Ipsos Update - May 2017

Welcome to the May edition of Ipsos Update, our monthly round-up of Ipsos’ research and thinking from around the world.

We start with our Global Trends report. This 18,000 strong survey provides a unique snapshot of the world today, exploring attitudes and behaviours of people regarding technology, the environment and society. With over 400 questions asked across 23 countries, it reveals some fascinating insights. For example, more than three-quarters of people feel that their economy is “rigged” towards the rich and powerful; and more than half of people saying couldn’t live without their smartphone.

Italy and Brazil are under the spotlight in this month’s edition. Italy is the focus of the latest in our series of Ipsos Flair reports. Our team paints a picture of a country whose living standards remain under continued pressure, and whose relationship with Europe is more uneasy than it was. In Brazil, we find consumer confidence stagnating, and with nine in ten people saying the country is heading in the wrong direction.

Brazil is one of the countries being assessed in our latest Latin American opinion leaders’ survey. Looking across the region, they give Uruguay, Peru and Chile the highest ratings when it comes to assessing how well different countries’ economies are performing.

How to succeed in the online economy? We take a look at what needs to be in place to make digital advertising a success. Choosing the wrong metrics can lead to the opposite of the intended outcome. We set out some principles that can help us stay on the right track. Still thinking about how we can focus on gaining the right results, we feature new insights on what needs to be in place to make sure investment in improving customer experience hits in the right buttons.

This edition also sees us take a look back at the marketing opportunities that we can plan for, taking the Lunar New Year celebrations in Singapore and Malaysia as an example. We also examine unwelcome events – in the form of fraud and corrupt practice. Our new survey gives perspectives from businesses across markets on what employees are seeing on the ground.

It's been a busy month in the political world. Recent weeks have seen electors go to the polling stations in both Turkey (for the constitutional referendum) and France (the presidential elections). We present our findings on who voted for the “Yes” and “No” camps in Turkey, as well as the French public’s mood going into the final stages of their campaign.