Bringing Cultural Nuances To Life
This book has been initiated to help Ipsos researchers in their international projects. At the analysis stage, it provides cultural insights which can enlighten the results. But also from a technical perspective, when preparing a qualitative study design, it aids in the consideration of local constraints (such as scheduling, sample composition, geographical coverage).
Aspirations continents
Summarising the different tables on the presentation, several new continents appear:
- Career-focused countries (Indonesia, India, China, Saudi Arabia, South Africa)
- Experience-focused countries (Italy, Turkey, South Korea, Russia, Poland)
- Products-focused countries (Spain, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, China)
- Relationship-focused countries (US, Canada, Australia, Belgium, Japan, France, UK, Germany, Sweden)
Communication platform continents
On the communication platforms perspective, we can distinguish
- Countries which are extremely active in social networks : Brazil, Turkey, India, China, Indonesia, Sweden, Russia, Saudi Arabia
- “Multi-channelists” who show a balanced behavior (would prefer to give up Social Networking than TV; would prefer to interact with helpful, friendly customer service than even the most efficient automated sales experience: UK, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Australia, Canada, USA, Japan, Poland, and South Korea
- “Phone enthusiasts”, who read ads on their mobile phones : Argentina, Mexico, Spain, South Africa, but also Russia, Saudi Arabia, India, China, Indonesia, Turkey, Poland, and South Korea
Advertising
- Advertising plays an important informational role in North America (compared to Europe and Asia) because North Americans are more impulsive when they shop and don’t want to go out of their way to get extra information about products outside of advertising.
- Consumers in Asia Pacific place strong emphasis on an ad’s entertainment value and on the presence of a celebrity in advertising. However, they also value strong product information and the use of testimonials.
- Brazilians desire product demonstrations delivered by local characters in an entertaining way. Overall, Brazilians are more likely to be impulsive shoppers, but they like to see to believe. However, they are also looking for entertainment value. They are more likely to want to identify themselves with characters in the ad.
- Celebrities and local actors are more appealing to Southern Europeans. Indeed they are less open to see foreign actors in advertising.
- In Turkey, ads are expected to be almost like sitcoms and consumers look forward to watching them... And because Turkish culture is such a mix of Western and Middle Eastern, local adaptation is often needed, especially when humour is present. It also means that product information needs to be easy to take in (simple), hence the desire for product comparisons.
- Australians are more cynical towards advertising “tricks” (testimonials/celebrities) and value informative content like in North America. They are also less sensitive to music.
