Milieu Insight Archives - MARKETECH APAC

Manila, Philippines – Around 53% of Twitter users in the country have said that the social media platform is a driving force to promote freedom of speech in the country, according to the latest study from Milieu Insight.

The data also noted that 43% said that Twitter serves as a safe space for others to express their own opinions. Furthermore, 26% said it allows users to gain knowledge, with 21% saying that the platform serves as a space for healthy debates or conversations.

When asked about what they think of Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, 49% thought it was neither good nor bad. Meanwhile, 31% saw it as somewhat good with an 11% identifying it as actual good news. On the other hand, 5% said it was somewhat bad news, with 3% saying, without reservations, it was definitely bad news.

In terms of reduced censorship measures in the platform, 43% states that it will benefit others in a positive way, whilst 22% had no opinion of said changes, and 20% expressing being uncomfortable with said changes.

Following that, when asked about how Twitter’s censorship policy will affect free speech, 51% of the respondents note some form of positive impact on the platform, whilst 24% saying otherwise , and 11% affirming that there is no impact at all.

Lastly, in terms of the impact of the Twitter censorship on hate speech, 45% believed it had some form of positive impact, with the other 29% saying the complete opposite – a negative impact. Meanwhile, 12% think there was no impact at all.

Singapore – Consumer data and analytics company Milieu Insight released the findings of its ‘Sustainable Beauty’ study, which aimed to find out their opinions of sustainability claims, and how receptive beauty product shoppers in Southeast Asia are towards sustainable beauty products in light of World Environment Day coming up on 5 June.

The survey aims to find out opinions of sustainability claims, and how receptive beauty product shoppers in Southeast Asia are towards sustainable beauty products as the market of environmentally-conscious shoppers grow within the region.

New beauty brands have emerged in recent years to cater to a growing market of consumers – environmentally-conscious shoppers who are looking for beauty products that are good for them, and good for the Earth. Even large industry players are hopping onto the bandwagon, introducing sustainable products or product packaging and aggressively marketing them to be so.

The survey has shown that the majority of Southeast Asians are receptive towards sustainable beauty products, Singaporeans least so. Through a series of questions that asked Southeast Asian consumers about the likelihood of choosing a more sustainable option, they are generally receptive towards them with 93 per cent of respondents being very/somewhat likely to choose a chemical and toxic-free beauty product over one that is not.

Meanwhile, 87 per cent are very/somewhat likely to choose products with 100 per cent recyclable packaging. Moreover, 84 per cent of the consumers are very/somewhat likely to choose cruelty-free products, especially Filipino consumers with 90 per cent votes on the category.

The report also noted that 83 per cent are very/somewhat likely to swap to a refillable option if it’s available, while 73 percent are very/somewhat likely to try a water-less beauty product (eg. shampoo bar, bar soaps), versus conventional bottled products (eg. liquid shampoo and soap)

Consumers are willing to pay more for sustainability, but affordability remains the most important. Affordability emerged as the top consideration in purchasing beauty products with 78 per cent., while 81 per cent of the consumers said that while they are willing to pay more for sustainable/ clean/ ethical beauty products, prices still have to stay within the comfortable range for consumers.

The report also found that consumers don’t blindly trust sustainability claims. About 67 per cent of respondents indicated that they ‘research more about the claims on my beauty products’ packaging to know if it’s really sustainable/ clean/ ethical’, especially consumers from the Philippines with 83 per cent and Malaysia with 72 per cent.

Most agree that there should be more regulations to ensure that beauty products’ claims about being sustainable/ clean/ ethical are well-substantiated with evidence.” (88 per cent agreed that companies themselves also have to be transparent and clear in their communication of their products’ sustainability, well-substantiated with evidence. In addition, 86 per cent of the respondents agreed that ‘More should be done by companies to communicate to customers how their beauty products are sustainable/ clean/ ethical.’

Singapore – Singapore based consumer research and analytics company, Milieu Insight, announced today the launch of its ‘Milieu For Good’ initiative, a pro bono research service, ahead of World Earth Day. The service is eligible for social enterprises, non-profit organisations and charities.

For the service, the company is forging strategic partnerships to support causes aligning with four of United Nation’s sustainable development goals this year – good health and well being, quality education, reduced inequalities and climate action. The goal of these partnerships is to collaborate on public research that helps to drive awareness, understanding and action on key socio-economic issues.

To kick off the services, in collaboration with The Sustainability Project, a Singapore-based business that aims to drive ‘zero waste movement’ in the country, Milieu Insight uncovered how reused packaging initiatives are shifting Singapore’s e-commerce and retail landscape. Some of the notable findings showed that at present, only less than 4 in 10 (37%) have heard about reused packaging initiatives or platforms in Singapore, which could indicate that such initiatives have yet to take off into mainstream usage.

Milieu Insight’s Chief Operating Officer, Stephen Tracy said, “It’s absolutely crucial that businesses today play their part in creating positive social impact through an environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policy or program.”

According to Tracy, a study they carried out with Distillery in July 2021 showed that 63% of Southeast Asian consumers demand that brands stand for a social cause.

“Our latest ESG study found that awareness and understanding of the UN Sustainable Development goals is alarmingly low with more than one third of respondents saying they have never heard of them. Milieu for Good seeks to address this gap, through partnerships with change-making organisations, the ultimate goal of which is to drive greater awareness of and action around important socio-economic issues that will shape the world as we know it,” added Tracy.

Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam – Consumer research and analytics company Milieu Insight has announced a strategic partnership with dentsu International to improve the agency’s Consumer Connection System (CCS), the agency’s end-to-end communications planning platform, in their Vietnamese market.

Using Milieu Portraits that will fuel higher quality and up-to-date data, the partnership will enable dentsu to use advanced research and analytics tools to help its clients undertake fast turnaround studies and craft effective business and communication strategies. In addition, Milieu’s consumer profiling tool, when integrated into the CCS, will complement and help unlock more use cases ranging from campaign measurements to optimising the activation of digital ads.

Another service that will be utilised will be Milieu Activate, an automated brand tracking solution and programmatic activation, which leverages millions of data points to serve ads to the right mobile audiences, enabling Dentsu to help their clients drive stronger metrics in terms of click-through rates and conversions. It uses programmatic lookalike modelling to identify target audience with access to mobile device IDs.

Gerald Ang, CEO at Milieu Insight said that their strategic partnership with Dentsu is an important step towards providing the industry with a highly differentiated and data-driven audience targeting solution that will lead to better and more effective campaigns.

“The real-time dynamic nature of Milieu Insight’s consumer engagement platform and the wide range of data that it holds will empower dentsu to help brands gain a competitive edge and build stronger relationships with their customers,” Ang said.

Meanwhile, JP Salustiano, chief strategy officer at dentsu Services Vietnam, commented, “We’re able to offer our clients a higher level of insight and accuracy because of the quality and depth of data Milieu Insight’s Canvas provide, at the speed with which it can be augmented. We are already able to build planning segments for our clients that were not possible before, which gives us greater ability to drive return on marketing investment.”

Lastly, Navin Dhanpal, CEO at Carat, commented, “Through our partnership with Milieu Insight, CCS in its new digital avatar is going to fundamentally shift the media research industry and give our brands the latest insight into not just ‘what’ media their target consumer is consuming and ‘when’ – but more importantly, ‘how’ they are consuming that media and ‘why’.”