The U.K. is the European country most affected by the Swine Flu virus. Media coverage in the U.K. has been extensive and subsequent consumer reaction is benefiting sales of related products. Notably, sales of digital thermometers have grown by 57% year on year as people are encouraged to stay at home and “self diagnose” to avoid the spread of the virus. As the Guardian recently reported, many shops have sold out of items such as thermometers. Basic hygiene is being promoted by the government and businesses as one …

The topic of harmonizing data across global markets is not one that consumers think about.  But to consumer product manufacturers, marketers and economists, it is an issue fraught with challenges, as variations in barcodes, brand names, packaging and sizes make it extremely difficult to obtain reliable comparisons from country to country.  Take the simple product chocolate sprinkles:

 
In the U.S. and Belgium, they are used as toppings for cakes or ice cream.  In the Netherlands, however, they are used as a sandwich spread.  Likewise, compote is a dessert in southern Europe …

More than three-quarters of Indian consumers base their choice of mobile service on network or price, according to a new study from The Nielsen Company India.  While CDMA technology has an edge over GSM in both voice and data network performance in India, more than a third (33%) of respondents with CDMA service are likely to consider a GSM brand should they choose to switch carriers. Meanwhile, 62 percent of CDMA customers said that they would consider staying with their existing service provider.
Nielsen also studied CDMA and GSM network performance in 39 …

Overall ad spending stayed afloat in Q1 ‘09 vs. Q1 ‘08
Toward the end of 2008, the global downturn was adversely impacting advertising spending throughout many key markets around the world, with Europe and the Americas struggling more than others.  The exception to this was Asia Pacific (APAC), which appeared to be relatively impervious to the worst of the downturn. Beginning in late 2008, and escalating as the first quarter of 2009 unfolded, the majority of APAC markets were finally succumbing to declining economic conditions with substantial declines in advertising activity. …

Seven in 10 consumers agree that advertising contributes to economic growth, while eight in 10 agree that advertising helps create jobs, according to a new survey of 25,420 consumers in 50 countries conducted by The Nielsen Company for the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) in March-April 2009.
Additionally, 68% feel that, as a critical driver of competition between companies, advertising leads to better products and lower prices. Consumers’ views on the economic benefits of advertising are broadly consistent across the Americas, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific.
The survey also shows …

Consumers in 10 of the world’s top economies continued to be wary of spending their money in May, according to the latest edition of the Nielsen Economic Current, which provides a snapshot of global consumer and retail trends across 10 countries which represent nearly 65 percent of global GDP.  Tracking key performance indicators, Brazil and the U.K. led the pack with solid improvements in their scores, while the U.S. and Canada showed declines.  The rest of the countries tracked (China, France, Germany, India, Italy and Spain) showed no movement from …

Spurred by warmer weather and slowing food inflation, grocery sales in the UK grew 5 percent in the 12 weeks ending June 13th, and annual gains to date stood at 3.6 percent, according to Nielsen.  All of the top British grocery retailers posted gains, with one exception, and Waitrose in particular turned in an impressive performance with 8.4 percent growth.  The chain has attracted almost a quarter million new shoppers in the last month, and consumer spend grew more than 5 percent.
“Waitrose has gained strong momentum going into the summer, …

With 43 percent of the votes, the Information Technology (IT) industry has once again been named as the most desirable sector for a career for India’s engineering graduates, according to the latest Nielsen Campus Track T-Schools study, which surveys attitudes of students towards industries and prospective employers.  While IT was the most desirable industry last year, the latest result marks a 7 percent drop from 2008. Rounding out the top three most popular industries were automotive and telecom.
Management consultancies and financial services – which were once among the top choices …

Alex Burmaster, European Internet Analyst
Our global trust in advertising survey illustrated that the online ad industry has a lot of work to do when it comes to reaching the levels of trust consumers already have in traditional media ads.Aside from brand Web sites (trusted by 70 percent of online consumers globally) e-mails, sponsored search links, video ads, banner ads and mobile text ads are at the bottom of the trust league. Of course, traditional media advertising forms have been around much longer and, consequently, consumers have had more time to …

Advertising spending around the world dropped 7.2 percent in the first quarter of 2009 compared to the same period in 2008, according to Nielsen’s Global AdView Pulse.  European countries were hit the hardest, with ad spending down in Spain 28.2 percent, Ireland down 21.2 percent and Italy down 19.1 percent.  The U.S. recorded a decline of 12.7 percent.  Ad spending in Asia Pacific was down just 2.3 percent in the first quarter.  Indonesia actually recorded growth of 19.1 percent due largely to the elections there, while China’s growth slowed to …