Ford takes global view

Ford will look to international markets and tap in to consumers' fuel economy concerns in a new global ad campaign for its Focus model, in an attempt to boost sales even as oil prices rise.

The New York Times reports that the automaker will be taking a "global" perspective in promoting the 2012 Ford Focus, with WPP agency consortium Global Team Ford developing a single campaign that will be rolled out worldwide.

"The last time we launched a car, we had eight [campaigns]," James D Farley, Ford group vice president for global marketing, sales and service, said at a news conference.

Ads in traditional media, including TV spots and newspaper and magazine ads, will share a similar "look", reflecting the Focus' repositioning as a "world car".

Farley added that the Focus is set to be "the biggest launch we've ever had, the biggest media weight".

Ford hopes that the range's smaller sizes - and the fact that some of the models will be hybrid and electric cars - will be a selling point in a world of rising fuel prices.

The Focus' fuel economy will be highlighted in some of the ads - as will the possibility for customers to add on fuel-saving technology that automatically cuts out the engine when the car stops.

"With this car and this launch, the most important thing is providing a simple explanation of the product and the technology. Particularly as oil nears the $100 oil price, technology elements are becoming more important. It resonates with consumers all around the world," Farley was quoted by Mediapost as saying.

The ads strike an optimistic tone following what has proved a tough few years for US automakers.

While Ford avoided filing for bankruptcy protection throughout the economic downturn, rivals GM and Chrysler both decided to take US government support in 2009.

Chrysler references the crisis in its current Imported from Detroit campaign, based around a TV commercial starring rapper Eminem which premiered during this year's Super Bowl.

The Wieden & Kennedy-developed spot, which highlighted the motor city's rebirth following hard times and promoted the automaker's new Chrysler 200 model, has generated significant online buzz.

AdAge reports that the campaign was the second most-popular viral ad in the last week, generating 2.45m views over the seven-day period.

It was behind another Super Bowl ad, Volkswagen and Deutsch's The Force, which had 3.49m views.

General Mills targets China

General Mills, the food manufacturer, is seeking to almost treble its Chinese revenues during the coming five years, primarily by boosting product penetration and rolling out new lines.

It recorded Chinese sales of $350m (€254m; £216m) in 2010, and aims to generate $900m through its wholly-owned local businesses by 2015.

The US multinational predicted the number of Chinese households boasting an annual disposable income surpassing $10,000 should surge by 77% between 2010 and 2015.

More specifically, the amount of "upper affluent" residences is anticipated to rise from 1m to 12m in this period, standing at 13m and 53m regarding the "lower affluent" audience.

Similarly, 69m homes are due to fit within the "middle class" segment, doubling prior figures, and the "emerging middle" group is forecast to hit 66m, a 5m improvement.

Overall, General Mills is targeting 200m families, in what has become its "fastest-growing market".

"There are clear reasons why we, and other consumer products companies, are excited about China," said Don Mulligan, the firm's chief financial officer.

"Over the last four years, China's GDP has increased at double-digit rates, creating a rapidly-growing middle class."

"Strong growth is expected to continue … creating a growing market of potential General Mills' consumers."

To date, Häagen-Dazs has prioritised standalone stores, and now operates 162 branches across 30 cities, and hopes to enhance this network going forward.

"These locations are not your typical ice-cream scoop shops," Mulligan argued. "They are upscale dining destinations, where consumers come to sit, relax and enjoy their favourite Häagen-Dazs treat.

"From $5 for a simple scoop to $40 for an elaborate dining creation, these products represent an affordable luxury for China's growing urban consumer segment."

He added: "The combination of large population centres and rapid growth in household income presents a great opportunity to expand."

New formats form part of General Mills' plans for Häagen-Dazs, opening mini-cafes in shopping malls alongside flagship outlets and smaller venues.

It has also built an online "e-shop" for the brand, and sold 1.3m gift boxes containing moon cakes in two weeks during the 2010 autumn festival, carrying prices starting at $25, and reaching $100.

"The growth in our shops business has increased demand for HD products in other channels," Mulligan continued. "With this rapid growth, more consumers can now find HD at their local grocery store."

Research provider ACNielsen recently reported the number of supermarkets and convenience stores stocking Häagen-Dazs rose 18% in just 12 months alone, fuelling annual 30% upticks for five successive years.

Elsewhere, Wanchai Ferry, a brand of dumplings General Mills acquired when taking over Pillsbury in 2001, has extended its reach from 11 cities in 2007 to more than 100 today.

"Once again, the rising Chinese middle class and developing frozen food distribution channel allowed us to bring Wanchai Ferry to new markets," Mulligan asserted.

"Frozen dumplings are still our biggest business, but they represent only 36% of frozen dim sum category sales, so we expanded into additional high-growth segments like Wonton, Tangyuan, Baozi and Mantou."

"We've also moved beyond dim sum, with the launch of frozen noodles in Shanghai last year."

Snacks constitute a third component of its Chinese portfolio, and have regularly seen 20% sales increases per year.

Products such as seaweed-flavoured Bugles and Trix milk rolls are available in 300 cities, and many retailers are served by bicycle.

"Our snacks are sold in small pouches at prices affordable to a broad base of Chinese consumers," said Mulligan.

Coke, Heinz in green tie-up

Coca-Cola, the soft drinks giant, and Heinz, the food group, have formed a new alliance aiming to enhance sustainability best practice.

Under the terms of the tie-up, Heinz will use the PlantBottle packaging, developed by Coca-Cola, for its branded Tomato Ketchup, covering around 120m units in 2011, with a global rollout intended going forward.

The company will add special labels to relevant bottles of Ketchup, beginning with the 20-ounce variety, and the modified versions should hit store shelves this summer.

Such a scheme contributes to Heinz's established goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions, energy use and water consumption by at least a fifth by 2015.

"The partnership of Coca-Cola and Heinz is a model of collaboration in the food and beverage industry that will make a sustainable difference for the planet," said Bill Johnson, Heinz's chief executive.

Coca-Cola introduced this innovative offering, made with up to 30% plant extracts and therefore less reliant on natural resources, in 2009.

It is now deployed in nine markets, including Chile, Japan and the US, and plans are in place to reach another dozen nations in 2011.

Products like Sprite, Dansai and Coke and iLOHAS have also all been incorporated in this effort to date.

Research from Imperial College London demonstrated PlantBottle helped reduce the carbon impact of featured goods by between 12% and 19%.

Moreover, the beverage manufacturer reported this packaging eliminated 30,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide, or the equivalent of 60,000 barrels of oil.

Coca-Cola expects PlantBottle to cover 5bn units in 2011, and the organisation hopes all its consumer-facing lines will leverage this substance by 2020.

"PlantBottle is revolutionising plastic, and our partnership with Heinz is paving the way for industry-wide collaboration," said Muhtar Kent, Coca-Cola's chairman/ceo.

"This partnership is a great example of how businesses are working together to advance smart technologies that make a difference to our consumers and the planet we all share."

Sony India ups marketing spend

Sony, the electronics giant, will increase its Indian adspend by 40%, to 350 crore rupees ($77m, €58.2m), during its current financial year.

LCD TV sets, laptops and cameras are priority products for the Japanese multinational, and Bollywood stars Kareena Kapoor and Deepika Padukone have both signed endorsement deals as part of the marketing push.

These initiatives are intended to grow Sony's overall sales from 3,700 crore rupees in 2009-10 to 5,700 crore rupees in 2010-11.

"We are aggressively campaigning," Sony India senior general manager Sunil Nayyar said.

The company also slashed prices by around 10% in the past year as it aims to compete with Korean rivals LG and Samsung for the favour of the price-conscious Indian consumer.

Distribution is another area of focus for Sony, which has expanded its network of outlets by 33%.

In an interview with the Times of India, Masaru Tamagawa, Sony India's managing director, said: "We are not only investing in marketing and distribution but also in talent here in India as we see a huge potential to grow.

"Earlier in India, marketing budgets were limited which impacted sales here."

Sony's internal forecasts suggest that India will soon become its fourth-biggest global market.

This would mean that the country will represent around 10% of worldwide sales.

Google TV endures rocky start

Media company concerns have made it difficult for Google to branch out into the lucrative US television sector.

All of the nation's four major networks are yet to provide Google TV users with access to their online video content, partly due to concerns that such a deal would erode broadcasters' own ad revenues.

Google TV integrates the company's Android operating system and Chrome web browser, and is bundled in with TV sets and set top boxes.

Users can browse the internet while watching TV, and can even use their smartphone as a remote control.

Products from Logitech and Sony including the service went on sale in the US in October.

TV remains the world's biggest destination for ad dollars by far - and TV shows tend to contain four times as much ad space as shows rebroadcast on the web.

According to Warc's latest International Ad Forecast, total internet spend will reach $56.7bn (€42.9bn, £36.5bn) in 2010.

This is dwarfed by predicted TV expenditure of $121.1bn.

Commenting on striking a deal with Google TV, Leslie Moonves, ceo of CBS, said: "The mother lode is network advertising and syndication ... Do I want to jeopardize that - yet - for a couple of bucks?"

Possible future solutions include the revenues for ads viewed via Google TV being shared by both sides, or Google offering some form of initial payment for the right to access content.

But Google TV offers significant advantages over traditional TV for advertisers, including the ability to track individual user preferences in order to target communications more precisely.

Rishi Chandra, lead product manager at Google TV, told Bloomberg that the development of the service would "take time".

He added: "Our job from a platform basis is to make sure that we support all the different business models that they want to support."

Figures released by comScore earlier this week show that Google is still dominant in its core search business.

In November, the firm had a 66% market share, with its nearest rival, Yahoo, retaining just 16%.

Google aims for Asian growth

Google is attempting to enhance its presence in Asia, rolling out several new internet and mobile advertising tools as part of this process.

The online giant is setting up a sales office in Malaysia, alongside outlining plans to take on 500 local staff within a larger international recruitment drive.

Speaking in an interview with Penn Olson, Julian Persaud, managing director of Google Southeast Asia, argued APAC possesses various attractive characteristics.

These incorporate the fact it houses 56% of the world's population, over 40% of the total web audience and 27% of global GDP, and the latter two figures are quickly trending upwards.

"The recent opening of our Malaysia office is the first since Singapore in 2007," said Persaud.

"It shows our deepening investment and commitment to Asia and more specifically in Southeast Asia, which is one of the world's fastest-growing regions."

"Google is hiring in many offices throughout Asia, including over a hundred positions just for Southeast Asia [and] Singapore alone."

The US multinational hopes to fill engineering roles covering project areas such as Google Maps, YouTube, its Android mobile operating system, search and advertising.

"On the sales side, our new hires will be helping businesses make the most of the internet to grow their companies and attract more customers in this region," said Persaud.

Among the major challenges posed by Asia is the heterogeneous nature of the countries it contains, an issue that appears especially pronounced concerning digital infrastructure and uptake.

"Southeast Asia is a very diverse market where you have an advanced tech market like Singapore, maturing tech markets like Malaysia and Thailand, and fast-growing tech markets like Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam," Persaud continued.

However, nations can be sorted into broad groups, based on those that are relatively established in digital terms, and peers seeking to catch up.

"For advanced and maturing tech markets, we're focused on connecting users with advertisers and launching more advanced web services and collaboration platforms like Google Maps and Google Docs," Persaud said.

"For fast-growing tech markets, we're trying to expand access to the internet and present users there with even more reasons to live their lives online."

Google previously discovered that 83% of Asia's netizens, often young and boasting rising incomes, now conduct research using this medium while on the path to purchase.

In response, Google is developing a range of products, fuelling interest in the category as a whole.

"On the business side, we want to grow the region's digital economy," said Persaud. "To aid this, we are improving the ways in which we connect businesses with consumers searching for their products and services.

"We are introducing new ad formats that include ones specially tailored to mobile phones. We are also expanding into display advertising, and making sure that even the smallest business can easily have a web presence through which its products are promoted."

The organisation has similar ambitions for its Chrome browser, already reaching a global high regarding market share in the Philippines, at around 40%.

"We also believe Chrome OS, a web-based operating system modelled after Chrome that is primarily for netbooks, will also be adopted by those living their lives online in Asia," said Persaud.

"Like the Chrome browser, it is also built around the core tenets of speed, simplicity and security."

L'Oréal targets US shoppers

L'Oréal, the cosmetics giant, is placing the US at the heart of its efforts to reach 1bn new consumers by 2020.

In a bid to achieve such a goal, and as part of a wider reorganisation covering the corporation's communications division, L'Oréal appointed its first global and local chief marketing officers.

Marc Speichert assumed responsibility for this role in the US last April, and is optimistic about the firm's prospects.

"The US is a huge growth engine for the company," he told Advertising Age. "It's one of the very few developed countries that has a really big share to contribute toward the billion consumers."

Speichert is charged with promoting active cosmetics, consumer, luxury and professional products, and argued "big growth bets" will be essential.

"In that capacity, you need to look at it universally. You need to look at those synergies where they exist and make sure there's the least amount of overlap between the brands and initiatives we're doing," he said.

While the recession caused many organisations to trim their marketing and innovation outlay, L'Oréal pursued alternative tactics.

"We continued to aggressively spend media specifically. We're now seeing a very nice kind of return on that investment," said Speichert. "We very aggressively continue to spend on R&D as well, so a lot of the products that we are launching right now were fine-tuned in those tougher years."

Print media, especially magazines, have typically generated considerable income from cosmetics, perfume and other brands keen to engage female shoppers, and Speichert stated this has delivered sustainable results.

"It's definitely going to continue to be a key medium for us. We've been able to show a relationship with print that's just very unique as far as beauty's concerned," he said.

In reflection of the changing climate facing publishers, L'Oréal has utilised iAd, Apple's advertising system for the iPhone, and further new media tools.

"We've definitely increased our spending in print, and so the digital spend didn't come at the detriment of print," Speichert said.

More broadly, the company has partnered with Michelle Phan, who rose to prominence on YouTube for her easy and effective make-up video guides.

Having long employed high-profile celebrities within marketing campaigns, L'Oréal believes this can broaden its appeal, as demonstrated by the fact each clip Phan produces for Lancome secures upwards of 2m hits.

"It's the new way of leveraging an endorser … and it's very authentic in a very approachable way that reaches a whole new set of consumers," said Speichert.

In keeping with such a shift, the multinational also runs a dedicated YouTube channel, Destination Beauty, drawing together similar content.

Speichert suggested the "paid", "owned" and "earned" media model is adopting a shape first identified by McKinsey.

This means adding "sold" media, when brands own media outlets, and "hijacked" media, when netizens spread negative word of mouth, something Destination Beauty hopes to avoid.

"That's an example of where we are creating a media platform, and obviously the challenge is: how do you make sure you manage that community and that channel in the proper way so that you don't get hijacked?" said Speichert.

Facebook fails in UK poll

Home broadband, Google and price comparison websites are among UK consumers' favourite innovations from the last decade - although social networks like Facebook are less popular.

The Foundation surveyed 2,243 people regarding the products and services which had "contributed the most and least to their lives" during the last ten years, choosing three in each category.

Home broadband enjoyed the best overall index score, scoring 192 points out of a potential 300, while ecommerce claimed second on 94 points.

Google's online search engine occupied third with 54 points, beating chip and pin payment systems, registering 49 points, ten points ahead of digital cameras and photography.

Price comparison websites hit 38 points, community recycling received 32 points and improved nutrition labelling on food generated 29 points.

Completing the top ten were low-cost air travel, attracting 25 points, followed by satellite navigation services, yielding 24 points.

The main reasons cited when praising this group included usefulness, mentioned by 66% of the panel, and saving time, on 55%.

Cost savings constituted a primary factor for 40% of the sample, and another 28% referenced the "cutting-edge" technology behind many of these offerings.

"Home broadband was the winner, perhaps surprising if you thought innovation was all about shiny new gadgets," said Charlie Dawson, a partner at The Foundation.

"It allows us to do lots of things more quickly, more effectively and with a lot less effort, from shopping to dating to finding stuff out.

"Perhaps this explains why 71% of UK households have broadband despite it being an extra cost that no one had to pay before it existed."

Reality television attained the highest total concerning the creations garnering the least complimentary feedback from participants, recording 94 points.

Social networks like Facebook was next on the list, delivering 86 points, pop-up ads scored 69 points, and Twitter lodged 58 points.

Interactive voice responses on telephones and DVD membership schemes such as Lovefilm also had low ratings.

Irritation was the most common grievance aired by interviewees, with 56%, while wasting time secured 43%.

P&G plots digital future

Procter & Gamble, the FMCG giant, is using digital technology to transform its approach to reaching shoppers around the world.

Speaking to PricewaterhouseCoopers, Robert McDonald, the firm's chief executive, suggested that the company's core aim was to forge meaningful bonds with individual customers.

"If you look at our packaging, generally it's in the language of the country, and we work very hard to create those one-on-one relationships with every single consumer in the world," he said.

"It's easier to do that if you work in the local language and in the local culture than if you're this international company with an international brand that's somehow coming from abroad."

Digital technology is reshaping many aspects of the corporate agenda, and P&G hopes to harness these capabilities as a means of driving growth.

"The ultimate goal of a global company is being recognised as a local company," said McDonald.

"And when you think of that internet allowing this one-on-one relationship with every consumer, it enables that."

Sustainability has rapidly climbed the list of priorities for most multinationals, and P&G now aims to become "neutral to the environment", a target applying to its products and operations.

Although an exact strategy is not yet finalised, initiatives to date include developing detergents which function in cold water and introducing a "sustainability scorecard" for suppliers.

"I don't believe sustainability is optional anymore," McDonald argued.

"The world today is so flat, so transparent with the internet, and the impact of individuals is so heightened because of the ability to blog and tweet and other things, that consumers want to know what they're buying into when they buy your brand."

McDonald also stated an enhanced capacity in the digital arena offers a range of broader benefits, for example in monitoring performance information.

"Every Monday morning we have a meeting of our leadership team ... and we're surrounded by real-time data from the previous week," he said

"We're watching shipments and consumer purchases from around the world."

Based on these insights, the owner of Pampers, Gillette and Tide is able to quickly modify tactics, reflecting changing conditions.

"We look at the data every week, and once you make a decision - depending upon the country of the world or what you're trying to do - you can react almost instantaneously," McDonald asserted.

While implementing the resultant schemes, such as building factories, often takes considerably longer, greater flexibility still allows early movers to gain a lead.

"We see real-time operation as a competitive advantage. We want to be the most digitised company in the world, and use that real-time operation as a competitive advantage," argued McDonald.

A key driver fuelling this process is ensuring coordinated models exist, a major challenge when trading in a large number of nations.

"You have to move to globally standard systems. About five years ago, less than 20% of our systems were globally standard. Each region had its own system; each country had its own system," McDonald said.

"But today, more than 75% of our systems are globally standard."

This may seem like rapid progress, but McDonald revealed it has been over a decade in the making.

"What enabled that evolution was the decision back in 2000 to place the profit responsibility and back-office responsibilities in global business units rather than individual countries," he said.

Facebook targets Asia

Facebook, the social network, is seeking to expand its user base in Asia, with Japan and South Korea among the company's core target markets.

The online giant opened an office in Japan last September, where the number of people using its site, and forging connections with one another, is rapidly increasing.

Indigenous players in the social media space like Mixi and Gree are already entrenched in the lives of many netizens, but Facebook is optimistic.

Based on prior experience in South Korea, coming up against an apparently dominant domestic operator, Cyworld, the US firm predicts it may be set for a surge in demand from the Japanese audience.

"We saw that six months ago in Korea. We're in that steep curve right now in Korea," Blake Chandlee, Facebook's vp and commercial director for Asia-Pacific, Latin America and emerging markets, told the Asia Media Journal.

"We're starting to see early indicators of that in Japan, which is great. Japan is a very big market which we really have been working on."

As in other areas where Facebook sought to stimulate interest, it has established an official presence and partnered with telecoms, media and software groups, to deliver engaging material.

In Japan, the US organisation also pursued more low-key measures, such as adding a section enabling members to enter their blood type, traditionally held to influence an individual's personality traits.

"I think we as a company realise there are some local nuances we at least need to be aware of, but we're not about to go out and build lots of different experiences around the world," said Chandlee.

"It's a little bit against our DNA. We like to create global platforms, and let other people build up on that."

One policy that Facebook claims to always avoid is reacting to the position or moves of its rivals.

"We don't look at competitors and make decisions on that stuff," said Chandlee. "At the end of the day, we believe Facebook touches a different need."

The social media giant's further initiatives include Facebook Places, a mobile geo-location service, which has been rolled out in Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore.

The Deals add-on to this platform, letting companies send tailored offers via the same channel, should be introduced in Asia in the near future.

Display advertising remains a primary revenue stream for Facebook at present, and the social network has allied with a range of brand owners in Australia and Singapore to test the effectiveness of these efforts.

Given that the sort of coordinated adspend and sales tracking statistics supplied by Nielsen's are often lacking in emerging markets, Facebook is adapting its approach here.

"We are building different types of measurement functionality for Asia," Chandlee argued.

"We're doing a little bit with Nielsen, we're doing some of it outside the Nielsen relationship as well, but core to where we think the world is going is definitely research."

Facebook also unveiled a sales office in Hong Kong in February, albeit denying this was a precursor to pressing into China.

"We have no plans right now to talk about entering into mainland China and trying to be aggressive in that," Chandlee told the AFP news agency.

Google tops UK reputation charts

Google, Kellogg's and Apple are among the companies enjoying the best reputations with UK consumers, but the overall trust British shoppers place in brands is falling.

Research firm TNS surveyed 3,196 people, asking them to rate 75 leading organisations based on five dimensions - and operators within the technology sector made up 12 of the 25 premier enterprises.

The firms were ranked on five factors: trust, favourability, success, product or service quality, and general standing.

"We are seeing high reputation scores being driven mostly by a strong reaction to company success, proving that people are a lot more rational in their assessment of reputation," Gemma Hicks, head of stakeholder management at TNS, said.

Online and mobile titan Google led the rankings, followed by food group Kellogg's, electronics manufacturers Apple and Sony, and retailer John Lewis.

Gaming expert Nintendo, high-street chain Marks & Spencer, Tetley tea, Coca-Cola soft drinks and Sainsbury's supermarket came next in the list.

Asda and Morrisons further represented the supermarket industry, and Innocent smoothies, part-owned by Coca-Cola, took similar plaudits concerning fast-moving consumer goods.

Ethical beauty retailer The Body Shop, travel specialists Virgin Holidays and Kuoni, and Visa credit cards were also well-regarded by contributors.

Retailers logged the greatest average trust scores, as Marks & Spencer posted 63%, John Lewis recorded 59%, while Sainsbury's and Morrisons both hit 55%.

Kellogg's received 64% on this measure, beating Innocent's 56% and Innocent's 55%, TNS added.

When identifying examples of success, Microsoft generated 81%, just ahead of Apple's 80% and Google's 79%.

Outside of the technology category, Coca-Cola yielded 79% on this metric, Kellogg's registered 75% and Tesco secured 72%.

Google claimed pre-eminence in terms of quality, as 70% of interviewees awarded it an "excellent" or "very good" status.

Marks & Spencer and John Lewis, two comparatively premium retailers, lodged 62% and 61% respectively, suggesting their positioning is largely matched with actual performance.

"We also found that consumer trust in brands has dropped across most companies we indexed," Hicks added.

"This less emotional, more rational view of brands means that companies need to demonstrate that they are a provider of quality goods and services to be considered a highly reputable brand in a recessionary environment."

Social networks surge in Australia

Browsing social networks now makes up over 20% of the total time Australian consumers spend online, a study has found.

Research firm comScore reported that the country's 13.4m netizens dedicated 18.8 hours to surfing the web during December 2010.

This marked a contraction of two hours on an annual basis, and below the global average of 23.1 hours.

Some 89.9% of the internet population use search and navigation services, 81.6% access properties such as Facebook and Twitter, 67.3% browse ecommerce platforms and 66.4% utilise directories.

Auction sites registered a 48% penetration, blogs posted 45.2%, instant messaging hit 36%, and 27.1% of consumers employ this route to view TV content.

Social networks now take 22% of all time online, beating portals, which secured 19.7%, and instant messaging, yielding 11.6%, although the two latter categories recorded 10% and 8% declines year-on-year respectively.

Facebook has a 75.5% reach, with the typical member dedicating 305 minutes to its pages a month, as Windows Live Profile, LinkedIn, MySpace and Twitter trail considerably.

One adjacent shift is the decreasing importance of web-based email, dropping ten percentage points, to 68.7%, for penetration, while usage duration has also fallen.

Turning to retail, Amazon claims the highest uptake levels, on 19.8%, Apple.com received 18.5%, AVG.com attained 10.8%, and Coles lodged 10.6%.

Group buying is another sector rapidly gaining ground, as Microsoft's Cudo attracts 418,000 vistiors a month, ahead of Spreets, generating 220,000, and Jumponit, on 161,000.

A 53.7% majority of Australia's netizens visit YouTube, streaming content for 139 minutes per month each.

The iTunes software app is exploited by approximately a third of the connected audience, and CBS Interactive logged 28.2%.

More specifically, 10.3m individuals watch web video, or 79% of people at least 15 years old, engage in this pastime.

Men under 35 years old enjoyed roughly twice as much video as women of the same age, topping 12 hours, and a gender gap remained in place across all demographics.

Over 941m videos are played back every month, lasting a combined 78m hours, equating to 89 videos, or 7.5 hours, per viewer.

Google holds an 80% share of the search market, while eBay and Facebook take second and third, albeit both a long way behind, on 6% and 3%.

However, Microsoft's portfolio - including MSN and Hotmail - had the largest total reach, 95.9%, surpassing Google's portfolio, on 92%, and Facebook, on 75.5%,

"Consumers are turning to the internet with increasing frequency for a vast array of activities ... as digital media becomes embedded in the daily lives of Australians," said Will Hodgman, comScore's executive vice president, Asia Pacific.

"Look for 2011 to be another year of continued innovation and increased competition as brands vie for consumers' attention in this rapidly fragmenting digital environment."

Nestlé exploits new trends

 Nestlé, the food group, is seeking to exploit two long term trends, in the form of ageing populations and the rising demand for health and wellness products, to drive growth.

To achieve this goal, the Swiss firm has launched Nestlé Health Science, a new unit that will deliver goods aimed at avoiding or treating heart disease, diabetes and other conditions.

Within this, the Nestlé Institute of Health Sciences is to conduct investigations into how conditions emerge, alongside analysing areas like DNA and genetics.

"Nutrition, health and wellness has been our basic agenda over the last few years," Paul Bulcke, Nestlé's chief executive, told the Wall Street Journal.

"Now we are looking at deeper, scientific solutions to personalised nutritional problems and answers to chronic diseases."

Nestlé intends to invest more than $500m (€379m; £321m) in the Institute during the coming decade, to leverage a substantial gap in the market for offerings falling between the food and pharmaceutical sectors.

"The health-care costs of our society are going through the roof. The best health inducer is food. If you don't do that right you will have health-care costs you can't cope with," said Bulcke.

"Food which brings nutrition and helps health has more value for society at large. We want to be part of that."

Each extension to the company's portfolio must demonstrate an advancement concerning health credentials, such as adding nutrients to products in countries where diets typically lack a particular vitamin or mineral.

However, Bulcke suggested emotional considerations still play a role.

"This adds real and honest arguments to what food should be. Food should keep you alive; it should also be convenient and be pleasurable as well as being part of a healthy diet," he said.

While developing original items in-house will be integral to Nestlé's activity, as was the case with Clinutren supplements, acquisitions are likely to prove key.

"This has huge potential. It is going to be multi-billion," Bulcke said. "Our institute is not going to be there to invent everything, but to be the platform for building and bringing in what is out there."

Tech giants do battle in China

Major technology firms like Dell, Lenovo and HP are adopting diversified strategies as they seek to gain an advantage in China.

Dell will invest $25bn (€18.9bn; £16.1bn) in China this year, and has a spending target of at least $100bn for the coming decade.

The company is prioritising big corporate deals in urban hubs such as Beijing and Shanghai, and will also establish 800 outlets in fourth, fifth and sixth tier areas.

"China, all of a sudden, is starting to become the centrepiece for us," said Amit Midha, Dell's head of Greater China and South Asia, at a conference held by Reuters.

"Be it design, manufacturing, procurement, sales, service support – there's more and more that can be done more effectively in China than in many other places."

Ecommerce, which taps in to Dell's heritage of selling directly to consumers, is to assume a key role in the future.

While the internet generated just 5% of Dell's sales growth two years ago, the US multinational predicts this figure may hit 15% in 2011.

"China is a bit more of everything now," said Midha. "You can't choose. It's all about multiplying everything right now."

Dell is also planning to roll out a new tablet globally in 2011, but anticipates competition could prove particularly intense.

"This is going to be battle royale," said Midha. "This is not for the faint-hearted, and it's only the first inning of a very long game."

Acer, based in Taiwan, hopes China will deliver 20% of sales in five years, compared with 7% at present.

It expects the emerging range of handheld devices to drive this process, following the success of Apple's iPad.

"Tablet is a huge market and it shows a new path for new growth," said JT Wang, Acer's chairman. "We want to become a significant player as soon as possible."

The firm‘s projections suggest it will secure $2.5bn in sales from China in 2011, measured against $1bn in 2010.

"In China, purchasing power will increase significantly in the next few years and PCs will become cheaper," said Wang.

Lenovo currently leads the Chinese PC sector with a 27% share, according to Gartner, but is attempting to expand its horizons.

"We're seeing that demand for PCs is starting to slow," said Wong Wai Ming, Lenovo's chief financial officer. "By that I mean the market is still growing, but not at such a high percentage year-to-year."

Among the Chinese enterprise's options going forward is developing a Chrome PC in partnership with Google.

"Our overall guiding principle is that if there is a market demand for it, yes we will definitely come up with a product with Chrome," said Wong.

"I believe our R&D colleagues have been talking to all companies about operating systems, and I'm sure Google is one of them."

Lenovo has outlined an intention of introducing the LePad tablet in China, and to push further into the smartphone category.

Hewlett-Packard is also taking a nuanced approach to cracking China, Isaiah Cheung, a vice president at HP, argued last month.

"We will launch our Palm handset and tablet PC products in China next year," he said.

Elsewhere, the US organisation is extending its network to embrace 10,000 villages throughout China as a means of broadening its reach.

"Our plan is to cover more than 30 provincial regions and provide computer skills training to 120 million customers in rural areas," Cheung added.

Unilever pushes CSR

Unilever, the consumer goods giant, is seeking to empower its brands with a "social mission" as part of a broader sustainability drive.

Speaking at a summit held by business school INSEAD, Harish Manwani, Unilever's president for Asia, Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, argued fostering "responsible" growth would be vital.

"That, to my mind, is the true north of organisations that is very much going to decide the future of whether you are going to go for the next 100 years or not," he said.

Unilever recently outlined a range of sustainability targets for the coming decade, including a pledge to reduce internal and customer water use by 50%.

"If a company has to be responsible, then it must have an organisation character, a set of values that are non-negotiable," Manwani said.

"It's not about costing money, this is the way we do business … We believe that doing well by doing good is a business model that allows us to grow our business sustainably and profitably."

Manwani further suggested that giving brands a "social mission" delivers powerful benefits in the marketplace.

"The best leverage we can provide in terms of making that little bit of difference in society is the fact that billions of consumers use our brands," he said.

"If each of our brands can stand for something that is relevant to the societies in which we operate, then every time a consumer buys one of our brands – and multiply that impact by a billion – it makes a big difference."

A long-running campaign for Lifebuoy soap, a major product in many emerging nations, has encouraged people to regularly wash their hands, reducing incidences of diarrhoea and other illnesses.

This initiative, based on partnerships with several NGOs, has extended into rural areas and reached 130m shoppers to date.

"We can only do it because we have a brand called Lifebuoy … In the end, we sell soap. But that soap has a social mission," Manwani said.

Unilever has also attempted to assume a leading role regarding palm oil - a common ingredient in its products - including the aim of sourcing its entire supply in an ethically-sound fashion by 2015.

But one company cannot achieve this objective by working alone.

"A lot of these activity systems ultimately have to have a multiplier effect, and have to be supported by the industry, by our customers, by our suppliers," Manwani explained.

As Unilever has been present in countries like Indonesia, India and Brazil for decades, it boasts a nuanced understanding of popular preferences that may prove essential.

"It keeps you close in terms of what consumers are saying and doing … It also gives a sense of purpose to the business, which is, by the way, very motivating for the employees who work for you," Manwani said.

"We believe the best value comes out of giving our consumers what they are looking for and catering to the communities in which we live."

Social networks going global

Social networking penetration remains highest in markets like the US and UK, but sites such as Facebook and Twitter are also proving popular in nations from Brazil to Poland.

The Pew Research Center surveyed 24,790 people living in 22 countries to gauge current behaviour in this area.

It found 46% of the potential US audience belong to at least one social network, while 36% have opted against joining these properties and 18% do not regularly surf the internet or send email.

In Poland, 43% of interviewees commonly accessed social media, 15% directed their online attention elsewhere, and 41% did not have a web connection.

Totals stood at 43%, 41% and 16% in turn for the UK, the leading European representative.

In South Korea, one of Asia's most mature digital markets, 40% of the possible user base had signed up to date, with Cyworld the pre-eminent social offering at present.

France somewhat bucked the wider trend, as 36% of netizens frequently logged on to platforms like MySpace and LinkedIn, measured against 42% yet to adopt parallel habits.

Uptake hit 34% in Spain, where 36% of the panel were uninterested in this emerging channel.

This gap peaked in Japan, given 44% of consumers avoided social networks, an amount 20% larger than those using sites including Mixi.

Germany saw an 18% difference between these figures, as 49% of the local sample were non-users of the available services.

Around half of connected Chinese consumers, 23% of the potential total overall, have registered on Kaixin001 or an equivalent, and 22% had failed to do so thus far.

Three times the number of Indians used social networks than ignored them, but as figures came in at 12% and 4% respectively, there is clearly considerable room for further growth.

More than 80% of 18-29 year olds participate in social networking in Germany, the UK, Poland and South Korea, as do approximately three-quarters of their peers from the US, France and Spain.

Two-thirds of young Russians, and an equal proportion of their Japanese counterparts, also engage in this pastime.

A majority of 30-49 years olds in the US, UK and Poland had followed suit, as was the case regarding a third of the same segment in Germany, Russia and South Korea.

Americans over 50 years of age were most likely to have joined these services, on 23%, beating Britain's 16% and France's 13%.

In terms of the difference between the oldest and youngest members, Germany posted 78 years, South Korea yielded 75 years and Poland recorded 70 years.

This gap reached just 17 years in India and 14 years in Indonesia, and a modest 29 years concerning Egypt.

The US constituted the only country where women displayed greater enthusiasm than men, as 52% of American females are active social networkers, compared with 41% of males.

Amazon lauded by UK shoppers

Amazon, John Lewis and Marks & Spencer are among the online retailers receiving the highest satisfaction scores from UK consumers.

Foresee, a consultancy, surveyed nearly 10,000 respondents, and found that "highly satisfied" shoppers registered a 57% improvement in their commitment to specific retailers.

Moreover, the propensity to make purchases via the web from sellers meeting their needs rose 59% in these cases, a figure hitting 33% for buying goods in a firm's equivalent bricks-and-mortar stores.

Positive word of mouth also experiences a substantial uplift, as happy customers record a 69% leap regarding the probability they will recommend the organisation concerned.

The top 40 internet retailers posted an average satisfaction rating of 72 points, on a 100-point scale, in 2010, an increase from 71 points in 2009 and 67 points in 2008.

Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk were measured separately and headed the list on 84 points and 83 points respectively.

The company led the rankings across all the metrics assessed by Foresee, encompassing price, merchandise, functionality and content.

Play.com retained third, jumping two points to 81 - and coming in the top three on the various areas monitored by Foresee - while John Lewis' website claimed 78 points, up from 77 points in 2009.

"Over the past year our multi-channel operation has grown significantly to a point where it is now a vital part of our business, with our online operation accounting for 20% of trade," said Andrea O'Donnell, commercial director, John Lewis.

"Now our customers can also order online and pick up from a shop, order online in a shop and order on their mobiles. Our commitment to customer service is equally applicable to all these purchasing experiences."

Marks & Spencer enjoyed a five-point surge to 78 points, with Argos climbing four points, to 77 points.

All of these corporations fell in the mass merchant category, which yielded a typical reading of 75 points, above the median total.

Apple dominated the computer and electronics charts on 75 points, beating the industry average of 70 points, and six points ahead of Currys and Hewlett Packard, and seven points in front of Comet and Dell.

Indeed, Dell generated the largest decline of the seven providers that witnessed a drop year-on-year, off by three points.

Next was pre-eminent in the apparel sector on 74 points, followed by ASOS on 73 points, New Look on 72 points and Topshop on 69 points.

Travel and tourism delivered a norm of 79 points, ranging from 72 points for easyJet and Expedia to just 61 points for RyanAir, the lowest-scoring of the featured companies.

HMV and Lovefilm tied on 76 points in the books, CDs and DVD segment, which has embraced the new media space.

"The way we present the products that we stock and merchandising to our customers in-store has always been one of the qualities that we pride ourselves on," said Sarah Hughes, the head of online and digital at HMV.

"It's really encouraging to learn that our online shoppers at hmv.com are finding the same engaging experience."

Fewer than 3% of consumers were primarily influenced by social media channels, while 10% came to specific websites as a result of promotional emails, and 13% through a search engine.

Elsewhere, 10% of participants accessed the platforms they had rated using a mobile phone, mostly after originally looking up prices or researching products.

But only 1.3% of all netizens had completed a transaction from their handset.

Nike adapts in China

Nike, the sportswear specialist, believes "brand strength" at least matches the importance of market share in China.

The company reported revenue growth of 20% in the world's most populous nation during the last quarter, including two percentage points attributable to favourable currency conditions.

Among the main sales drivers was a surge in demand covering Nike's trademark and Converse ranges.

"The China numbers continue to be very strong," Charlie Denson, president of the Nike brand, said on a conference call.

"Our inventories continue to be in pretty good shape there and we've seen a great appetite from the consumer across some of the key categories like basketball, football and running."

In an effort to further this momentum, the US multinational is extending its reach into third and fourth tier cities, where affluence and spending are rising.

"I would expect us to continue to see growth coming out of that expansion," said Denson.

"We're still pretty bullish on the China long term, and short term we'll continue to expand distribution out into the broader geographies."

As part of this process, Nike is building up its retail network and is taking more concessions in outlets like department stores.

However, Denson argued that consistency constitutes an essential ingredient of the firm's approach, whichever channel is used.

"We still look at it as a mono brand presentation throughout the distribution network, even into the new cities," he said.

"We're starting to put a few more factory stores down in China as well to continue to maintain marketplace integrity and brand integrity on the inventory levels."

While gauging performance is challenging in China when compared with the US and Western Europe given the difficulties of sourcing comprehensive data, Nike is confident.

"The numbers there are always, from a share standpoint, a little harder to acquire in China than you would expect than maybe some of other more developed or mature markets around the world," said Denson.

"We do a lot of brand strength monitoring as well, which is … actually probably more important than the actual share numbers. Both those numbers are very healthy right now."

Looking ahead, Denson suggested the climate in China should remain particularly auspicious for the foreseeable future.

"We retain the number one position in the country and I would expect to see us maybe grow a little bit over the last couple of quarters," he said.

"We feel very good about both the brand and the business in China and its ability to continue to expand and grow."

Despite increasing competition, Nike will resist reducing prices to secure new customers in lower tier areas.

"We're not expecting to be going down market in those cities," said Mark Parker, Nike's president/ceo.

"We're a premium brand and we're going to continue sell at prices that you would find around the rest of the world.

"Converse is another lever that is more attractive for us to pull in the China market, gives us a little more range in terms of price and position in the marketplace."

TV battle heats up

Apple, the electronics giant, predicts sales of its TV set-top box will soon pass 1m units, but the battle for the future of television remains at an early stage.

Having launched Apple TV in September, the company forecast purchases would hit seven figures this week, with users now renting and buying over 400,000 shows and 150,000 films each day via iTunes.

Customers can access content hosted by Netflix, YouTube, Flickr and MobileMe, alongside streaming material from the iPad, iPod and iPhone via the AirPlay system.

"I think that it's a great product and I think its $99 price point is very enticing," Steve Jobs, Apple's ceo, said on a recent conference call.

"And I think when we get the AirPlay stuff in place before the end of this year, it's going to give another big reason for people to buy it. So we're really happy with how it's turned out."

Google TV, a rival service, has attracted hardware partners like Toshiba, LG and Sharp - though these firms have been asked to postpone unveiling devices during the forthcoming Las Vegas Consumer Electronics show.

Samsung could still reveal its Google TV appliance at the event, while Vizio is reportedly due to hold private previews at a later date.

Broadcasters NBC, CBS and ABC, and website Hulu - run by Disney and News Corp - have not permitted Google TV to stream full programmes, restricting viewers to paid-for options like Netflix or Amazon.

Sony began selling this product, developed in conjunction with Google and Intel, in October.

Hiroshi Yoshioka, head of Sony's TV operations, suggested sales have proved "in line with expectations".

"Some reviews have been good, some have been bad," he added. "It might take a little longer for users to really start having fun."

TiVo has come under pressure from new entrants like Apple and Google, but as its Premiere Box combines linear content, video-on-demand and online material, the company is in positive mood.

Indeed, Tom Rogers, TiVo's ceo, stated Apple and Google's platforms were currently somewhat limited.

"They claim to have the answer to bringing internet content to the television ... They only address a small component of the future television experience," he said.

Elsewhere, Time Warner has displayed reticence about committing to these new providers, and ceo Jeff Bewkes argued many digital innovations are "really not in the interest of the studio".

"We absolutely evaluate everything from Apple TV rentals, when that came forward, to sales and licensing agreements with firms like Netflix or Hulu," he said.

"We've actually found an alliance calculation between what's best for Warner and what, let's say, would be best for HBO and Turner in the long-term industry structure. So we haven't seen anything that can flip in that."

Earlier this year, Comcast introduced Xfinity TV, a VOD service which is free to its television subscribers, and offers 150,000 shows and movies.

"I think for Xfinity TV and 'TV Everywhere', we are at the beginning of that, in my opinion, not anywhere near the end," said ceo Brian Roberts.

Roberts believes tablets will play a key role, particularly as prices fall, and the popularity of such gadgets, and ultimately cloud computing, may render set-top boxes superfluous.

"Where you would like to get to is have a architecture and a capability that any piece of content could be accessed by the consumer on any device at any time," he added.

"Then its up to the content rights holder to determine whether they want to sell it at all, at that moment, in different windows."

Twitter's growth slows in France

Twitter, the microblogging service, has seen its growth rate slow to almost zero in France, new figures suggest.

Research firm ComScore reported the site has enjoyed a rapid rise in the country, as the number of unique visitors logging on via PCs leapt from 78,000 in October 2008 to 1.5m in October 2009.

Uptake continued to increase in early 2010, as totals hit approximately 2.5m in March, before then trending downwards.

Indeed, interest is currently levelling off, with Twitter's audience remaining stable at roughly 2m netizens over the period to October 2010.

Médiamétrie, the measurement company, stated Facebook boasted 26m users in France during October, leaving it considerably ahead of Twitter.

Ifop also estimated this month that 7% of the French online population have joined Twitter, compared with 43% for Facebook.

Brands fail on Facebook

Many major brands are failing to make the most of the opportunities afforded by Facebook, a study from AT Kearney has argued.

In a new report, the consultancy monitored the performance of the top 50 global brands, as identified by Interbrand, on the world's biggest social network.

It found that over 70m people had registered as fans of these products and corporations to date.

Less positively, five members of this group were not formally active on Facebook, and therefore missed out on the chance to connect with the 175m people accessing this site per day.

Elsewhere, Disney, Gucci, McDonald's, Louis Vuitton, American Express and Sony were among the operators solely featuring official posts on their "walls", rather than participating in a genuine interaction with netizens.

Only one member of the sample initially diverted web users visiting brand pages to unfiltered content including comments uploaded by consumers.

In contrast, more than half began by presenting information about their business, as was the case with Heinz, GE and Nintendo.

Several other organisations, such as McDonald's and Google, pointed interested shoppers to material added by staff in the first instance.

"These world-class brands are using their ostensibly hip Facebook profiles to showcase traditional, time-honoured and digitally irrelevant one-way communication … while hiding actual communication from consumers behind a digital curtain," AT Kearney said.

Based on an analysis of 1,115 posts made by firms, alongside the 60,570 responses to these messages, AT Kearney revealed 89% of customer replies ultimately went unanswered.

Indeed, Gucci had not reacted to user-generated opinions for three months, and just 11 brands had followed up a comment at least twice.

Electronics specialist Philips led the charts on this metric, having responded nine times during the period under consideration.

Similarly, only 15% of replies invited further suggestions from Facebook users, and just 17% addressed individuals by name, meaning marketers are "failing to bring enough passion" to this channel.

"Inactivity is the hallmark of companies that don't quite know what to do with Facebook," AT Kearney said.

Financial services providers like JPMorgan and Citibank commonly fell victim to this trend.

Another key concern related to a possible "loss of control" as advertisers allow the public to set the agenda.

Of the user-generated statements assessed in the study, 27% were classified as "spam" and 8% took the form of complaints.

A quarter of remarks proved complimentary in tone, 12% were discussions between netizens peers and 11% were questions directed to manufacturers.

However, while 34% of observations were made by corporations and 66% originated with consumers, such figures are "somewhat misleading".

For example, highly engaged firms recorded three posts from consumers for every message issued by employees.

This cohort included Amazon, BMW, Coca-Cola, eBay, Gillette, H&M, Heinz, Honda, HP, Kellogg's, L'Oreal Paris, Nescafe, Nokia, Pepsi, Samsung and Zara.

In comparison, the less effective organisations delivered four announcements for each reply contributed by shoppers.

Promotional posts comprised 71% of authorised updates, measured against 5% constituting an effort to start a conversation.

Dispatches offering deals and discounts secured the most "likes", on 423,000 – 75% of the total – declining to 283 "likes" associated with communications simply spreading information.

Apple, Google square up

Apple and Google are stepping up their battle to attract publishers, having launched competing digital subscription services.

Earlier this week, Apple rolled out a new subscription platform, made available to all companies running relevant applications on its App Store.

The platform included newspapers, magazines, music and video, and marked an extension of a system originally developed for The Daily, News Corp's title sold only via the iPad.

Content producers set the price and duration details, while Apple processes payments, and retains nearly a third of sales, as is the case regarding purchases completed through standard apps.

"Our philosophy is simple - when Apple brings a new subscriber to the app, Apple earns a 30% share," Steve Jobs, Apple's ceo, said in a statement.

"When the publisher brings an existing or new subscriber to the app, the publisher keeps 100% and Apple earns nothing."

Among Apple's broader terms is that media owners ensure any special offers apply equally to applications.

"That 30% is going to be an issue," said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at Gartner.

"You don't want to ignore the Apple customers because they're pretty good customers. On the other hand, 30% can be hard to come up with. It's a numbers game."

Rhapsody, a digital music property, has spoken out in opposition to such a model, suggesting its continued presence on iTunes appeared increasingly problematic.

"An Apple-imposed arrangement that requires us to pay 30% of our revenue to Apple, in addition to content fees that we pay to the music labels, publishers and artists, is economically untenable," said Jon Irwin, Rhapsody's president.

"The bottom line is we would not be able to offer our service through the iTunes store if subjected to Apple's 30% monthly fee versus a typical 2.5% credit card fee."

Julia Schulhof, director of emerging platforms for Hachette Filipacchi Media US - which will sell monthly and yearly payment plans - was more positive.

"Rather than a complicated route to purchase, now we're using a seamless subscription scheme, and a cost-effective price point," said Schulhof.

"This is a game-changer in our industry."

Google's rival offering, One Pass, works across the web and mobile, and has already secured Axel Springer, the media group, as a client.

The key differentiating feature of Google's service is that it commands 10% of any sales, considerably below the figure demanded by Apple.

"We aren't in this to make money. Google makes money in other ways," Eric Schmidt, Google's ceo, argued. "We are trying to get money to people who are producing high-quality content.

"Our intention is to make no money on it. We want the publishers to make all the money."

James McQuivey, an analyst at Forrester Research, predicted Google may benefit, as Apple risks alienating potential partners.

He said: "10% is certainly more viable than 30%, though it's still two to three times what you pay to American Express or MasterCard for handling transactions online.

"And that's the wall publishers are facing right now. Many will choose to adopt One Pass for web content transactions and give up significantly more than they would to a credit card company in exchange for being able to signal to Apple that they won't stand for its tactics."

Waitrose wins at DBA Awards

Waitrose, the UK supermarket chain, has taken the Grand Prix at this year's DBA Design Effectiveness Awards, for its "essential" own-label range.

A total of 14 Golds, 23 Silvers and 21 Bronzes were handed out by the Design Business Association this year.

The awards aim to recognise the role top-quality design plays in encouraging growth.


In winning the major prize, "essential Waitrose" demonstrated that the line had generated sales of £500m ($808m; €594m) in its first year alone.

This range of lower-cost staple goods now encompasses 1,400 items.

Waitrose essential marked both the rejuvenation and extension of the company's existing in-house offerings under a new brand.

Rolled out when the economic downturn reached a peak, the revised packaging was a distinctive, fresh white colour, making it easy to identify against other lines on the shelves.

It maintained the premium feel generally associated with the firm.

But essential also promised reasonable prices - an increasingly important consideration with the recession impacting spending habits.

Around three-quarters of consumers have bought one of these lines, and, upon launch, "essential Waitrose" attracted over 400,000 additional people to branches each week.

Other Gold winners included fast-food chain KFC, praised for transforming its in-store menuboard, which displays the various meal options available, in partnership with agency Design Bridge.

Having added value, snacking and beverage ranges to its selection since the menuboard last received close attention, resulting in a somewhat cluttered layout.

Research proved the primary driver of purchase decisions was not KFC's current categorisation - Twisted, Boxmeal, Classic and Dinner Time - but who customers were buying for.

As such, it was decided to divide the menu into "meals", "snacks" and "sharing", alongside creating a standardised panel for promotions.

Analysis revealed a previous trend of consumers trading down from burgers quickly began to moderate, while customer experience scores, and awareness levels concerning special offers, also rose.

Elsewhere, Marks & Spencer, the high-street retailer, took Gold having attempted to broaden the appeal of its M&S Cafés to a wider demographic.

The 15% of the M&S audience regularly visiting its Cafés accounted for 50% of the firm's store revenue, and spend three times more than the norm.

But Café sales had started to slow by 2008, not least because the recession was causing many shoppers to rethink even the smallest indulgence.

In response, Marks & Spencer allied with KIWI&POM, reviewing the products sold and equipment used.

This yielded a strategic shift in focus from "coffee to cake", a redesign inspired by the Mad Hatter's Tea Party and a rigorous employee training programme.

Sales climbed 26.4% in refitted sites, while ROI, mystery shopper and staff satisfaction scores similarly improved.

IHG targets China

InterContinental Hotels Group is planning to launch a new brand in China, a market it believes should become the world's largest within the next 20 years.

The company, which owns the Crowne Plaza, Staybridge and Holiday Inn networks, is seeking to expand its presence in several fast-growth economies.

More specifically, IHG predicts China might emerge as the largest hotel market globally in 2025, and will double current US revenues in 2039.

Given such positive trends, the organisation hopes to create a premium accommodation chain in the country by the close of 2011.

While this reflects broader international efforts, Andrew Cosslett, chief executive of InterContinental Hotels, suggested a bespoke approach was sometimes the best option.

"We have got seven brands, most of our competitors have 14 or 15. You could say it is about catching up," he argued on a conference call.

"We don't need a global brand all the time."

Among IHG's other possible initiatives in China is forming an alliance with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China to establish Holiday Inn Express sites beyond the capital, Beijing.

Food brands face price test

Some of Europe's biggest food manufacturers are facing tough decisions concerning whether to raise prices, or protect customers from rising commodity costs.

Danone, the French group, anticipates products like yoghurt and Evian might become more expensive for shoppers, reflecting fluctuations in the raw materials market.

However, Franck Riboud, the company's chief executive, suggested it would adopt a careful approach in this area, based on a recognition that many buyers are still seeking to save money.

"The mistake we can't make is to ask for more than consumers are willing to pay," he told the Wall Street Journal. "We have to stay competitive."

While the organisation believes the amount it spends on ingredients and packaging constituents could climb by between 6% and 9% in 2011, the price of goods in France will only grow by an estimated 2% or 2.5%.

One advantage Danone can leverage is its leading position in categories such as yoghurt, bottled water and baby food, fuelling demand among shoppers and thus enhancing its status with trade partners.

"Our ability to negotiate is much stronger," said Riboud.

Nestlé, headquartered in Switzerland, is confronting similar obstacles, but will avoid sweeping changes to its strategy by prioritising alternative tactics.

"Raising prices for the consumer is the last thing you do," said Paul Bulcke, the company's chief executive. "You have to play all your other cards first."

A potential option is identifying different ingredients, although even here Nestlé will be highly selective.

"You would not play around too much with replacing cocoa. If you have a quality product you don't mess around with that," said Bulcke.

Unilever, which owns Hellmann's and Knorr, is pursuing what it calls a "realistic" model, as part of a wider shift observable inside its core sectors.

"In our industry, we see a trend towards the more rational approach to moving prices up when cost pressures make it unavoidable, and we're starting to see them already in the marketplace as we talk," Paul Polman, Unilever's ceo, argued.

"We aim to protect our consumers as far as we can from the impact of higher costs. But in the current environment, a responsible thing to do is to price realistically and to act promptly in making any changes that are needed."

General Mills reported late last year that it was "very encouraged" by its European performance, where the UK, in particular, is providing a stern test.

"You have ... a very challenging macroeconomic environment in the UK. And it's very difficult there right now," said chief executive Ken Powell. "That has lead to an intensely promotional environment across a lot of categories."

"As we move on to an economic recovery, albeit we think it will be slow, we think that those trends will moderate. But right now, it's just very promotional there across many categories. And we are feeling that."

Groupon targets China

The online group buying sector is witnessing increased competition in China, a trend likely to be enhanced by Groupon's anticipated entry into the market.

Having already purchased existing sites in Hong Kong and Singapore, Groupon intends to launch in China "very soon" via a joint venture, Danny Yeung, ceo of its Hong Kong operations, said.

"We want to dominate the market in China," he told Bloomberg, adding that the company will expand its local headcount from 120 staff to 1,000 employees in the coming months as a means of achieving this goal.

It has been reported the US firm might ally with Tencent, the owner of popular properties including instant messaging platform QQ, to create Gaopeng.

This name draws on the Chinese expression "gaopeng manzuo", which can be broadly translated as a "gathering of distinguished guests."

James Roy, an analyst at the China Market Research Group, suggested this move may prove sensible for the American start-up.

"Foreign internet companies can't ignore the potential of China's huge active online population," he said. "But when they come here, they find there are major local players doing well in the domestic market."

"Groupon's partnership with a major Chinese internet company can help it understand the Chinese market better … Tencent's massive QQ following could also help boost Groupon's business in China."

However, Guo Quji, Google China's former chief strategy officer, sounded a note of caution concerning Groupon's prospects.

"Many US companies are too ambitious and optimistic when they arrive in China, and become pessimistic when they meet obstacles here and complain about China's business environment, and finally leave China with disappointment but pretend they know the market well," he said.

Feng Xiaohai, chief executive of Manzuo, a possible rival to Groupon, similarly asserted a unique approach is essential in the fast-growing economy.

"Groupon can't use the same mentality when it comes to China," he said. "If they don't execute well, then they will be at a disadvantage.

"A lot of business-making here depends on having good relationships. Just because you sign a contract, doesn't mean the other person will carry it out."

Feng cited a wider problem of integrating Chinese and international management, and a more specific issue linked to Groupon's controversial Superbowl TV spot, which made light of the complex situation in Tibet.

"I was the first to get inspiration from the Chinese idiom gaopeng manzuo and use Manzuo as my website's name," he added.

"Now Groupon uses the idiom to show its understanding of Chinese culture, so we will keep an eye on it in case its promotion affects our reputation."

Another matter requiring attention is serving consumers across China, and 3050.com has specialised in offering collective deals to shoppers in second- and third-tier areas.

"China's market is complicated," said Gong Wenxiang, 3050.com's ceo.

"These foreign giants always outsource market research to [a] multinational consultancy, hire senior managers with an overseas education … and working experience, keep pace with their headquarters closely, and focus mainly on big cities and white-collar workers."

Hu Chen, co-founder of price aggregation site Tuan800.com, also argued customers expect extremely high discounts, often reaching 66%, as well as demanding exemplary service.

"Group buying is an internet business that really focuses on localisation of the experience," said Hu.

The China Internet Network Information Center reported in January that 18.8m netizens visited group buying sites in 2010, and predicted interest is likely to grow further in future.

Web trends favour Amazon, Netflix

Amazon, Netflix and Apple are among the companies best placed to tap in to emerging online trends, a report has suggested.

S&P Equity Research, part of Standard & Poor's, has outlined several shifts which will impact the internet during the next 12 months.

Firstly, it suggested that both web advertising expenditure and ecommerce sales would rise by at least 10% over the course of 2011.

"The coming year should … be another year of solid growth, with double-digit gains for US internet advertising and retail spending," said Scott Kessler, information technology analyst, at S&P Equity Research.

Amazon is in line to benefit as more shoppers make purchases via digital channels, and is expected to deliver an annual revenue expansion surpassing 25%.

Netflix, which offers streaming and subscription-based access to films and TV content, could also see user numbers surge from 17m in Q3 2010 to 27m at the end of next year.

An additional possibility is Apple bringing iTunes "to the cloud", allowing customers to visit the music service through the web, and synchronise devices like the iPod wirelessly.

More broadly, S&P Equity Research believes Chinese search giant Baidu may extend its reach in Japan and other Asian markets.

By contrast, Google might face "further issues" in China, where the operation of Google Maps has come under particular scrutiny.

Different matters potentially attracting Google's attention are a push into local advertising in the US, and, less positively, a range of regulatory and legal wrangles, such as relating to the proposed takeover of ITA Software.

Expedia, the online travel firm, is also due to enjoy continuing success in China, prompting competitor Priceline.com to consider making acquisitions.

Finally, social networks Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are unlikely to become publicly-traded corporations, as the funds required to develop are still available through alternative routes.

Facebook overtakes Google

Facebook has overtaken Google to become the most popular website in America, figures from Experian Hitwise show.

The research firm reported that Facebook received 8.9% of all online visits in the US between January and November 2010.

Google fell to second on 7.2%, followed by Yahoo Mail on 3.5%, Yahoo's main portal on 3.3% and YouTube on 2.7%.

At the parent company level, Google's portfolio – including Gmail, YouTube and Google Maps – took 9.6% of visits, helping it stay in front of Facebook on this metric.

More broadly, the ten leading individual web properties – also housing MSN, MySpace, Windows Live Mail and Bing – accounted for 33% of activity during the opening 11 months of last year, up 12% on 2009.

Facebook climbed from third in the 2009 rankings and ninth in 2008, and enjoys a particularly impressive dwell time among members, Experian Hitwise suggested.

Indeed, the Palo Alto-based platform delivered approximately 25% of page views in November 2010.

"This is the most transformational shift in the history of the internet," Lou Kerner, a social media analyst at Wedbush Securities, argued.

"We're moving from a Google-centric web to a people-centric web."

Such a perspective essentially ties up with the vision outlined by Mark Zuckerburg, founder of Facebook, when speaking recently to Time Magazine, which recognised him as its latest "Person of the Year".

"We're trying to map out what exists in the world," he said. "In the world, there's trust. I think as humans we fundamentally parse the world through the people and relationships we have around us."

"So at its core, what we're trying to do is map out all of those trust relationships, which you can call, colloquially, most of the time, friendships."

Based on analysis of the top 1,000 search terms entered across America in 2010, Experian Hitwise also stated that Facebook led the charts on this measure, boasting a 2.1% share.

Alongside the actual name of the site, "facebook login" resided in second place, "facebook.com" claimed sixth and "www.facebook.com" made ninth, with the four expressions responsible for a collective 3.5% proportion of queries.

While the Web 2.0 pioneer may increasingly be a rival to Google, Heather Dougherty, director of research at Experian Hitwise, believes an interesting balance is emerging between the two brands.

"They continue to sort of work together as well as compete," she said. "They're kind of a funny 'frenemy.'"

Elsewhere in the search table, Google's YouTube occupied third on 1.1%, ahead of classifieds hub Craigslist and News Corp's MySpace.

Internet auction giant eBay came in seventh, beating Yahoo in eighth, and Mapquest completed the top ten.

New additions into the group of the 50 entries utilised with the greatest frequency included Netflix, Verizon Wireless, ESPN, Wells Fargo and Hulu, according to Experian Hitwise.

Overall, however, social networking "dominated" this selection of terms, as relevant words and phrases generated 4.2% of searches.

Looking forward, Zuckerberg predicted Facebook's influence could grow more pervasive as business models change in the coming five years.

"Most applications are going to become social, and most industries are going to be rethought in a way where social design and doing things with your friends is at the core of how these things work," he said.

SunChips tops US case study charts

The transformation of Frito-Lay's SunChips from a healthy snack into a leading green brand was the most-downloaded case study by Warc's US clients this year.

It was closely followed by Dove, Unilever's personal care brand, in the list of campaign histories attracting the greatest interest in America this year.

SunChips - Building a Pre-eminent Green Brand won the inaugural Warc Prize for Ideas and Evidence, impressing a panel of judges led by Alex Bogusky.

It communicated eco-friendly manufacturing innovations in a way that was accessible, fun and true to the brand's voice.

Dove's Big Ideal - from real curves to growth curves was honoured at the ARF David Ogilvy Awards in 2009.

Its presence among the top downloads of 2010 is a testament to the enduring appeal of this now iconic campaign - widely known for the success of its "Evolution" viral film - that engaged women by challenging stereotypical views of beauty.

Third-placed Hovis - As good today as it's ever been details the revival of one of Britain's oldest bread brands, and proved a trans-Atlantic hit.

Key components of this platform included a two-minute TV commercial and widespread PR, which combined Hovis' proud heritage with a modern twist.

A B2B relaunch campaign from American Express targeting small businesses featured in fourth.

Amex OPEN Forum rejuvenated American Express OPEN as the premier digital destination for small business owners to connect with one another, and positioned the company as being "here to help" in a time of recession.

Finally, the retail sector took fifth place, represented by Sears - Don't Just Go Back. Arrive.

This paper tells the story of how the chain reversed ten years of declining sales in the back-to-school market, largely due to an online scheme tapping into teenagers' love of collaboration, participation and sharing.

HSBC, Aviva among top cases

Campaigns from HSBC and Aviva were among the case studies that provided the greatest inspiration for Warc's subscribers this year.

Despite the economic downturn, HSBC - Math of Life bucked the recessionary trend by bringing in new retail clients for the company's PLUS BANKING account, a service that allowed customers to make more of their money.

This effort picked up a Gold at the US Effies, and was also the most-downloaded submission from the latest annual instalment of the prestigious awards programme.

Aviva assumed the same status concerning the Canadian CASSIES, for its attempts to enhance several key brand metrics in a highly competitive category.

Its "Let's Change Insurance" initiative chimed with consumers' frustration with the industry and offered a different approach, growing share for the first time in five years.

Despite being best known for men's suits, BOSS Orange - Gold winner and number one paper from the pan-European EACA Euro Effie Awards - introduced the BOSS brand to the female fragrance sector.

The product soon led its category following launch, propelled by a creative strategy that shunned convention and focused on the qualities of authenticity and happiness.

Finally, snack-food brands headed the charts regarding both the UK's IPA Effectiveness Awards and the Australian Effies.

Wispa, the Cadbury chocolate bar relaunched following a public social media campaign, was the most popular IPA entry.

In Australia, Naked Communications helped revive the fortunes of George Weston Foods' Little Bites of Cake by building a bigger "Ministry of Muffins" brand around the product to provide a platform for innovation.

Facebook tops search charts

Facebook, Starbucks, Apple and Nike were the brands which attracted the greatest number of searches on warc.com in 2010.

An assessment of popular searches conducted over the last year shows digital channels are becoming an increasingly important part of the communications landscape.

"Social media" was by some distance the top entry, reflecting the hunger for insights and case studies showing how sites like Twitter can effectively be used as marketing tools.

The next two most frequently-used terms concerned "sponsorship" and "product placement".

Both of these areas have seen growing investment in many markets around the world. In the UK, media regulator Ofcom has also recently relaxed existing product placement rules.

Facebook, which this year announced it had more than 500m users, appeared in fifth.

Starbucks was the next highest-ranking brand in the top ten, with Apple and Nike also in the list.

Tesco, Dove and Ikea sat just outside this group. Curiously, cider was the leading product category, ahead of luxury.

PlayStation phone unveiled

Sony Ericsson is to target online and mobile gamers with its next generation of smartphone, incorporating features from the PlayStation.

The Xperia Play, unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, shares some features with Sony's popular PlayStation consoles and will be powered by Google's Android operating system.

It boasts a touchscreen and a pad with buttons based on Sony's portable PSP console.

The device will go on sale in April, costing at least $270 (€199; £169).

It will be launched in the US on Verizon Wireless.

In an interview with Cnet, Bert Nordberg, Sony Ericsson's ceo, said that the world's largest economy would be a priority market for the phone.

"We've always launched products in Europe and then the US," he said.

"But we've learned that the US won't take a device unless they're first. So the strategy has turned around."

Nordberg also signalled strong support for the Android platform.

"It's clear that our focus is on Android," he said. "It's where our focus has been this past year. And we will continue that. In fact, we plan to double the number of Android phones in the market this year.

"It's an ongoing journey, but we like our position in the Android ecosystem. And we've made big contributions to the open-source software."

As reported last month, eMarketer forecasts show that Android's US market share will surpass that of Apple in 2012.

Android's US market share quadrupled from 6% in 2009 to roughly 24% in 2010.

Elsewhere at the Mobile World Congress, BuzzCity has unveiled its latest report on the state of the global mobile industry.

It found that in Q4 2010, 16.8bn mobile ad banners were delivered across its ad network, 12% more than in Q3.

Over last year as a whole, 52.8bn ad banners were delivered across the network, 93% more than 2009.

Polo Ralph Lauren targets China

Polo Ralph Lauren, the luxury specialist, is to increase its focus on affluent Chinese consumers, and is seeking to build its presence in both major and lower-tier cities.

The high-end fashion brand beat analysts' expectations to post revenues of $1.55bn (€1.15bn; £969m) for fiscal Q3, with sales up 15% year on year.

Recently, Polo Ralph Lauren has opened specialist stores around the world, rather than relying on licensees to sell its goods as part of concessions in department stores and other retail outlets.

Ralph Lauren, chairman and ceo of the firm, said: "The response to our new global flagship stores has been overwhelmingly positive, and I am thrilled with the reception we've experienced with our luxury accessories product."

Speaking to the Financial Times, Roger Farah, Polo Ralph Lauren's president, said that further store openings in Chinese cities will now be a priority for the firm.

As yet, Polo Ralph Lauren has yet to open a flagship store in China.

"We think we need to properly position the brand," Farah said.

"A lot of second- and third-tier cities [in China] are now beginning to gel and exhibiting customer demand, and so we are going to have to look at those at the same time we're looking at the primary cities for key locations."

North America currently accounts for roughly 70% of Polo Ralph Lauren's overall sales, while Asia is well behind on 9%.

Bing growth continues

Bing stole market share from main rival Google in January, as competition in the US search market increases.

Latest figures from comScore suggest Microsoft's search sites, including Bing, captured 13.1% of explicit core searches last month, up 1.1% from December 2010, while Yahoo was up 0.1% on 16.1%.

Despite its overall share declining 1% month-on-month, Google remains dominant with 65.6% of the explicit core search market.

On the broader total core search metric - which includes partner searches, cross-channel and contextual searches - Google was up 0.3% to 64.6%, while Yahoo was down from 18.8% to 17.9%

But Bing, which has been heavily-promoted since its 2009 launch, registered the highest total core search growth for the month, and was up 0.8% to 12.8%.

The Ask Network and AOL were the fourth- and fifth-largest search networks respectively.

In all, US web users made 18.56bn searches in January, up 2% on December.

Earlier this month, Bing announced that it is personalising search results based on data such as the user's search history and location.

This technique is already employed by Google.

In a blog post on the topic, Microsoft said: "The beauty of thinking differently about personalized searching is that it enables us to construct elegant solutions that require a minimal amount of personal information and, frankly, often exhibit better results than a more computationally complex predictive model alone."

Thanks to a deal struck by Microsoft and Yahoo which went into effect in August 2010, Bing now powers Yahoo search results in the US and Canada.

Japan Tobacco looks to Russia

Japan Tobacco, the cigarette manufacturer, expects increased earnings for 2011, with Russia and other Eastern European nations among its key targets for growth.

Speaking to Bloomberg, Yasushi Shingai, an executive vice president at the company, said the firm is aiming to increase its foreign profits by 10% or more.

To achieve this, Japan Tobacco will focus on its more successful existing brands, such as Mild Seven and Winston, rather than developing new products.

Russia is Japan Tobacco's largest international market, accounting for 48% of its sales outside of Japan during 2010.

But tobacco firms' growth prospects could be limited by a tougher regulatory environment.

The Russian authorities recently announced they are considering an increase to tobacco taxes and a ban on cigarette ads, bringing the country in line with other European nations.

The ad restrictions could be in place by 2012, with a ban on smoking in public potentially being enforced from 2015.

According to Euromonitor forecasts, Japan Tobacco will derive roughly 30% of its 2010 net sales from tobacco in Japan, with sales in international markets accounting for another 48%.

The remainder will be taken up by its pharmaceutical and foods businesses.

Euromonitor was particularly upbeat on Japan Tobacco's prospects in Eastern Europe.

The firm was the biggest cigarette maker in Russia in 2009, achieving a market share of 37.5%.

Japan Tobacco is forecast to grow by an average 0.3% over the years to 2014.

"Despite the recession and significant tax rises affecting the Eastern Europe region in 2009, particularly Russia and Ukraine, JT has managed to increase regional market share and remains well placed where though volumes are now falling, value and margins should increase in upcoming years," the Euromonitor report added.