Ipsos Update - April 2019

Connected Health is entering the mainstream of everyday healthcare. Beyond the wearable technology which popularised and commercialised it, opportunities are emerging for a whole host of technology-driven healthcare applications which are set to transform the traditional structures of healthcare. Our new white paper outlines the story so far and illustrates some of the benefits.  These include relieving stress from healthcare professionals, empowering patients and improving diagnosis and management of conditions.

Still on the subject of innovative technologies, Virtual Reality: Hype or the future argues that, although VR is now more sci-fact than sci-fi, we are only in the beginning stages of adopting and using the technology to its full potential. Presenting recent case studies, it demonstrates how virtual, augmented, and mixed reality can enrich consumer insights for the market research sector.

‘Techlash’ is one theme of this year’s Reputation Council report, which explores how businesses can best deal with the reputational challenges of today which threaten financial performance. While 86% of council members expect their own businesses to be hit with data and privacy issues, three in five disagree that trust in companies in at an all-time low.

Turning now to developments in the food and beverages sector, a briefing on India’s transforming foodscape explains the factors driving change in popular cuisine. It identifies opportunities in the market for new food products and services, for example those that focus on nutritional content and use regional flavours.

How we embrace and define differences are the themes of two new global reports, one on the inclusiveness of nationalities and another on the diversity of social circles. The nationality study finds six distinct perceptions of who counts as a true “national” in a range of different countries. The Crossing Divides study finds that people around the world are evenly split about whether differences in political views are healthy or dangerous to society.

Looking now to political views about environmental issues, a new white paper analyses the state of Green party politics around the world and explores why an increase in concern about climate change isn’t necessarily followed by a rise in Green votes.

Finally, Ipsos’ latest paper on Text Analytics notes that there are increasingly high hopes for the tool as it is incorporated more and more into market research programmes. To avoid disappointment, there are five key rules for practitioners to follow.