Traditional marketing has long recognized the important role of market research. Perhaps the one area where the marketer and the market researcher might actually agree to disagree is the. extent to which gut feel and experience are considered as viable replacement for objective market feedback from the end consumer. Both sides can quote many examples to make a strong case for both the successes or failures of intuition (or market feel) on the one hand and carefully researched and subsequently fine-tuned marketing strategies that have been successful (or indeed otherwise) on the other. One area where intuition is most often allowed to run its full course is in the area of concept and advertising development. Typically the process starts with a marketer briefing his agency on his perceptions of the consumerâs attitudes, motivations and behaviour. This may be, and often is, a combination of in-market experience and any research that may have been carried out - and that hopeftilly offers such insight
Eastman Kodak, unlike many of the other top American corporations, has recognised that market potential for their products existed outside of the United States, and specifically in Asia, decades ago. Kodak has a long history in Japan. Kodak products were first sold in Japan in 1889 supplied to Japanese dealers from London or Rochester.
This paper examines examples, primarily from the Asian Business Readership Survey or ABRS, which illustrate how international media research not only tells us about the latest audience figures for the media measured, but, when viewed long term, also measures and illustrates the growth of a developing region. As well as giving some examples of how media research has measured growth in the region this paper illustrates the opportunities this can offer planners. To this end, more information about ABRS is given, concentrating particularly on the way in which the surveyâs universe is estimated reliably. Examples of the marketing data available on ABRS are also provided.
China has been described as a sleeping dragon that has just woken up. The economic reform, combined with the rapid growth of foreign investment, has propelled the economy to double digit growth. The process of opening the Chinese economy is transforming the entire country and has resulted in the emergence of a new consumer society.
China, with its 1.2 billion people, presents itself as one of the most promising future markets for most multinational companies. China also has a proud and continuous history of more than five thousand years with one written language. However, China, through its historical and political development, was often isolated regionally. It is a very diverse country with more than three hundred local dialects. These regional differences translate into differences in consumer attitude and purchasing behavior between product categories and brands. Complicating the regional picture are the various degrees of market and income development by region. Eastern and South Eastern coastal areas are developing faster due to earlier and larger investments by overseas Chinese. Since most of the overseas Chinese originally come from Guangdong and Fukien, these two South Eastern provinces have received the lionâs share of their investments. The result is that income disparity among regions in China is widening.
This paper summaries how the management of Brown and Williamson Korea Ltd. used a two stage marketing research project, with a one- stage follow-up study, to refine and develop a new retail distribution system in Korea.
This paper will argue that there is an opportunity for China market researchers, and perhaps researchers elsewhere in Asia, to incorporate an understanding of the new advertising law into their advertising pre-testing methodologies and interpretation. First I will provide a contextual background for the new advertising legislation, and an account of its impact on the advertising industry. Then I will offer a rationale for the involvement of researchers in negotiating the new law, followed by my own user-friendly guide to the regulations - The Five Golden Questions. Finally, I will make an initial methodological suggestion for researchers to consider in the future.
This review looks at the media research services currently available in fourteen key Asia Pacific markets, namely: Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, The Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. Regional studies such as the Asian Businessmen Readership Survey or Asian Profiles are excluded from this overview. Collectively, these markets accounted for some US$69.8 billion worth of advertising expenditure in 1995 according to Zenithmedia estimates. US$27.7 billion of this was spent on television advertising, US$28.1 billion on print and US$3.8 billion on radio. The media research market in Asia/Pacific was worth an estimated US$35-40 million in 1996. Media research services of varying comprehensiveness and technical standards exist in each of the markets indicated above. This paper seeks to review what exists against a number of benchmarks representing what, in the author's opinion, would represent the ideal service in each market.
Jakarta has experienced huge gains in urban and economic development over the last ten years. The megacity now houses a substantial and affluent middle class with lifestyles in line with those of the Asian tigers. Their reading habits and value to advertisers have been monitored by Survey Research Indonesia for many years through the Media Index and Asian Profile services. But achieving the identification, contact and cooperation of this segment has become increasingly difficult due to a combination of the growth of condominia and gated housing, more time spent away from the home (not least owing to the traffic jams) and a correspondingly greater value placed on leisure time. Failure to tackle these issues would inevitably result in under-reporting of the TRUE size and profile of this segment. Over the last two years, SRI has developed and tested a range of innovative procedures designed to identify and correctly represent this market and has incorporated a number of these in its media measurement services to the benefit of media owners and advertisers alike.
In this paper, we discuss research into marketing in Asia at three different levels, and briefly describe recent studies: Research into Asian markets; e.g. the acceptance of Australian native flowers and protea by Japanese consumers. Research into marketing approaches in Asia; e.g. understanding Chinese business culture and the implications for western marketers doing business with China. Research into the management and operations of marketing companies in Asia; e.g. researching management issues in company operations in Asian countries. Note, under this same heading, we could also have included research into "home company" operations in Australia, and the facilitators and barriers to developing an export culture directed at Asian markets. For each level and study, we briefly describe the objectives and significance of the study, the methodology, certain key results and limitations, and some useful conclusions.