January 2008
Three obvious facts about the world's emerging markets (and the less obvious... what they really mean for your brand)

Emerging markets are all about big numbers and big opportunities. Not a day goes by without press articles about China's 1.3 billion consumers, the new affluent in Russia, India's enormous emerging middle class and countless other such opportunities for your brand. That's all very well, but numbers are just numbers unless you know what they really mean about people.

June 2007
Grappling with gratuities

How much should you tip? The inevitable question heard at the end of many restaurant meals was asked of consumers across the globe, with the most common answer from 31% of all respondents being between 10 and 15 percent of the bill.

March 2007
Battle of the brands for emerging market hearts

While almost 60 percent of consumers in emerging market countries would buy a local brand over an international brand if both products were of equal price, consumers in these 'Hotspots' countries have the same brand preferences for cars (Toyota), fast food (McDonalds) and hotels (Hilton) as developed market consumers, reveals global market research company Synovate. The exception? Sony is the preferred manufacturer for MP3 players in Hotspots countries whereas Apple's iPod rules in developed markets.

February 2007
Teaching children financial responsibility

The vast majority of American parents expect their children to do chores for their pocket money, while more than half of parents in Cyprus teach their kids about the stock market, reveals global market research company Synovate has revealed. These and other fascinating insights come from a survey of 1,596 parents of 5 to 17 year olds in the United States, Canada, China, Cyprus, South Africa and Slovakia, who were asked whether they give their children an allowance and how they are teaching their offspring about financial responsibilities.

April 2006
Is employee loyalty a thing of the past?

Forty percent of employees think it's no longer possible to be as loyal to a company as in the past, with the French – at 56 percent – expressing the highest such sentiment, a recent Synovate survey has found. Synovate also discovered that one in four Russians and Ukrainians have changed jobs in the past year, almost twice as many as in the other countries surveyed.

January 2006
Western consumers still skeptical about quality of 'Made in China' and 'Made in Korea' labels

ONLY one in eight respondents from the US and key markets in Europe think highly of the quality of products made in China and Korea, a recent Synovate survey showed. A little over half (52%) of European respondents, however, think Japanese-made products are of high quality, an opinion shared by 41% of their American counterparts. Findings also revealed that one-third of the respondents polled consciously seek out goods made in their countries when they go shopping.

June 2005
Would you answer this question honestly?

Do people respond to survey questions honestly? This is a critical question to anyone who commissions market research. After all, what use are surveys if a lot of the respondents are great big fibbers?

May 2005
Save it, spend it, or throw it away

Money makes the world go round. To learn more about people's attitudes to money around the world, we recently surveyed 5,627 people in the US, France, Portugal, Romania, Germany, Spain, Serbia, Bulgaria, Singapore, China and Taiwan.

March 2005
A genuine look at fakes

Piracy! It's the scourge of genuine brand manufacturers across the world. It's a multibillion dollar global criminal enterprise reported to be linked with drug trafficking, money laundering and terrorist fundraising.

January 2005
Where girlpower meets spending power

For marketers it's crucial to understand precisely who controls the spending. For many marketers it's important to know who controls the savings too. With this in mind, we quizzed nearly 4,000 women around the world about their attitude to money, and their role in the family finances.

July 2004
Coffee, Tea or Me? What people look for in budget airlines

Anyone who has flown commercially in the past few years can attest that the glamour of air travel has long since dissipated. Today, cost conscience airlines - especially in North America and Europe - have created a hodge-podge of budget airlines with long lines, self-service shortcuts and decreasing legroom and amenities. But who are their budget travellers? And how much more are they willing to suffer in order to fly for pennies?