Ipsos Update - December 2018

Our new Global Advisor survey shows that satisfaction levels with local infrastructure are split internationally, with one third giving positive ratings, another third negative ratings, and the remaining third neutral. But there are big differences by country. On the perceived quality of their country’s airports, rail, roads, broadband, water supply, housing and more, 71% of respondents in Saudi Arabia and 59% India report being satisfied, compared to only 5% in Romania and 12% in Brazil.

According to another global report, there is strong “Entrepreneurial Spirit” worldwide as six in ten respondents possess what are considered entrepreneurial characteristics. This tendency is strongest in Mexico, India, Saudi Arabia and China, while Sweden, South Korea and Japan record the lowest levels of entrepreneurialism. Over one-quarter of people say they have started a business in the past and another three-in-ten say they have seriously considered it.

Shifting the focus to health, Connected Health Trends 2018 shows that 12% of people across 29 countries use connected health devices. China, India, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and the US show a particular interest in connected health products. But, despite an increasing range of products and features available, uptake of this new technology has not increased since 2016.

Turning now to our latest white papers, Part II of the Cognitive Battlefield series looks at how to package information to make it attention-grabbing and “sticky” in order to influence people’s attitudes. It looks specifically at messaging strategies by the US Republican and Democratic parties on how to strengthen the economy, finding they have the power to unite or divide.

Additionally, a new white paper by our Corporate Reputation team analyses the views of the public and policymakers on AI and automation at work. It finds that UK MPs are largely pro-automation and while the majority of the general public (66%) are “not concerned” about losing their jobs to automation, 44% would support an ‘automation tax’.

The UK public are also consulted on who they trust to tell them the truth in the 2018 Veracity Index, in which advertising executives rank as the least trusted profession, below politicians, government ministers and journalists. Nurses remain the most trusted, with 96% of respondents trusting them to tell the truth.

At possibly the most important time of the year for retail, a new thought piece on the changing nature of sale shopping looks at the evolution of Black Friday from a 24-hour national sprint to a multi-day international marathon with an increasingly online presence. It asks what brands are doing to adapt, where are these trends heading and outlines five steps to success.