Customer Trend Log

Abu Dhabi Statistics conference 2013

I was thrilled to attend Abu Dhabi statistics conference 2013; a 2 day conference that revolved around data, data mining and collaborative efforts to manage and merge the data sets. My excitement has following reasons.   

1. To see that statistics is becoming more mainstream – the participation of members throughout the Gulf, far east Asia and Abu Dhabi government was a pleasant surprise
2. Statisticians have finally decided to enter mainstream business. The approach of every presenter revolved around how information can assist ROIs.
3. Data mining is being discussed at government level and intra-government level.
4. My favorite session was importance of merging Admin data – not only because it was presented well, but because there was a direct relevance between how information impacted revenues, consumer and stakeholder satisfaction   

 What is in it for us, the researchers?

1. If you are working in Abu Dhabi, be prepared for a more visible SCAD.
2. Have you ever considered, developing models of customer database? To explain more, have you ever developed a model whereby most of consumer information is not gathered through surveys but through cooperation and sharing of data within organizations, public sector and private sector? If not, start developing one now.
3. Engage in discussions and conference that talks about open information networks. Lets’ collaborate – recommend names and institutes to operators like  IIR, Ted x dubai etc

 Have a great day. Enjoy interpreting numbers till we meet again

 Ayesha

Insights into Emirati Conusmer

I am intrigued about in-depth understanding of Emirati consumers. In my opinion, a lot of work can be done to improve our understanding of Emirati Consumers.  I have tried to analyze this segment in IBM Many eyes here is the link for the static image and the Java based live visualization

And this is following is the first draft of my understanding.

Emirati Consumer – Insights

Additional Readings:

Emirati Women Happy with lifestyle:

http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/emirati-women-satisfied-with-life-in-uae-survey-finds

 http://www.ameinfo.com/todays-emirati-women-emerging-hallmarks-national-320812             

Emirati opinion about quality of life: http://www.emirates247.com/news/emirates/91-per-cent-of-citizens-happy-with-life-in-the-uae-survey-2012-08-14-1.471482

Traveling Habits: http://www.josourmagazine.ae/english/index.php/2011-09-16-13-30-23/2011-09-16-13-31-00/2011-09-16-13-31-18/893-unique-survey-reveals-travel-habits-of-gcc-nationals  

Very good Economic Survey by ADCED: http://www.adced.ae/imageCollection/EconomicReview/Issue/1014201061854536093750.pdf

Emirati Teen Spending: http://gulftoday.ae/portal/443c50ba-b2aa-4431-851f-9eafdf9c1e64.aspx

Emirati Women in Workforce: http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/emirati-women-and-workforce-in-a-clash-of-culture

Google Trends about Consumer Insight and Consumer Trend

I was just fooling around with Google trends about consumer insight and consumer trends. And I landed on following questions.

Key questions:

• Increasing interest coming from India in consumer research and insight
• Cognos Consumer Insight as the rising trend. Indicating IBM’s lead in analytics, and interest of Business sector in having in-house analytics
• Why consumer trend as a term is popular only in USA?
• Advertising and marketing in Britain relies more on consumer insight than the rest of the world?
• Why UAE didn’t appear in any search worldwide, I was under the impression that research is getting more mainstream here?

Interest from India

Cognos Consumer Insight

Consumer Trend USA

Researchers’ Paradise

Researchers’ Paradise?

Research in UAE

ESRI – GIS Conference Abu Dhabi 2012

Sometimes, very rarely, you feel great about Your choice of profession. Today is one of that for me.

I am currently attending an ESRI conference on GIS maps and how to integrate the data sets coming from user interaction, system administration etc for data driven decision making.

What has pleasantly surprised me is the interest of diversified set of audience ( CEOs, analysts, engineers, system administrator). And also the fact that public sector in Middle East is actually one of the key players who is using data sets. Don’t get me wrong, when I say GIS I not only mean Urban Planning etc. I also mean statistics Center and how are they using GIS. That’s what I think is cutting edge.

Looking at some of the technologies and software displayed here, it is not hard to say that very soon in Abu Dhabi’s public sector GIS maps will be one of the most common data visualization tool.

Some mouthwatering tools for you

- Abu Dhabi Geoportal tool
- http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/arcgis10

Here are some pictures from the conference.

Here is an exciting press release about the MoU signed between ESRI and Abu Dhabi Govt. http://www.ameinfo.com/first-ever-government-wide-mou-abu-dhabi-322230. If you are working in Analytics within public sector of Abu Dhabi I assure you that good times are coming our way.

Have a great day.

Data visualization future in Marketing Research

I started today with the typical Monday blues. (for those who don’t know, in Dubai we work on Sundays’)

Reports, tables, data sets started to pile up in my inbox and the brain just refused to work. So I went online and surfed through some of my favorite blogs & websites and landed on the results of WPPed Cream. And there is when I found something which can make your weekend start a little brighter.

TNS Digital Life is the winner in the WPPed Cream, Consumer Insight section. I strongly recommend that you have a look at it, you might be pleasantly surprised with the data visualization and cross country comparisons.

Infographic – TNS Digital life UAE-Singapore

The second thing I observed that Kantar has a Creative Director….! Aziz Cami. I am delighted to know that Research companies have finally realized the importance of data visualization and presentation and this is a warmly welcomed move by Kantar. I hope others will soon follow. This indicates that in future, we expect to have a creative division in Agencies’ looking after syndicated data.  Finally.

And now have a look at the Text cloud of top 5 winners’ in Consumer Insights’ category and what I saw was that the focus is on presentation, value added, interactive, digital and contribution of new player Oracle. These key words hint at the trends in marketing research industry…..

2011 WPPed Cream – Consumer insight winners text cloud

Go on play with the data your self, it is available on IBM Many Eyes

How to evaluate a marketing research proposal for a public sector research project

We all know how to evaluate a marketing research firm for an FMCG project, white goods project or a consumer brand. But when it comes to marketing research project related to government/public sector projects the selection criteria changes and there is little written about it.

I think the following guide by ESOMAR on how to commission a marketing research project is quiet comprehensive. Plus this one on “How to hire a marketing research company” is also fairly practical. But in my opinion, the rules of the game change when a project for public sector is evaluated.

Here is the checklist of basic elements the marketing research or the consumer insight manager should look for

• MR (Marketing Research) agency’s background (Liaison with ESOMAR, International Affiliations)
• Comprehensiveness of Proposal
  • Understanding of the agency of your research objective. (HINT: look for areas where you can spot whether the agency is still treating your research objective as a private sector project or they understand that for you it is more about consumer and there is limited focus on competitive intelligence)
  • Sampling Methodology
  • Survey Instrument
  • Quality Controls
  • Analysis and reporting (Try and probe further here; maybe the agency is considering including variables raised by EFQM and/or other excellence related authorities. Maybe the agency is proposing to look further into your strategic plan so that they can align the results according to your performance reports. If yes, then this agency should be given a higher weightage as they are trying to display their understanding of public sector excellence models.)
• Previous Experience: If the company has already worked with public sector within your country then chances are that they understand public sector reporting cycles and success criterion.
• Key personnel: Look at the CVs of people working for your project, see if key personnel have worked with UN, Government Sector and/or Social Research projects
• Quality Standards: Pay close attention to this section, most marketing research agencies might not put their details but this should be a make or break element for the project.

In case you are commissioning a large scale project, and you are meeting the teams in person make sure you rate the team on the following parameters

1. Project management skills: Does the team understand the importance of thorough project management approaches. How effective are their gateway approval processes, how are the evaluating and managing their risks
2. Flexibility: How flexible the team is, remember day in and day out these people sell projects to FMCG clients. Their prime focus is to provide competitive intelligence and in most (if not all) public sector marketing research projects the key is consumer for public services and his welfare. This is a very alien concept for someone who is trying to identify consumer’s consumption motivation all the time
3. Relevant Experiences: If some of the key personnel have already handled similar assignments then it should be easy for you understand the terms, jargons and objectives of a public sector client. If that is the case, try an explore the experience of that personnel and read his body language if you observe sign of disgust or dissatisfaction then be aware of the fact that you will have difficulties in handling this member of the team.
4. Check Alignment: Check how aligned and attuned the research company is with public sector center of research. Sometimes even basic definitions like demography are represented differently across public and private sector.

Here are some selected MR companies affiliated with ESOMAR that are working in United Arab Emirates (Dubai / Abu Dhabi)

AMRB

205 Arbift Tower
Baniyas Road, Deira
4327 Dubai
United Arab Emirates
Phone: +971-4-221.5267
Fax: +971-4-223.6316
E-mail
Website   

Feedback

601 Crystal Tower
Buhairah Corniche
29663 Sharjah
United Arab Emirates
Phone: +971-6-574.7979
Fax: +971-6-574.7749
E-mail
Website

IPSOS

Dubai Media City, Al Thuraya Tower 1, 8th floor
PO Box 71283 Dubai
Dubai
United Arab Emirates
Phone: +971-4-4408980
Fax: +971-4-4408981
E-mail

Website

TNS

Level 3, Makeen Building
Airport Road, P.O. Box 60992
Dubai
United Arab Emirates
Phone: +971-4-282.2688
Fax: +971-4-282.2711
E-mail
Website

YouGov

Suite 302
Cayan Business Centre, Tecom 3
Dubai
United Arab Emirates
Phone: +971 4367 0340
Fax: +971 4367 2830
E-mail
Website

(I am wondering why ACNielsen in UAE is not registered with ESOMAR)

Best of luck for your projects – Ayesha Saeed

Social Media Statistics in United Arab Emirates

Key questions this data raises:-

1. Average ad-spend on social media per annum is AED 50,000 only. The question is, in a market where TV is extremely fragmented and print is very expensive what is stopping brands from exploring new media?
2. Why no conventional brand is topping the chart?
3. E-Commerce market of USD 2 billion and still we don’t see anything about www.souq.com , this raises the question about the rating calculation.
4. Is share of subscribers a good indicator, or we should explore more into user sentiment, loyalty and spending

All the data, is also consolidated in UAE databank . UAE databank, is a project of www.customertrendlog.com which aims at combining all the scattered data of UAE consumer in one place. Contact us if you would like to submit or discover any indicator about UAE consumer.

Author Info: Anam Saeed is an emerging marketing research executive with a knack to explore new age media. She has developed content for multiple local and international clients. Based out of South Asia she brings a perspective of developing markets in her research studies.

Consumer Insight: Sally in Dubai and social media Part 2

In Jan, I wrote about the Sally in Dubai Blog which was at that time covered by Gulf News.The first question I had in my mind, was about the authenticity of the blog

Today I somehow landed on this youtube video of Sally, have a look.

“Sally is a hoax and so could be multiple other bloggers who are shaping consumers’ opinion. Will this effect consumers more than marketers or vice versa”

What does this video tells you as a marketer.”

1. Sally is a hoax and so could be the reality of multiple of bloggers that are shaping the opinions of multiple audience groups.  
2. What is the rule of Social Media Law in such cases
3. After multiple such cases, Consumers will be confused or will they continue to trust the social media as almost 70% – 80% audience form their opinion through social media platforms

 Additional Readings

1. Review of UAE Social Media Law: http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/uae-cyber-law-is-full-of-surprises
2. Blog of Sally: http://dubaisally.blogspot.com/
3. Previous Post about Sally

Need a Job? Understand how recruiters use social media to find candidates.

Social media has revolutionized everything around us including the way we get hired. A recent surveyby Eurocom worldwide reveals that 38% of companies check social media profiles of potential employees

I got a chance to discuss this issue with a leading international recruiter.Following are his thoughts on the subject.

It takes talent to find talents…

“I think what is more important to realize is how it can be used to review a potential candidate and gain insight into the person, their personality/style and potential as a candidate.” Victor Asanbe

This involves the following:

1. Review of Contact Lists: A review of their (candidate’s) contact list is it made up of peers, professionally relevant people, contacts that show an ability to grow a network throughout organizations, the industry, complementary fields etc at different levels. This is often a core competency required for many positions now, and using blogs to do just that, is an indication that a candidate can execute that effectively in a new role/company. An indication that someone is not building a professional network is disparate titles, industries etc, this could just be a social activity for them.

2. Review of involvement and contribution to groups – Involvement & contribution in groups; assess the relevance and contribution frequency. Often this is an indication of two areas – networking ability but also how readily they are likely to contribute to business areas outside their own within a team environment, do they contribute for the general good, or have a level of awareness that would translate into organizational awareness etc. This also helps a recruiter gain insight into management styles, knowledge and expertise – which is never a bad thing, it helps a great deal when it comes to considering a candidate and a match to the culture of a company

3. References - a review of references to see how they (candidate) fit with the roles. Do they come from clients (and these can be internal clients as well as external) – a third party client reference is of value – and perhaps a conversation that can be extended to gain even further understanding of the person concerned. For leadership roles, it’s also interesting to see references from team members that express what it was like to be part of the team lead by the individual. Of course, direct supervisor or references from “the boss” also fit nicely into this review. Colleague/peer references are easier to get and not as indicative to performance of the person.

5.Profile: Lastly, generally how are they using their profile to communicate who they are, their roles and areas of interest – the underlying structure – it used to be that we looked at a messy resume and assumed, messy person, now, we look at the on line profiles and do the same.

“ I am not saying that every recruiter uses social media like this but what I can say is that I do, and although I don’t make all of my decisions on someone from this, these areas are all part of the process of assessing a potential candidate. I can also speak from experience in terms of being a recruiter, I know I certainly increased the number of contacts I had from people when I work, when I followed this sort of thought process myself.” Victor

A little about the author:

Victor Asanbe: A leading International recruiter.  Based in London, he is handling recruitment in United Kingdom & EMEA (including Abu Dhabi). He specifically manages and recruits into the IT, Telecoms, Media, Research, MoD, Hedge fund, Sales and Marketing industries across UK & EMEA.

How to build a brand in UAE? Ten rules that all marketers should know

The world is full of global brands. Which were never designed to be global brands? How to dominate the world is about how to beat them.

This presentation adds insights from United Arab Emirates to the points raised by Simon Silvester

Rule 1: Think Zeitgest  - UAE has startled the world through its development and growth, brands should capitalize that

Rule 2: Think Trial – UAE is a paradise of retail outlets, think trial to all the young audience and the expats that have recently arrived

Rule 3: Think Visual – When 208 nationalities combine speaking multiple languages, the language of your brand should be visual

Rule 4: Think Youthquake – UAE population has an average age of 27, you should connect to the young & rising.

Rule 5: Think Small – UAE is getting green, your brand should be saving on paper and all avoidable wastes because you love environment

Rule 6: Think Print – The media in UAE is print, followed by digital. Think visual, body copy and go crazy

Rule 7: Think Fast – People are on the move, fads are coming and going and where the hell is your brand? Move fast because if you will not your competition will

Rule 8: Think Cultural Neutrality – So many cultures, so many languages but one dream — Dubai Dream

Rule 9: Think Kiasu – Ambition charges UAE population & your brand should fuel it

Rule 10: Think Mobile 200% penetration rate of mobiles asks brand to evolve through modern technology

Brand Mantra: In UAE brand should capture human imagination, and should capture it faster than human imagination

Reading: How to dominate the world by Simon Silvester