As U.S. consumers cope with the third year of an economic downturn, which can now be best described as a jobless recovery, an interesting trend has emerged. Consumers have re-calibrated spending and redefined the traditional norms of value.

Private label products can be found in the pantry of nearly every Canadian home, but who buys private label products occasionally and who buys them on a regular basis? New analysis from The Nielsen Company identifies the heaviest private label buyer and finds that the face of today’s private label consumer is changing.

Retail in developing markets like Vietnam has remained fairly robust. All signs point to further opportunities for expansion.

Mobile web banking in the U.S. has grown to more than 13 million mobile subscribers – up 129 percent in just two years – and is now poised to level the playing field for the banked, unbanked, young, old, rich, poor, downtown, uptown or out-of-town.

A majority of U.S. and U.K. consumers would consider purchasing an electric vehicle, but many consumers are suffering from sticker shock when they discover the price of driving a “green” car.

Three-quarters of U.S. households believe store brands are a good alternative to name brands and nearly two-thirds of households say that store brand quality is just as good as name brands.

About 64 million people – or about a third of all U.S. Internet users – visited a World Cup-related website such as ESPN.com, Univision.com, FIFA.com, or Yahoo! Sports.

Vietnam is one of Southeast Asia’s great success stories: the country is undergoing rapid development and its youthful citizens are now among the most confident consumers in the world, according to Nielsen’s Global Consumer Confidence Index.

As the appetite for home entertainment and tech evolves, Nielsen’s Home Technology Report identifies hot technology trends and ones that have cooled over the past two years.

The Nielsen Company provides a snapshot of ad spending in 2009 and the first half of 2010 along with videos of its key announcements and findings during the event.