There's no denying that instinct does play a welcome role in the making of marketing decisions. But it doesn't in any way diminish the argument that Asia desperately needs both variety, depth and continuity in consumer research.
Sadly, it's taken a downturn to push some of the much-needed improvements through. From the supply side, research firms are rising to the challenge, though some would argue rather belatedly to meet marketers' demands for richer, continuous data. In the past month, the first in a series of quarterly media surveys under Synovate's Pan-Asia Cross Media umbrella was released, and Nielsen and Taylor Nelson Sofres are going head-to-head in Singapore with consumer panels aimed at collecting similar consumption data.
The slump has also created opportunities for leaner, nimbler operators to slip in with niche offers. This is precisely what admanGo has done in Hong Kong, securing the 4As contract to provide advertising expenditure and creative tracking data on a daily basis.
Clearly there are risks in handing the deal to a relative newcomer, which was better known for the popular online industry gossip bulletin board it ran until it reinvented itself as a market research supplier. This may explain why at least two of the bigger agencies chose to stay with Nielsen Media Research.
One can only hope that admanGo will live up to the 4As' expectations in delivering on its promises apart from the obvious cost savings the company no doubt touted to land the assignment. If admanGo does deliver, the researcher would have helped in no small way towards injecting much-needed competition in the research business as well as giving the local market a choice in suppliers.