In this insightful video, Rupert Sinclair, Head of Insight at our UK office, discusses the significant impact of digital penetration and technology on market research in the United Kingdom.

Alongside his colleague Katrin Scheibert, Rupert was recently honoured with the ESOMAR Congress Best Paper Award 2023 for his work on “Virtual Frontiers: Assessing the potential of the metaverse for qualitative research.”

As an expert in the field, Sinclair provides a clear and concise analysis of how technological advancements impact market research methodologies and practices, especially with the elderly population. This discussion is particularly pertinent for professionals and brands seeking to understand and adapt to the rapidly changing digital environment. Sinclair’s insights are based on his extensive experience and his award-winning research.

Join us to hear from one of the leading minds in market research. Watch this video to understand the opportunities presented by digital transformation in market research.

Here’s a transcript from the video with Rupert Sinclair:

How does digital penetration and technology impact market research in the United Kingdom?

Rupert Sinclair:

In the UK, as in many developed countries, digital penetration has reached the point where we conduct online research without the risk of missing out on substantial parts of the population. So, for example, we find people in their seventies and people moving into their eighties sufficiently proficient in technology to participate in online research exercises.


And that wasn’t the case, say, ten or 15 years ago. For the groups that remain unable to participate in online research, I’m thinking perhaps of people in the latter part of their 80s or their nineties and maybe people experiencing digital poverty. These people, unfortunately, are unlikely also to participate using other methods. So, if we were to conduct telephone research, we probably wouldn’t be capturing those people. So, in effect, that doesn’t act as a barrier to conducting online research or research via digital methods in the UK.

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In this video, you will discover the dual expertise of Joseph Neidorf, an Emmy-winning composer and the sharp Quality Control Manager at our Americas office. Yes, Joseph recently earned not just one but six nominations at the New York Emmy Awards, with three wins, including Best Musical Composition.

Find out how his unique background in music composition and his approach to quality control contribute to our success. Watch as he shares insights on managing complex projects focusing on client satisfaction.

Neidorf, a master of adaptability and strategic thinking, reveals the behind-the-scenes complexities of harmonising diverse team roles to meet demanding client expectations. 

Learn about his innovative approach to maintaining client focus while juggling operational agility globally.

Here’s a transcript of the interview:

The way I keep my quality control work client-focused is to view everything in context. I constantly assess the project at multiple levels and adapt my priorities to align with client goals. There are countless things I could improve if given unlimited time, of course, but prioritising is actually the easy part. The value I provide is figuring out how to implement those priorities across the web of different people involved and the ways information flows between them. The recruiters, participants, project managers, and study moderators are all operating under individual demands and have distinct perspectives, instincts, limitations, and understandings of their portion of the whole. So, therefore, making my quality control client-focused means learning the details of each of those roles so that I can guide and correct the way information is organised and moved between these various parties.

Our project team was actually built to handle the return business of a single client whose needs presented a few particular ways Kadence could provide value. 

This role was created for me with these needs in mind by Ellie, our CEO and Kyle, our Senior Portfolio Executive at Kadence Americas. Although my professional background is in composing film music, I gained valuable experience in my first role with Kadence, which built the foundation of the insights I use today. I helped moderators from this same client conduct studies for consecutive months in Oklahoma City and then New York. 

So, I’ll briefly explain the clients’ needs and the strategies I’ve used to help the project team meet these challenges. 
First, the client has asked us to provide them with very high throughput. In just the last 2+ years, we’ve processed over 10,000 participants over dozens of protocols, often in multiple locations simultaneously. So tracking these appointments is complicated by the second key demand, which is the fulfilment of very precise and often interlocking targets of demographic quotas, often involving information we cannot confirm until the participant has actually arrived. And third, we’ve had to be extremely flexible to adjust our plans and priorities at a moment’s notice when the client changes their plans of how the technology needs to be implemented or tested, how the schedule needs to align with their staffing needs, etc. So, time is of the essence, and the high degree of logistical complexity makes delays very costly.  

So, this is why my success depends on seeing everything in context. I need to make quick assessments with the new information that comes in each day, thinking backwards to the circumstances of the information—where it’s is coming from—and thinking forward to predict how this information impacts the client’s priorities. I find patterns in the mistakes people make when entering data or communicating results and look for opportunities to make their workflow less complex and error-prone.

The high number of appointments per day leads to inevitable moments of confusion on-site, especially given the detailed and often lengthy screening processes that intake staffers take participants through before data collection has begun. And I use my knowledge of the processes and people involved to make sure the live participation trackers that we collect both accurately reflect what occurred and reflect it in a way that’s compatible with our automated analyses.

I wouldn’t have guessed it, but the role of Quality Control manager actually involves a lot of creativity. I get to design new ways to improve how effectively our team meets the client’s needs by balancing the historical context, present-day minutia, and the future impacts of the decisions we make.
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In this insightful video, our Head of Strategy and Client Services, from the U.K. office Bianca Abulafia, delves into the complex interplay between cultural elements and market research methodologies when engaging global audiences. She hints at intriguing challenges researchers face, from navigating strict data privacy in Germany to addressing unique legal constraints in France that forbid certain personal questions.

Abulafia teases an interesting anecdote from her work in the Middle East, where unexpected adjustments in focus group compositions were essential to uncovering authentic feedback. She also touches upon her experiences in Asian markets, where cultural norms of politeness often mask genuine opinions, presenting a fascinating puzzle for researchers to solve.

Throughout the video, she emphasises the critical balance researchers must achieve and hints at various adaptive strategies for market researchers. To uncover these market research secrets and the innovative approaches used in different cultural landscapes, tune in to the full discussion. Bianca Abulafia’s revelations are sure to be an eye-opener for anyone interested in the nuances of global market research.

Here’s a transcript from the video with Bianca Abulafia:

What role do cultural elements play when conducting market research for global audiences? Can you provide situations where you’ve had to shift methodologies based on these differences? 

Bianca Abulafia: There are several different ways in which cultural elements come into play. When you’re thinking about methodologies, there are several different elements that you might want to think about. One of those is data privacy and how people respond and react to the idea of privacy.

So we do a lot of work in Germany. There are very strict age protection rules across Europe, but in particular, if you’re working in East and what used to be Eastern Germany, you have to be particularly conscious of how questions might come across. For example, I always avoid asking very direct questions in research about money and anything that relates to finances or items of high value because that’s culturally perceived to be very direct and culturally inappropriate to ask those kinds of questions. If you’re asking questions about anything that’s high value, like a car or anything financial, and you think quite carefully about what kinds of approaches you might use, something qualitative is always better. One-to-one conversations allow you to adapt to the individual.

Another market that we often work or you have to be very careful, and this actually questions that are illegal to ask. In France, it is illegal to ask about ethnicity and religion. So a classic question you might include in a survey in the UK, may not be something you’re allowed to ask in France for a number of different historical reasons. So, again, one has to think quite carefully about how to screen people in a study. For example, if you’re looking at a particular profile, I will need to think very carefully about how I might do that; there are also cultural elements at play when one thinks about working in the Middle East —another region we work in from the UK. And I conducted a study looking at how people view video content because it’s on the cultural factors playing in the Middle East. We decided to separate men and women within those focus groups. It was important that the women thought they didn’t have to hide who they were. And what their points of view are, some cultural situations in which they might be expected to say one thing. But actually, they might be watching content, for example, but they’re not supposed to be watching. That might be kind of viewed as a bit too Western. So again, it’s just trying to think about some of the cultural elements at play to help people feel relaxed and that they can open up and be honest.

Another thing that we’ve experienced, and you see, in Asian markets, is that sometimes it can be culturally appropriate to respond to a question with the answer that the person thinks you want to give. And so it’s responding to questions in a way that isn’t necessarily how they feel. It’s the polite thing to do. So we want to know what they really think, but the polite thing actually to do in some societies is almost a second, guess what you’re looking for? And so again, that’s why we need to think very carefully about how we’re phrasing questions, the frequency of questions you’re asking to try and pick what’s really going on. But also think about one-to-one qualitative methods and how you can actually really get to exactly what someone really thinks about a situation, and it’s always absolutely fascinating. I think it is about taking a step back and thinking about the different markets we’re looking at. What are the cultural factors that play? What kind of questions are we asking?

Is this methodology going to get us to the output we need at the very end? And so a lot of it’s about balancing out several different elements; thinking about asking the same question in different ways in different markets is also really important, and it’s one of the joys of working in global market research.

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In this insightful video, our Country Manager for Singapore, Derek Goh, sheds light on the often overlooked cultural nuances that significantly influence consumer behaviours in Singapore despite its modern facade. Drawing from examples like the Hungry Ghost Festival and Chinese New Year and highlighting the tangible impact of traditional beliefs on purchase patterns during these periods, Derek presents a compelling case for brands to tailor their strategies accordingly. Furthermore, he unveils the growing yet underserved silver generation market, urging brands, especially in the entertainment and leisure sectors, to realign their offerings to cater to this expanding demographic, tapping into a lucrative and burgeoning market segment. Watch the video here.

Here’s a transcript from the video from Derek Goh:

What cultural values and beliefs influence purchase decisions in Singapore?

Derek Goh: When it comes to traditional beliefs and values influencing purchase behaviour, you would have thought that a modern metropolis like Singapore would be very advanced and very interesting in how they buy things, and that’s true, but traditions and values still influence purchase behaviour, quite a bit. For example, in August, the lunar calendar is actually the seventh month, which in Chinese belief is the ghost month or the Hungry Ghost Festival. It is believed that ghosts are released back into the human realm, and we coexist. All that affects purchases, and many people choose not to buy big ticket items during this time because it’s believed to be unlucky. Property sales significantly drop yearly during the Hungry Ghost Festival, and even car sales, which are typically very high in Singapore, experience a bit of a standstill. It’s a down period for car sales in Singapore. So that’s an interesting phenomenon, and it illustrates how, in Singapore, even though we’re quite modern, we still have suspicions and beliefs regarding what influences our purchases.

Another example would be the Chinese New Year period, which is still considered to bring good luck and good fortune, and people in Singapore like to give cash. So, during the early part of the year, all the regional banks in Singapore make sure their cash machines are stocked with fresh dollar bills and even set up specific cash machines in neighbourhoods to make the cues manageable. This is another example of how traditional values and beliefs motivate behaviour. 

What opportunities do you see in the Singaporean market that brands might be missing now?

Derek Goh: Singapore has an advanced economy, of course, and has consumer strategies for different brands, and not surprisingly, most brands target Gen Zs or Millennials. So, that’s normal. But one misunderstood segment in the Singapore Consumer Society, I would say, would be the silver generation. I define that as people aged 65 years and above. Why would I say that? According to national statistics in 2010, one in 10 Singaporeans were aged 65 and above.

In 2023, currently, about one in five are above age 65. So, in a span of 13 years, the proportion of Singaporeans who fall into this silver generation has doubled, and it is projected that in the next seven years, by 2030, one in four consumers in Singapore will be aged 65 and above. So, currently, a lot of the products and services catering to the aged generation, not surprisingly, are focused on healthcare, and I think that makes sense because once these consumers grow older, there’s a tendency for them to require healthcare support, and that’s not surprising. However, if you think about it, in seven years, one in four people with the power to spend will be above age 65. If you are in the entertainment business, or if you are in the leisure and travel business, are you prepared to serve this currently underserved market? What would you do differently so you can also capture a share of one in four Singaporeans?

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What are the current local trends in beauty and food in Thailand and Vietnam?
In consumer marketing, it is essential to know the latest trend.
Hide (Kadence Thailand) and Kengo (Kadence Vietnam) interviewed four Thai/Vietnamese women who can speak in Japan to reveal the current local trend in beauty and food.
The participants prepared the videos to introduce their daily cosmetics/inside refrigerators too. Let’s catch up by watching the recordings below!
*Only Japanese available (No English dub/subtitles)

Watch the session in Japanese

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The situation surrounding EVs is changing rapidly.
This time, our local team member Pom from Kadence Thailand interviewed three EV owners in Thailand to reveal the local consumer thoughts. Let’s catch up by watching the recordings below!

Watch the session in Thai

Watch the session in Japanese

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The pace at which consumers are adopting EVs varies in different countries.
This time, our local team members from across our Southeast Asia offices(Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, and Vietnam) introduced the latest situation. Let’s catch up by watching the recordings below!

Watch the session in English

Watch the session in Japanese

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Segmentations are powerful tools for any business. But right now, at a time where we’re seeing extremes of behaviour – from lockdowns in some markets to a roaring twenties style reopening in others, how should you be approaching your segmentation?

We’ve brought together segmentation experts from across Kadence to share their top tips. In this short 10 minute video, we cover:

  • How to know if you need to refresh your segmentation – (Hint – if you’re in an industry where behaviours have changed as a result of the pandemic, the answer is very likely to be a yes!)
  • When you should embark on your segmentation refresh
  • What you can do in the interim to ensure your segmentation delivers in the short-term
  • What to do if you need to develop a segmentation now

To understand more about the best approach to segmentation, take a look at our ultimate guide or get in touch.

Concept and pack testing is an area that’s ripe for innovation – a need made ever more pressing during the Covid-19 pandemic. Watch this 15 minute video to hear how we worked with Asahi UK to pilot the use of augmented reality for this purpose, testing pack designs for Fuller’s London Pride.

We’ll share our key findings, focusing specifically on what we discovered about the value of using AR versus static 2D images. These insights will have value to any researcher looking to broaden their toolkit and harness new technologies in the “new normal”.

This is is the first of Kadence International’s Micro Masterclasses, 15 minute videos designed to provide fresh thinking and a new perspective on research methodologies.

Looking ahead to the trends that will shape the coming year is a critical exercise for any business. But in 2021, this is perhaps more significant than ever. Consumer behaviour has been transformed as a result of Covid-19, as many shifts in behaviour have accelerated.

To understand the key trends to watch in Asia, we spoke to trend watching experts across our 8 offices in the region. Watch the video to hear their thoughts, or download the full report.

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Consumer Trends in Asia: 2021

Download the full report to learn how 5 key trends are playing out across Asia, the implications of this for businesses and success stories of brands successfully capitalising on the trends:

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