The effects of the recession may be seen on the BBQ grill this Fourth of July. Sales of hot dogs have been going up in recent months while register rings for more expensive bratwurst and knockwurst have been declining, according to new research from The Nielsen Company. This is a reversal of sales trends the past several years.
July 3rd traditionally has the highest sales volume for all three types of meat. Consumers were 50 percent more likely to buy hot dogs during the four-week period ending on July 12, 2008 …

Recently, at Nielsen’s Consumer 360 Conference, The Nielsen Company featured a unique exhibit, Consumed: The Economy Hits Home, which looks at how today’s uncertain economy is shaping consumer attitudes and behaviors and how marketers can navigate this new landscape to uncover growth opportunities. Mark Leiter, President, Professional Services, provides a guided video tour.

Read the corresponding presentation: Consumer or Consumed.
More video and presentations available at Consumer360.com.

As most top industries cut their ad budgets in 2008, the travel and hospitality industry saw its ad spend increase four percent, according to an analysis by The Nielsen Company. The industry spent $3.9 billion in total advertising across 16 media last year.
“In a year where ad spending declined across the board, it’s refreshing to see travel and hospitality companies were expanding their reach to consumers,” said Annie Touliatos, VP for Sales Development at Monitor-Plus, Nielsen’s ad tracking service. “It shows the confidence they have that Americans are still looking to travel even in this …

Consumer confidence around the world has been falling as the ongoing recession is causing more people to worry about their jobs and cut household spending.  And although residents of the United Arab Emirates share those concerns, they rank in the top ten of the most optimistic countries of the 52 studied by Nielsen.  The UAE scored a confidence level of 89, compared with other regional neighbors such as Saudi Arabia (79) and Egypt (74).  Globally, Indonesian consumers were the most confident, with a score of 104, followed by the Danes …

Global consumer spending appears to be on the rebound, driven by sales gains in China, India, the U.S. and Canada in April, another indication that the global economy may be stabilizing as consumer attitudes and confidence turn up. For the first time in four months, since the creation of the Nielsen Economic Current (NEC) scorecard of consumer behavior, a monthly report from The Nielsen Company, none of 10 major GDP countries showed declines in consumer activity compared to the previous month.
“Although consumers are still not shopping as frequently, we are …

In a poll that surveyed more than 25,000 people worldwide, Nielsen found that New Zealanders were among those getting most bored of media coverage regarding the global recession, with more than a quarter of Kiwis polled saying that there was too much coverage.
Although 40 percent said that the media did a poor job of informing them of the issues that led to the crisis, 52 percent say that the media is now helping them to better understand the issues at play while 23 percent said that they were let down …

Todd Hale, Senior Vice President, Consumer and Shopper Insights
For those of you who attended our 2009 Consumer 360 client conference, you heard the opening remarks from John Lewis, President & CEO, Nielsen Consumer North America, on the impact of the economy on our industry.  His message was about how our company is “investing considerable resources in the area of thought leadership to mine Nielsen content to understand what will happen tomorrow; where (our economy) will settle; and what will the new paradigm look like?”
When John looks at the economy he …

Sid Gorham, President, Telecom Practice

Pressure has been mounting on U.S. mobile carriers to lower pricing in response to slow growth and the weakened economy. The Big 4 national carriers (Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile) each introduced unlimited usage plans in Q1 2008 that offered unlimited calling for approximately $99 per month. While these plans lowered rates for high usage subscribers, they failed to spark a full-on price war in the mass market as many analysts predicted at the time.
Today, the Big 4 national carriers are increasingly challenged by regional carriers …

First signs of how consumers will behave post recession.
Restraint will be the new mantra among consumers, according to the Nielsen Global Consumer Confidence Survey. But, that doesn’t mean they won’t start spending again in the near future.
Respondents to the poll conducted in April, across 50 countries making up 86 percent of the GDP, said they would continue to focus on fiscal responsibility. Yet, “they will allow themselves some of those little indulgences,” said James Russo, vice president, Global Consumer Insights. “Perhaps pent up demand will play itself out and they’ll …

Consumers are open to making energy-saving lifestyle changes. But, they are still far from becoming active managers of their household energy use, per new research from Nielsen Claritas. The annual Convergence Audit drew on data from more than 32,000 respondents replying both online and through the mail about their energy behavior.
While consumers are generally on board with energy conscious products, their green behavior has yet to extend to their habits in monitoring and paying for the energy in their homes.
Services offered by local utilities such as whole house energy audits, …