In this unprecedented time of COVID-19, the world around us is changing daily, hourly, even by the minute, as news is near-instantly disseminated online and circulated via social media. In America, as in many other countries, the coronavirus has upended our economy, healthcare systems, jobs, and our daily lives. Our behaviors, feelings, needs, perceptions, attitudes, and hopes are different now than they were just one month ago, and more change is inevitable as COVID-19 cases continue to increase across the nation. Now, perhaps more than ever, real-time insight into consumers’ lives and minds is critical for businesses and organizations to understand how best to move forward in this new reality.   

Thankfully, online communities are an ideal method for conducting consumer research right now. Communities are conducted remotely, offering consumers privacy, flexibility, and time to participate at their convenience, which results in more honest, thoughtful, and less biased responses. Highly flexible, communities facilitate qualitative deep dives, quick quantitative checks, and ethnographic approaches, as consumers can give us a detailed peek into their homes, behaviors, and feelings through videos and photos.

Kadence International’s Boston team recently launched our own insight community, in association with 2020 Research, to get a deeper understanding of how COVID-19 is really impacting Americans. Our Pandemic PoV Community includes 30 adults, representing a broad range of ages, from four geographically dispersed cities: NYC, Chicago, Houston, and LA.

In this time when people are social distancing and isolating from others, our community members have welcomed the opportunity to socialize, frequently engaging in conversations, sharing their daily thoughts and feelings in writing, along with videos, photos, memes, articles, media content, tips and more.

What’s immediately clear from our community is that people are very emotional right now. Some feel overwhelmed, vulnerable, sad, frustrated, angry, or bored. But across the board, regardless of age, gender, or location, everyone is feeling anxiety, worry, and fear.

Stay ahead

Get regular insights

Keep up to date with the latest insights from our research as well as all our company news in our free monthly newsletter.

What is the primary source of Americans’ fear and angst? Uncertainty.

We fear the unknown, and right now there is a whole lot that is unknown. COVID-19 is elusive, often compared to a snake or alligator in our community. In the media, we even hear some of the “experts” openly questioning their understanding of the virus and the extent to which this will impact America.

Americans have so many unanswered questions right now surrounding COVID-19. Our community questions:

  • The statistics: How accurate are the latest numbers? How many people actually have it but haven’t been tested? How long has it been in the US? How many people had it before we had available tests? How many are asymptomatic?
  • The media: What information/news can I trust? Is anyone in the media impartial?
  • Our resources: Are there enough tests available? Can our healthcare system really not handle the current/future demand? When will we have effective drugs or a vaccine?
  • The virus: Did I or someone I know have it earlier this winter before I even knew about it? Can I be tested to determine if I previously had it? How do I know if I really have it vs. allergies, a cold or the regular flu?
  • Our behaviors: Do I really need to be isolating or in quarantine? Am I doing enough to protect myself and my family? Was I ever in close contact with someone with it? Do I really need to wash my groceries and packages? Did I wash my hands enough?
  • The future: Is this going to be over soon? What will life be like then? How many will die? Will anyone I know get it? Will I get it? How will this affect my finances? What is going to happen to our economy? How will I pay my bills? How will this affect my kids? Will it come back again?

With so much uncertainty, exacerbated by around-the-clock news alerts, on top of the upheaval of our normal lives, our sense of stability and control has been toppled by fear and angst.

But there is light in the dark. Americans are proactively finding ways to cope and combat these negative feelings. Many in our community have discovered multiple silver linings in this new way of life. They are embracing this quality time with their spouse and kids, slowing their pace, connecting more with others in new and creative ways, creating, crafting, cooking, baking, learning, completing projects, working with their hands, helping others, exercising more, eating less, practicing self-care, spending less, reprioritizing what’s important and finding new appreciation for all of the freedoms we used to take for granted.

By sharing insights and implications from our community, like this, we hope to help companies and our society as a whole better understand how to support people through this period of rapid change. We also urge companies to consider conducting their own branded communities to not only learn from, but to better communicate with, their customers. If you would like to learn more about our communities, please contact me at [email protected] or download our online methodologies best practice guide.

As the COVID-19 crisis continues to spread across the world, it can be a little hard to be optimistic at times; doctors and specialists still do not completely understand the virus itself, containment efforts have not been 100% effective, and the negative economic fall-out in many markets is massive. It is not the first time the world dealt with a fast-spreading virus, and indeed, pessimists like to point out that this only goes to show that the global community has not learnt one thing about epidemic control from any of the past occurrences

That said, though, the ‘glass-half-full’ set can also confidently say that depending on where you look, there are potential learnings that can be made even as the situation does not seem to be improving anytime soon. We at Kadence like to believe that every problem presents an opportunity for ‘kaizen’ (the Japanese concept of ‘constant improvements’), as we present 3 examples to prove our case:

1.     The opportunity to road-test Advanced Technology in Medical Science

It is sometimes the case that technological breakthroughs are created before a real-world use case exists, which means said breakthroughs are not necessarily relevant or have a strong market need until much later. In the case of COVID-19, however, the speed and pervasiveness with which the virus is spreading means that technological solutions are needed urgently, on top of advances in vaccination creation. From the examples below, we see that the ‘tech’ is being deployed to help and that it is not even necessarily linked to the medical field:

a)     Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning: Data scientists and researchers at Wuhan University are using programs powered by AI and ML technology to track and monitor the spread of the virus  

b)     Robots: To minimize person-to-person infections, US medical teams have deployed robots to provide care for persons diagnosed with the virus. Vital measures are being taken through the robot, and the information is then related to medical teams outside of the isolation zones

c)     Drones: The Chinese government is using drones to monitor and ensure that its citizens in at-risk cities to adhere to public health safety guidelines. Fitted with loudspeakers, identified rule-breakers will be given audio instructions, such as ‘stay indoors’ or ‘put a mask on’

2.     The opportunity of making remote working the ‘new-normal’

Prior to the outbreak, remote working tends not to be the norm in a lot of Asian work cultures: for various reasons, even though it is an increasingly encouraged in various markets, ‘going to work’ still means heading to the office for 8 hours (or more) of completing tasks with fellow co-workers, in-person. For geographically compact countries like Singapore, commuting does not present that much of an issue, compared to somewhere like Japan, where long distances to and from work is a norm that ‘salarymen’ reckon with

Stay ahead

Get regular insights

Keep up to date with the latest insights from our research as well as all our company news in our free monthly newsletter.

However, in view of the COVID-19 virus, to minimize contact which potentially increases the likelihood of infections, nearly all companies in both markets now implement a certain degree of remote working to ensure that businesses continue to operate while adhering to public health measures. For example, Yahoo Japan used to stipulate that employees who need to work from home for circumstantial reasons can only do so for up to 5 days in a month; following the outbreak, that limitation has been removed.

Regardless when the whole situation blows over, these work-from-home arrangements have presented itself as the best time for various non-physical modes of co-working to be tested and perfected; experienced remote workers know that while the technology has been present for many years (most companies will use at least one platform or another to facilitate conferencing within and outside of the organization), the rules of engagement and methods of effectively working together have not really been established. While no one wishes for another pandemic to put it to the test again, when the necessity arises, capitalizing on the moment to iron out the best ways of working remotely can only be a good thing in the long run

3.     The opportunity for humour: improving one’s daily life through creativity

At the height of the virus’ spread across China, as part of its containment effort, residents in major cities like Shanghai were asked to stay home and not return to work, even after the official week-long Chinese New Year break in late January/early February. While some initially relished the extended break, the attendant closure of public leisure facilities soon made it clear that staying home was not going to be as easy as they thought it would be. Not long after a week passed did citizens start to compare the act of staying home akin to ‘imprisonment’, and boredom and restlessness quickly set-in, once entertainment options were exhausted

The more imaginative Chinese started to look for ways to entertain themselves and put their creative skills to the test. It is most apparent in this particular contest, organized by a local English-language magazine, to see how artistic Shanghainese can get when it comes to ‘pimping’ their face masks, a vital ‘first line of defence’ in the act of protecting oneself from the virus

While some may feel that this is an act which trivializes the gravity of the situation in China, others can argue that contextually, there needs to be a psychological ‘outlet’, a salve for the average person to let off some steam, such that they do not get consumed by the prevailing mood of paranoia, suspicion, uncertainty and helplessness. Also, China is no stranger to social media fads, and as far as this contest goes, at least it encourages contestants to put their free time to good use, as opposed to more mindless online shopping or social commentary   

All the above examples highlight a fundamental truth about crises in general: while we cannot control what happens, we can certainly control how we react to events. The ingenious chooses to exercise creativity when tackling problems, leveraging lateral thinking for solutions, while the flexible work their way around problems. Having a little fun along the way never hurts, and it certainly helps to reduce the stress of dealing with all the uncertainties of a medical emergency that are still unfolding day-by-day.

As of the first week of March 2020, the total number of confirmed cases in mainland China, the epicentre of the COVID-19 outbreak, is slightly over 80,000. This works out to be no more than 6 cases in 100,000 people. The probability is much lower in most other places, such as 3.38 cases in 100,000 people in Italy, 1.89 in 100,000 in Singapore, and 0.03 in 100,000 in the US.

Despite the low probability, many people are appearing to be more fearful than they should be, with an exaggerated perceived risk.

Panic buying happened within hours when the DORSCON level was raised to Orange in Singapore early last month. Canned food, rice, instant noodles, and even toilet papers were swept off the shelves that evening, with queues longer than we have ever seen in supermarkets. The same phenomenon hit the US, Germany, Italy and Indonesia this week, after more local cases were confirmed. Masks, sanitizers, and disinfectants are sold out, social events and activities are cancelled, and many instances of racism against people of Chinese ethnicity have been observed around the world.

Is this fear rational? It seems the fear is spreading faster, and affecting people’s lives to a larger extent, than the virus itself. Why is that?

The following five cognitive biases can explain most of these irrational behaviours during the COVID-19 outbreak.

1.     Negativity bias – we have the tendency to pay more attention to bad things

Humans have a natural tendency to place more emphasis to negative things, such as remembering negative incidents more clearly, being more affected by criticisms than compliments, or feeling more emotional pain for a loss of $10 than happiness gained for the picking up $10.

“Good things last eight seconds…Bad things last three weeks.” – Linus van Pelt, Peanuts

During the COVID-19 outbreak, we tend to pay more attention to bad news (in part also due to news channels’ willingness to focus on negative news as well, following the same principle) – the number of new cases/deaths/infected patients in critical condition – much more than the number of recoveries. Some people actively search for information that scares themselves more, such as ‘evidence’ that shows masks are not effective in protecting you from the virus, reading up on past global pandemics, or even unknowingly landing on fake news which exacerbates the severity of the situation. All these contribute to the psychological fear of ‘Could it happen to me?’.

2.     Confirmation bias – we pay more attention to information that supports our belief

People are prone to believe what they want to believe, and actively look out for evidence to support their beliefs, while dismissing those that contradict. This confirmation bias is more prevalent in anxious individuals, which makes them perceive the world to be more dangerous than it is. For example, an anxious person is more likely to be more sensitive about what people think of him/her, and constantly look out for signs that show people do not like them, biasing towards negative words or actions.

We naturally seek information to protect ourselves, because the ‘unknown’ is more fearful than the ‘known’. If we think the situation is severe, we tend to focus on news that talks about the severity of the situation, which results in a self-fulfilling prophecy. With greater amount of information now being spread much more quickly over social media, the effects of this bias are a lot more pronounced. A cursory scroll through the Reddit thread on COVID-19 can quickly convince someone that it will bring about the end of the world! 

3.     Probability neglect – we have the tendency to disregard probability when making decisions

A potential outcome that is incredibly pleasant or terrifying is likely to affect our rational minds. We are more likely to be swayed by our emotions towards the potential outcome and pay less attention to the actual probability.

Stay ahead

Get regular insights

Keep up to date with the latest insights from our research as well as all our company news in our free monthly newsletter.

Looking factually at the numbers of COVID-19, the probability of getting the virus is very low, and much lower than many other risks that we are accustomed to, such as the common flu or cold. Yet people are terrified and have extreme panic or preventive behaviours towards the situation. The fact that the virus is new, and that it can be fatal, could have added to the fear, clouding judgement. Many are avoiding malls, reducing dining out, cancelling travels. This effect extends into greater economic implications. The ‘unknown’ is playing with our feelings, and we react to the feelings, not probability, towards the risk. 

4.     Stereotyping – we tend to make unjustified generalisations

On 11 February, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the official new name of the coronavirus to be COVID-19. According to WHO, they had to find a name that did not refer to a geographical location, an animal, an individual or a group of people.

This is not just a WHO naming guideline, but an important step to reduce negative stereotypes. During the early stages of the outbreak, there was hatred against Wuhan, or China, and this prejudice has even extended to all Chinese people outside of China. In many countries, many people also irrationally avoid visiting the Chinatown, or dining in Chinese restaurants, as if you visit a neighbourhood Chinese restaurant, you will get the virus, even if your neighbourhood is safe[ML1] [DG2] . Aside from how stereotyping individuals is in and off itself a negative social action, such perceptions can also lead to feelings of false assurance, that one is ‘immune’ to the virus, which in turn can result in behaviours that run counter to public health advisories.

5.     Illusory truth effect – it’s true if it’s repeated

 “Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes truth” – people tend to believe what they constantly see or hear in the news, regardless of whether there is any evidence of its veracity. A recent study [ML3] [DG4] has shown this effect to be present even if people are familiar with the subject, as the repeated lies introduce doubt into their psyche.

This is one of the key reasons why “fake news” has been able to take hold during this outbreak – from quack sesame oil remedies to protect against the virus to misconceptions that packages from China are dangerous to handle. In Singapore, after the same few photos of panic buying being circulated via social media many times makes it a ‘nationwide phenomenon’. WHO and governments around the world have been actively trying to take back the narrative from these “fake news” sources, but the prevalence of social media and the ease of sharing such information to one’s friends and families will present an uphill challenge to combat them.

What it means for brands

Firstly, it is important to remember that cognitive biases exist in human beings, and consumer behaviours aren’t always rational. During the crisis, such behaviours are magnified, and the impact/ repercussions of these irrationalities become amplified.  you should consider what consumers are thinking, and how they are reacting. Understanding where the biasness is from, and how it manifests in thinking and actions, can help you decide on strategies what can potentially lead to behavioural changes.

Secondly, we also need to understand that relying on past information may not be able to help you accurately predict into the future, because people’s reaction to the same stimulus may have changed. For example, the last time DORSCON was raised to Orange in Singapore during the H1N1 crisis in 2019, there wasn’t ‘panic buying’ that led to the severe shortage of masks or sanitizers. Planning in the future, you can think about whether your brand will be perceived any differently once the outbreak is over – how would people’s mindset change because of the outbreak? What will people be looking out for, post- this crisis? Consider how you can address the post-crisis world, and find your competitive advantage.

At a time when there is concern that news outlets are feeding coronavirus panic and confusion, it may have been easy to miss some of the more positive news stories emerging in the last few weeks.

Chief among them is the impact that digital technology has had across Asia, as parts of China in particular have gone into lockdown, and the implications of this.

Across China, as The Economist reported earlier this week, subscriptions to digital health services have increased exponentially – a shift in consumer behaviour that previously had been expected to take five whole years. Similarly, we have seen reports that mobile, social media and streaming services are experiencing a strong uptick in usage whilst people are stuck indoors. Schooling has also moved online, with students taking classes through grade-specific TV channels, and the internet.

Above all, we’ve seen people using digital resources to overcome the loneliness of isolation. Gyms are offering sessions via WeChat, clubs are hosting club nights online, and gamers are congregating online to play together in increasing numbers, with Tencent’s Honor of Kings game reaching a peak in average daily users.

So will there be in any digital silver linings for the market research industry?

Non face-to-face methodologies are hardly new in our industry, but a shift towards online – particularly when it comes to qualitative research – now feels unavoidable. Where once a traditional focus group or face-to-face interviews may have sufficed, we’ll undoubtedly see digital techniques coming in to play more and more.

But herein lies a word of caution: because not all digital techniques are created equally, and not all solutions are suitable for certain projects: the most appropriate methodology will always depend on a study’s objectives.

There are plenty of digital options available to researchers: online focus groups, skype depth interviews, mobile diaries, and online communities to name but a few, but how do you work out which methodology is best suited to your study?

First of all, it’s important to start your thinking with your objectives, not your methodology. Just because you might have once used focus groups or face-to-face depth interviews in the past, doesn’t necessarily mean an online focus group or skype interview are the best ways to meet your objectives using digital tools. Start by asking:

  • Are you looking for breadth, or depth of insight?
  • Who are you looking to influence with your findings? What kinds of asset are most likely to have impact and support real change across your organisation? How quickly do your stakeholders need access to your insights?
  • How important is it to observe discussion and interaction between respondents – are you looking to compare different points of view?

How you answer these questions will heavily impact the methodology that’s right for you.

For instance, say you are conducting a concept or product test. Typically, you’d use a focus group setting so your product and design team could observe respondent reactions, and make on-the-spot changes to your product.

Stay ahead

Get regular insights

Keep up to date with the latest insights from our research as well as all our company news in our free monthly newsletter.

If you’re looking for breadth, speedy insights, and discussion between respondents to understand how views differ, you might automatically think that an online focus group session, with respondents and stakeholders logging in from separate locations is your answer. However, while online focus group technology mimics the experience of a focus group setting, in practice, it is much harder for respondents to communicate with one anyone other than the moderator – you’re unlikely to meet your ‘discussion between respondents’ objective.

Instead, an online community would allow you to hit the nail on the head of all three of your objectives and then some. The key difference versus an online focus group is your ability to nurture and observe conversations between respondents in the community in a much more natural environment.

You can even use the platform to segment different audiences together, or keep the community broad to observe discussions across the whole group. Stakeholders are able to log on at any time they choose, to observe conversations, and input suggestions for additional questions to the moderators. And say you have one or two topics you’d like to explore in more depth? You can always set up private questions, to conduct one-to-one research as part of the community. And when it comes to final assets, online communities are really unrivalled when it comes to video and photo content that can be used to help land insights with your stakeholders.

If, however, observing interaction between respondents really isn’t a key necessity, and you’re looking for depth of insight, you may want to consider depth Skype interviews instead of your traditional focus group. Digital depth interviews work beautifully for concept and product testing as part of a staged programme of research, especially when you meld multiple touch-points together. You could consider following an initial Skype interview with a selfie-style filmed product review in-home for example, to really dig into consumer views.

Ultimately, while all of these methodologies have been around for some time, it’s likely that a reduction in face-to-face research will see us being far more creative with the digital options available to us. It will be fascinating to see whether or not these changes result in a long-term shift towards digital methodologies. Back in 2014 during London’s tube strikes, commuters were forced to find alternative routes to get travel around the city. Following the strikes, Transport for London reported that one in 20 commuters actually stuck with the new route they’d discovered. Will the research industry see a similar permanent shift? Time will tell.

Kadence has a wealth of experience in using digital research methodologies to help answer critical questions for brands and businesses. If you’re looking for support to help you find the best approach to meet your business objectives, please get in touch.  

At Kadence, our global footprint and cultural diversity mean we often celebrate significant cultural festivities. This year, we celebrated Chinese New Year by sharing our New Year’s resolutions with one another – celebrating everyone’s positivity for the year ahead.  

Staff celebrating Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year is the equivalent of Christmas in the West, the 15 day long holiday opens up a wealth of opportunities for brands. According to China’s Ministry of Commerce, Chinese consumers spent $149 billion across the holiday in 2019. This is the time of the year when spending and travelling peak on a phenomenal scale. This blog post explores the trends around spending and travelling, and what this means for brands.

GIVING MONEY & GIFTING IS BIG BUSINESS

We know from our extensive work in China that gifting is a big part of the country’s culture – the extent of this was brought to life on a project where we interviewed High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs) in China who buy luxury mobile phones as presents for business partners.

At Chinese New Year, gift-giving turns into cash-giving. Money is traditionally given in red envelopes to friends and relatives as a gesture of good fortune. Over the past few years, the Chinese are sending red envelopes as digital cash gifts via China’s top messaging app, WeChat. The app has 400 million users, evolving from a basic chat app like WhatsApp into a platform that includes e-commerce, taxi-hailing, payments and more.

Traditionally, one would only give red envelopes in person, but technology has made it possible to send money to just about anybody. Last year, over 14 billion ‘red envelopes’ were shared between WeChat users on New Year’s Eve alone. The chart below from Statistica shows the dramatic increase in exchanging digital red envelopes on WeChat over the past few years.

Statistics: Digital red envelopes exchanged on WeChat during the Spring Festival holiday

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR BRANDS?

If consumers are sending money digitally on WeChat, could gifts be sent digitally too? Starbucks China has since tapped into this behaviour, where one can buy a friend a coffee which can be redeemed at any Starbucks store. WeChat’s existing infrastructure and vast user base offer a platform for brands to extend their offering from in-store and online to social media. Who wouldn’t want a McDonald’s or even a luxury candle from a friend 750 miles away?

BIGGEST ANNUAL MIGRATION OF HUMANS

Chinese New Year is the biggest annual human migration in the world, with 2.5 billion trips made each festive period. This includes workers seeking employment in large affluent cities or university students returning to their rural hometowns to visit relatives.

We have seen this first hand from conducting a study with Didi (a Chinese Uber equivalent) drivers for a major fuel and energy provider. Didi drivers save up holidays and money to travel home in order to spend quality time with their families, after a year’s hard work.

Stay ahead

Get regular insights

Keep up to date with the latest insights from our research as well as all our company news in our free monthly newsletter.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR BRANDS?

The vast distance and traveller volume associated with this phenomenon present some interesting opportunities for brands, and not just in the state-funded transportation industry.

The average individual journey taken at Chinese New Year is 255 miles, which makes us wonder how consumers spend all that time? Can entertainment or gaming brands tap into this ‘lost time’? What are the implications of all this screen time for advertisers, for example, adverts on China’s biggest streaming platform Tencent Video. 

Or how can convenience food, snack, or drink brands capture share of wallet on these long journeys? Perhaps a new variant of existing products to fuel on-the-go consumption would fill the gap?

A WORLD OF OPPORTUNITIES

One of the most interesting aspects of conducting research in China is bringing the cultural nuances to life for our clients. We like to immerse ourselves in the world of the end consumers by being there in person. Whether it’s discussing career goals with accountants or exploring the luxury needs of HNWIs – we believe conducting the qualitative explorations ourselves yields the greatest insight.

We’ve had some wonderful opportunities to solve and advise global clients on business issues, from tackling regional differences to evaluating potential Chinese brands as a joint-venture partner. This market continues to surprise us on a daily basis. There is so much we are yet to explore as global brands tap into the world’s fasting growing economy.

Chinese New Year - Group of staff holding red envelopes
Blog_Image

About Amy

Amy has worked at Kadence for over five years having previously worked in Millward Brown Taiwan. Born and raised in Taiwan, Amy is bilingual in Mandarin and English. Amy sits in our London office, often travelling to China to explore the market on the ground.

Her language and insight skills make her the perfect candidate to broach the gap between UK clients and Chinese consumers (or vice versa). Effortlessly interpreting Chinese consumer voices and turning them into to actionable insights for UK clients.

In 2020, we’ll share more reports and short reads to help you get ahead of the latest market research and consumer trends. But, before we do, we’re looking back at our most-read LinkedIn posts of the past year to point you in the direction of our top reports and blog posts from 2019 – covering everything from the future of cars to the booming cannabis market in the US.

The launch of our Urban Mobility study

In February 2019, we launched our Urban Mobility study, a new piece of global research exploring how people across the world commute. Our launch event at the London Transport Museum brought together industry experts from Drivy, Waze and Bloomberg as we discussed the future of travel and transportation and the innovations we expect to see in this space.

Missed the event? You can download the full Urban Mobility report here.

Understanding the Concerned Consumer

From calls for recyclable packaging to moves to eat less meat, we’re seeing the rise of the concerned consumer. But what are the issues that really matter to consumers when comes to food and drink? And what implications do these trends have for marketing and product innovation? Our Concerned Consumer research sought to explore, by understanding the attitudes and behaviours of 5000 consumers across 10 countries which match the global footprint of our offices.

Get your copy of the Concerned Consumer report here.

Stay ahead

Get regular insights

Keep up to date with the latest insights from our research as well as all our company news in our free monthly newsletter.

What do therapeutic cannabis users in the US look like?

As the legal markets for cannabis expand in the US, we wanted to understand what therapeutic cannabis consumers look like. Are they really that different to the average US cannabis consumer? We found they’re more likely to consume cannabis everyday and are more likely to consume using non-combustive methods, such as edibles and vaping concentrates.

We visualised the full findings in an infographic on our blog. If you want to learn more about cannabis consumption in the US, you can download the full report.

The Best Market Research Agency in the World (probably)!

In December, Phil Steggals, MD of our Singapore office, explored ESOMAR’s Insight Market Development Index, taking a tongue in cheek look at why this must mean that Kadence is the best market research agency in the world … probably!

Read the blog post here.

Kadence is the best Market Research agency in the world (probably).

Admittedly word ‘probably’ in the headline is ‘doing a lot’ – but it does in fact play a lovely dual role. Firstly, to hark back to the glory days of Carlsberg’s branding, a series of fantastic ads that ran for many years, in many parts of the world (have a Google, if you don’t already have a favourite!) – and secondly to ensure that there is not a legal outcry from others. As a diligent researcher, I have of course checked on the Advertising Standards of the claim ‘best’ and so I shall be providing the ‘objective claims’ required.

Earlier this year, ESOMAR released their Global Market Research report – their annual look at the size of market research across the world. For the first time, within this report they released the IMDI (Insight Market Development Index) ranking – an inaugural ‘look at various aspects that affect the industry, and informs the reader about the degree of development of the sector in any country compared to others’.

There are 3 parts that make up the index:

  • The Global Prices study – a biannual report that informs what prices, on average, are to be expected in each country and for a wide variety of projects
  • The Global Market Research Report – the document listed above, a yearly publication that presents in detail the state of the insights industry
  • The Representative Index – an indicator for the representation of the professionals both within the country and at a global scale, extracted from ESOMAR’s worldwide member base

According to this index, there are a ‘group of countries that belong to the High Industrial Development, enjoy a highly developed industry with decent per capita turnover, strong representation of end-clients and specialized workforce and above average price levels’

Stay ahead

Get regular insights

Keep up to date with the latest insights from our research as well as all our company news in our free monthly newsletter.

The country that tops this list? Singapore. So Singapore is the most ‘developed’ research country in the world. So, we need to look at Singapore, we need to find the ‘best’ agency in Singapore. Well. As it turns out Kadence won the Gold Award at the ‘Agency of the Year’ Awards in 2019 presented by Marketing Magazine – these are the only awards in the country that specify the ‘Market Research Agency of the Year’.

So, if Kadence is the Agency of the year in Singapore – which is the most developed market in the world for Kadence – it is quite clear that Kadence is the best agency, in the best market in the world.

So there we have it. Proof. I am privileged to run the best research agency in the whole world.

Although, if I am honest (and I am hoping you have picked up on the tongue in cheek nature of this post), there is no such thing as a ‘Best Agency’. There is a huge collection of brilliant people, working for brilliant research companies. I have often said that as an industry we are too hard on ourselves – always looking over our shoulder and proclaiming that AI, Big Data…the Internet…will change everything! As an industry, market research is here to stay – and the successful companies of the future will embrace the new – as well as adapting the old. For Kadence, much like the focus of Carlsberg in 2019, we will be starting this next decade by looking to do what we do….only better. No probably about it!  

Have a great Christmas and New Year all!

P.S. If you want to hear some of the reasons why we made it to Agency of the Year in Singapore – check out this video.

As Greenbook endeavors to expand its presence within Asia, Kadence International identified with that desire to spread innovative market research practices across the world, for the betterment of the industry. With that in mind, Kadence International stepped up and became Title Sponsor for its third IIeX Conference in Dec 2019.

IIeX Bangkok 2019 - logo

The two-days conference brought together both clients and agencies in Thailand and within the region, and the Kadence booth was at the center of all ‘buzzworthy’ interactions and conversations, discussing what interesting methodologies are being carried out, and what kinds of possibilities and potential the future can hold, when clients and agencies achieve perfect synergy.

IIeX Bangkok 2019 - venue with groups of people

To that point, Kadence’s presentation at the conference was great proof of that: it worked with Bloomberg on a project, the first of its kind in Asia, by marrying neuro-centric measures of respondents and traditional quantitative surveys, to understand consumer reactions to the same ads placed on different platforms. Results of the study will be released in the public domain in Q1 2020, but the study proved how traditional research methodologies, in the face of evolving technologies, can still play a complementary role in enhancing outcomes and strengthening gained insights 

IIeX Bangkok 2019 - speakers presenting

The presentation was part of a larger series of sessions that covered other interesting subject matters: from Google’s sharing of what makes a fad a trend (or, when does a ‘thing’ actually become a THING) and the commercial potential that brands can tap into when thinking about the urban phenomenon of loneliness, to why the over-60-year-olds are brands’ best bet for market growth in Asia and how visual communication partially explains chat platform Line’s success in Thailand, there were food-for-thought aplenty, and many topics that sparked discussions during lunch and networking breaks

Kadence also noticed 3 phenomena during the conference, which it believes is evidence that a larger trend is taking shape:

  1. Greater willingness to appreciate research from a multitude of angles – Google’s own study on the formation of trends highlights how data analytics, however advanced and wide in reach, can only explain part of the story
  2. Greater access to research respondents outside of traditional channels – on top of reaching out to online panels for respondents to complete online surveys, there’s increasing experimentation to access data from a brand’s own users (e.g. True Mobile in Thailand and its millions of subscribers), or new vendors that are using different platforms to offer agencies that reach (e.g. crowdsourcing, social media, etc.)
  3. Distinction vs. differentiation – precisely because of the plethora of new partners for both agencies and brands to work with (e.g. in the space of accessing respondents for studies), the ones that work well understand the classic marketing notion of ‘distinction’: what they offer may not be different to their competitors, but they are at least clear about what it is that allows them to stand out from the crowd
Stay ahead

Get regular insights

Keep up to date with the latest insights from our research as well as all our company news in our free monthly newsletter.

In summary, that larger trend is the notion of ‘connections, not alternatives’; this is at the heart of Kadence’s strategy for 2020, as it believes in order to raise the impact of research within the region, through meaningful insights and business-relevant recommendations, it will benefit by playing that ‘matchmaking’ role, working with partners who’s business is in making sense of cutting-edge research technologies, and deciphering that to put it together with traditional research, in service of answering clients’ strategic questions. Kadence is certain that the industry will certainly benefit from the notion of ‘this-AND-that’, rather than ‘this-OR-that’

IIeX Bangkok 2019 - presenting with data

Kadence Singapore has recently completed refurbishments to the office, with new spaces for relaxation and optimal collaboration, to celebrate our 15th anniversary in Singapore. To further commemorate the occasion, Kadence Singapore brought together our clients and strategic partners to join us in an office warming party last month. We took the opportunity to showcase the new office space, some strategic partners we work with, as well as the innovation-led methodologies and studies we do here in Kadence.

To mark our 15th year in Singapore, we showcased 15 innovative research tools and techniques used in Kadence during the Open House, including virtual reality, neuromarketing, eye-tracking, Emotional Connection Matrix, etc. We also invited some of our partners, Dynata, Sight-X, and Outside Voice, who shared how research can be enhanced by some of their latest tools. These 15 innovations are grouped into 6 different zones in the office, which allowed our clients to learn about these initiatives, while exploring the new areas around the office.

Open House 2019 poster

The half-day event has sparked many interesting ideas and conversations on the future of market research, and how innovation and traditional research methods can work hand in hand to enhance insights.

In addition to great food and drinks, Phil Steggals, MD of Kadence Singapore, also gave a speech thanking everyone for coming, clients and partners for supporting us through the years, and the Kadence team for delivering insights worth sharing to our clients. After the event, $15 per guest who joined us at the event, was also donated to SPCA on their behalf.

Stay ahead

Get regular insights

Keep up to date with the latest insights from our research as well as all our company news in our free monthly newsletter.

Looking forward to 2020, we are optimistic to establish closer relationships with our clients, and utilize more innovations, coupled with traditional research, to deliver insights addressing their needs.

Kadence Singapore Open House 2019 - office with people
Kadence Singapore Open House 2019 - 2 professionals sitting together
Kadence Singapore Open House 2019 - presenting to crowd

We are delighted to announce that Kadence has been Highly Commended for the Global Agency of the Year award at the 2019 Market Research Society Awards.

The Market Research Society Awards are the most prestigious awards within the UK research industry. They recognise the key achievements of individuals and organisations within the market research sector. Kadence was also a finalist in the Young Researcher of the Year category in recognition of the accomplishments of Kadence employee, Carolina Starkhammar.

Stay ahead

Get regular insights

Keep up to date with the latest insights from our research as well as all our company news in our free monthly newsletter.

Kadence has been recognised by awarding bodies in all three regions that it operates in this year. In May, Kadence was named Market Research Agency of the Year at Marketing Magazine’s Agency of the Year Awards in Singapore. In September, it was Highly Commended for the Best Training and Development award at the Market Research Society’s Operations Awards in London. Finally, in November, Kadence was named Market Research Supplier of the Year (revenue under $10 million) at the Marketing Research and Insight Excellence Awards in New York and Kadence employee Carolina Starkhammar was named Outstanding Young Researcher.

Commenting on the award successes, Miki Igarashi, Group CEO of Cross Marketing Group, Kadence International’s parent company said “We are delighted to see Kadence’s successes being recognised at a global level. It’s testament to our commitment to delivering work that raises the impact of research and empowers decision-making.”

Market Research Society Awards - holding award