The need to balance socially distancing and financial stability is leading many to a conclusion that the idea of car ownership is valuable to them during the pandemic. The car industry will continue to thrive as more Southeast Asians plan their car buying and selling within one to six months, creating a significant flow of car sales in the industry,” Carsome said in a statement.

Carsome conducted the survey in October 2020 among 1,000 Malaysian consumers, 1,005 Indonesian consumers and 1,055 Thai consumers. The survey was carried out through online panels sourced by research agencies.

Singapore – Marketing insights startup InsightzClub has announced the launch of its new customer insights solutions which uses the passive-embedded technology.

The aforementioned technology focuses on gathering data based on actual consumer behavior rather than data collected from surveys or those based on user claims. 

InsightzClub will make available to customers two new solutions- a brand journey solution and an advertising effectiveness solution from early 2021 onwards.

InsightzClub’s passive-embedded technology utilizes a mix of image recognition, textual analytics, and behavioral signals to creative data analytics to arrive at metrics for brand journey and advertising effectiveness.

In a statement to MARKETECH APAC, InsightzClub’s co-founder and managing director Padmanabhan Ramaswamy said the newest innovation responds to a greater need to ‘understand behavior more accurately, as well as providing more confidence to marketers to make data driven decisions.’.

He also stated that InsightzClub envisions to ‘offer solutions to consumer brands who are more likely to be early entrants to use new disruptive solutions in the market to set a precedence for other consumer brands to follow across the region.”.

“We are very excited at the possibilities these two solutions could offer to change  the manner in which consumer insights are consumed. These two solutions have been developed at the back of extensive R&D by our technology team. We look forward to partnering with various brands on these solutions to drive data driven decisions,” Ramaswamy added.

Once available, the new solutions will be offered as subscriptions to customers. and can be accessed by downloading the InsightzClub mobile app on Google Play or Apple App Store.

Singapore – The pandemic, which caused a drastic decline in retail sales, has created a new brand loyalty shift among Singaporean consumers causing for them to switch brands this year, new research from customer experience company Qualtrics show.

About 56% of the respondents have opted out for cheaper brands during the pandemic. Similarly, 57% of the respondents said that they are more likely to buy items on promotion, while half (51%) have bought different brands due to availability.

“While we know consumers will always value cost, quality, and convenience, findings from the Qualtrics study highlight the major extent to which people are actively seeking out alternatives. In fact, a third of respondents said they have tried at least one different brand since the pandemic began,” said Lisa Khatri, research and brand experience lead for Qualtrics in APJ.

The research also showed renewed consumer priorities among Singaporeans in terms of where to spend their money.

There has been a significant increase in purchases relating to takeaways and home delivery systems (50%), fresh food (42%), and packaged groceries (37%) as well as utility bills and service expenditure (47%), and cleaning products (35%). On the other hand, the majority of the consumers said that they’re spending less on luxury brands and products (60%), entertainment and travel (60%), eating out at restaurants (55%), and alcohol (48%).

India – With the festive season already kicking off, shoppers are getting geared up for their holiday spend. In India, consumers have revealed that during this time, they are more likely to buy a product online when it is discounted and have an easy return policy, according to a study by global marketing company OMG and international research group YouGov.

The two came out as the top priorities for online shoppers in India, coming after good quality of products, which inevitably reigns their purchase specifications. On-time delivery is also a top priority for majority, or 32%, of consumers. Meanwhile, about the same percentage, 20%, is reflected across those who stated the following factors in their holiday purchases: products being in a single place, authenticity of products, brands that are homegrown, flexible payment options, and e-commerce that have varied brands. About 9% of consumers, on the other hand, stated ease of navigation among e-commerce as a priority. 

The study also probed into the kind of products Indian consumers are buying the most online. Food essentials came out with the highest percentage of consumer intent. Groceries and health food drinks for children led the list. Indian shoppers were also shown to depend on e-commerce when looking for household entertainment products.