Added Value has been named once again in The Sunday Times Top 100 Best Small Companies to Work For 2013.

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‘If they don’t want girly beers, what DO women want?’ this was the headline to an article in The Grocer magazine (22^nd February 2013) about how beer brands are falling flat by failing to communicate to women simply because they are branding them pretty and pink.

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Thousands of concepts are being written every day, but 95% of them will fail.
Some concepts, no matter how hard they try, just don’t work, while others come along, have the look, say the right things, pull the right moves…swoop in & woo the consumer.
Great concept writing is all about mastering the art of seduction.
In this ESOMAR webinar, Trudi Binion and Ben Wood will reveal their top 10 tips, the dos & don’ts, to win over the consumer with effective and seductive concepts.
Listeners will walk away with some practical advice on both content and process, to keep in mind during concept development and research stimuli preparation.

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Celebrity endorsement is one of the most effective ways to establish instant rapport with consumers through one person’s external cues: his/her physique, athletic appeal, artistic performance and above all, likeability. In Korea, a country where the entertainment industry is highly industrialized and millions of young boys and girls go through cut-throat competition to get into this highly structured system that churns out one pop star after another, the success of Psy and his viral Gangnam style video is both an inspiration and an antidote of the cookie-cutter dynasty of the talent business. No wonder that in an instant, Psy has received many endorsement deals overnight, including a soju brand, a Kimchi Fridge as well as Nongshim Ramyun.

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For the last decade, Asia has been leading the world in terms of growth, with some Asian countries posting remarkable double digit growths.  In the backdrop of the Eurozone woes, Asia is managing to hold up and is turning in positive numbers.

Intriguingly, however, this optimism and confidence has not translated to how Asian women view themselves in the area of beauty. In an online study conducted by Added Value Saffron Hill for Allergan (a multi-specialty global health care company with world-leading franchises in medical aesthetics, eye care and neurosciences) Asian women aged 20+ score their looks at around 6 out of 10.  Japan stands out as being most critical by scoring themselves only 4.8 out of 10; very much a low vote of confidence in their beauty. Read more…

The importance of emotions in building strong relationships between brands and consumers is well-documented (and has already been explored in the popular ESOMAR “Measuring Emotions” workshop presented by Mark Whiting). But nowadays, it’s not enough simply to tell an impactful story with words alone…

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This post was originally written for AdAge

One way we might judge this year’s Super Bowl ads is by how much they reflect a total-market view of the world.

I am not talking about ethnic casting, or ethnic spokespeople, but rather the presence of cultural cues. These are subtle suggestions that ethnic values or habits — primarily Hispanic, since that is the most powerful multicultural influence in the country right now — are being assimilated into mainstream media. Read more…

To receive Jonathan Hall’s monthly newsletter on Innovation, directly in your inbox subscribe here. The buzz around gamification has become feverish over the last couple of years.  Check-in apps like Foursquare brought it to the mainstream, allowing customers to engage in a competitive way with their favourite brands (anyone become Mayor of their favorite restaurant or store?).  This month we explore how gamification has become a credible means of transforming a business both externally and internally. 

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February 10 2013 marked the start of Chinese New Year and heralds the Year of the Snake.  In the next couple of days, China will participate in one of the biggest retail weeks in the country’s shopping calendar, one of China’s two annual Golden Weeks.

Understanding this phenomenon is critical to success in China.  The Golden Weeks are similar to the retail frenzy of the West’s Christmas, but with fundamental cultural differences. Read more…

As markets in Africa start to become key growth areas for global brands, it is necessary to gain insights into what makes the consumers in those markets tick. Doing so, however, is a complex task often fraught with challenges.

Masingita Mazibuko, Associate Director at Added Value South Africa, told Financial Mail, a leading South African weekly business magazine, that the challenges can be overcome if brand owners are flexible enough, and are prepared to accept less traditional approaches from time-to-time. These are excerpts from that interview. Read more…