The inflation wave is hitting full force in the Middle East & North Africa region, at a time where the political scene is not holding strong grounds. Anxiety levels are surging. People are torn between their dreams and aspirations AND the need to sustain existing living standards, driven by their limited means. 'How are people reacting and coping differently or similarly across the region?' and 'How will this impact the business?'Building on last year's success in "Wallet" exploration in Egypt, the journey extends to KSA and Tunisia, aiming to draw a macro view through a comparative evaluation of spending patterns giving actionable and relevant insights that will help tailor both regional and market-centric strategies with special focus on KSA.
SPAR has been designing, implementing, evaluating and executing promotional programs since 1967. Our approach has been successfully implemented in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. In the UK, through a joint agreement, AGB supports our services there. SPAR's method has been applied to almost every form of sales promotion event, trade and consumer, from case discounting, co-op monies and payment for retailer programs to consumer packs and special forms of couponing. SPAR's approach has been proven successful by providing reliable and actionable information for a wide variety of categories.
The following paper considers why we need media research, looks at relevant anticipated environmental changes, describes the current research and, having defined what the objectives are, suggests an outline for the requirements of media research in the 1990s with regard to the needs of media planning for the U.K. television medium.
The paper below describes a survey conducted in 1976 to assess and examine the sources of income and the size and nature of expenditure of children aged 5-15 in Great Britain. The method chosen was the use of self-completion diaries in which children recorded for seven days all their transactions - the product or service bought, price paid, place bought and the source of the income spent. The data gathered from the sample of 1403 were grossed up/ weighted to represent the expenditure of the population of children 5-15 in Great Britain. At the recall stage a further questionnaire was administered to ascertain the child's income and his/her sources of money and a previously promised incentive was left.
This paper shows how a number of advertisers currently set advertising appropriations; examines alternative methods designed to guide the decision making process; and cites more case histories to indicate the implications of given budget levels in the market place. Despite the presence of numerous techniques, many of them complex and sophisticated, present practice generally favours a rule-of-thumb approach. As far as a conclusion can be reached with universal application, it can be fairly said that most companies could benefit by considering a more objective approach to budget setting, and at least more to the 'Task' or 'Total' methods reviewed in the paper. In essence, these approaches force disciplines on the budget setter, but are flexible and designed to relate to any individual company's circumstances and market situations. In the final analysis, however, advertising budgets represent only one element of marketing costs. In turn, these marketing expenses account for a proportion of variable costs which are adjusted with due regard for shareholders' returns. Invariably this regard for the central purpose of a company's operations will set practical parameters for budget level decisions.
Anglo-Saxon accounting practice puts marketing expense within the framework of what is termed selling expense. Selling expenses consist of expenses for marketing, advertising and/or distributing the product, i.e. Salesmen's Salaries, Salesmen's Commission, Travel and Entertainment, Delivery Expense (freight out). Office Expense, Advertising, Miscellaneous (including research). The larger part of the above are fixed in character whereas, as most advertising agencies know, the classic marketing expenses provide the lions share of variable selling expenses.
In a marketing-oriented company producing fast-moving consumer goods, the role of the Marketing Department in developing the budget is central, but it must be carried out within the constraints constituted by the needs and capacities of other departments. Drawing up the budget is such a complex task that there is no theoretical limit to the amount of time, manpower and money which could be devoted to creating and refining it, but it is obvious that in the real world only limited amounts of time can be spent on it by Marketing Management. The first purpose of the model described below is to use that time most effectively. The second purpose is to analyse and explain subsequent deviations from the budget. The origin of the Marketing Planning Model (MAPLAMOD) was a request from top management for an evaluation of the impact of statutory price controls on optimum marketing expenditures.
The paper demonstrates how a very simple approach was applied to a particular problem of 'Trade Off'. As part of a large scale survey into the public knowledge of, and attitudes towards Local Authority Financing, Research Surveys of Great Britain were asked to find out how people would wish to increase or decrease Local Government spending (bearing in mind that they themselves were the source of the revenue) and within the total, how they would 'trade off' expenditure between the various services provided.
In this paper a model will be described which is simple in essence, but which will allow to demonstrate the mutual relationship between a number of variables of a financial and cost-technical nature. As will be shown some of the variables may be used as adequate instruments in order to define certain changes in the company policy. First a summary of the most important cost-technical variables will be given.
Sugar's comment on the paper "How to operate the finance of a research company" by C. de Koning and P. van Turennout.