The Nielsen Consumer Insight Magazine February 2009

In this Issue :

New Product Innovation in a Recession.

While current economic conditions may be causing consumers to trim back, marketers need to resist that impulse on new product development. The key learning is that innovation can succeed during recessionary times if the fundamentals are right... Read More

Channel Shifting in a Tough Economy.

Battered by the economy, U.S. consumers are shopping less frequently, demanding value, trading down, buying less, moving to private label and shifting department purchases across channels... Read More

Global Economies Adjust.

Like a house of cards, one slight move and it all comes tumbling down. Around the world, the operative word in today’s economic climate is value. How are manufacturers and retailers coping? What are the biggest opportunities…and surprises for 2009?... Read More

Transforming China’s Growth Engine.

No longer able to rely on buyers in the rest of the world to drive its economic growth, China is relying on its own consumers to help stimulate its economy. But what will it take to get them to spend?... Read More

Awards Shows Take Centerstage.

And the winner is…. the retailer. Turns out there’s a very practical reason for performers wishing to win a Grammy or Academy Award—music sales skyrocket!... Read More

Gautrain News

Here is the latest on the Gautrain:

GAUTRAIN CELEBRATES HOMECOMING OF GAUTRAIN
"Our golden train is now finally where she belongs. And although Gautrain's physical home is in Gauteng, her real home is in the hearts and minds of all South Africans," said Gauteng Premier Paul Mashatile.
Read more

VIEW GAUTRAIN'S JOURNEY HOME
Having spent several months in an icy workshop in the United Kingdom, there could be no better homecoming for Gautrain than the hot African sun warming her golden body.
View her journey here

GAUTRAIN DEPOT AND WORKSHOP
The Gautrain Depot in Midrand is in a central location in relation to the operation of the system and is the operational hub of the system. All train movements will be controlled from the Operations Control Centre housed at the depot and the entire train fleet will also be stabled and maintained there. The bus operations control centre as well as stabling and maintenance facilities for the buses will also be housed there.
Read more

TESTING AND COMMISSIONING
Before entering into commercial service, each Gautrain train-set will be subjected to a long and rigorous testing and commissioning process. This process entails progressively more onerous tests on all systems and sub-systems from brakes and power, to air-conditioning and communications. In total, each train-set will complete approximately 3000km on the test-track before being certified for operations.
Read more

SIGNALLING SYSTEMS
Gautain's signalling solution comprises Bombardier's CITYFLO 250 system which is a fixed block signalling system based on ‘distance to go' principles with vital information being transmitted to the onboard automatic train protection (ATP) system from balises in the track. The ATP supervises the driver and train movements.
Read more

ELECTROSTAR NOISE
Gautrain will comply with international best practice in respect of noise and vibration emissions. Design noise levels both inside and outside the train (assuming good quality track) will be compliant with the relevant European standards regulating noise and vibration emissions by rail vehicles.
Read more

Bus funding crisis SATAWU briefing

The Parliamentary Monitoring Group for Transport recently heard SATAWU briefing on the Bus industry funding crisis. The briefing consisted of a five page document presented by Jane Barrett, SATAWU Policy Research Officer and outlined SATAWU's view on the issue.

Here is the Summary:

The Committee was addressed on the NCOP amendments to the National Land Transport Bill [B 51D-2008].

The original amendments in the B-version of the Bill reflected a failure by the State Law Advisor to present all the consequential amendments.

The NCOP had dealt with this matter in the C-version. The amendments dealt mainly with cross-referencing, grammatical changes and the addition of four clauses.

The Chairperson emphasised that no further amendments could be entertained as there was no time to refer the Bill back to the NCOP. The Committee committed itself to ensuring that an Amendment Bill was drafted by the new Parliament to deal with all further amendments.

The Committee was briefed on the bus subsidy crisis by the South Transport and Allied Workers Union. Corrective budgeting by the Department was questioned, and it was explained that there was some guesswork involved, as the oil price was an uncertain variable and elasticity in subsidy contracts was required. The Committee questioned the non-involvement of the taxi industry in this crisis.

The Committee resolved to host a meeting with National Treasury, the Department and all other available key players on 3 February 2009 to appeal to Treasury and the Department to make urgent contingency arrangements regarding the bus subsidy crisis.

SA Marketing News

Advertising News
D&AD Student Annual goes online
Not only will D&AD student and professional awards judging coincide for the first time this year, 2009 also marks the launch of the Student Annual Online, which will allow featured students to link to their portfolios. Read full story... Send to a friend

DBB SA out of Jupiter's orbit
A consequence of the 49% acquisition of The Jupiter Drawing Room (South Africa) & Partners by WPP, announced late last week, is that Jupiter shareholders will be releasing their shareholding equity in DDB SA. "DDB SA has enjoyed its short association with The Jupiter Drawing Room,” DDB SA CEO Glen Lomas told Bizcommunity.com on Friday, 30 January 2009. “We mutually benefited from the working relationship on a number of levels.” Read full story... Send to a friend

Dubai Lynx 2009 juries announced
The members of the four juries of the Dubai Lynx Awards have been announced. Judging will take place in Dubai, where 29 creatives and media experts from 14 countries will convene to discuss and award the best creative advertising from the MENA region. Read full story... Send to a friend

Cannes Lions open for entries
LONDON: Entries are now open in 56th Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival for all categories - Film, Press, Outdoor, Direct, Media, Cyber, Radio, Promo, Design, Titanium, Integrated and the new PR Lions category. There are also changes to Integrated, Media, Direct and Promo Lions, and more ways to enter Digital work in various categories. Read full story... Send to a friend

MMA releases mobile banking, updated mobile advertising overviews
NEW YORK, LONDON, SINGAPORE & SAO PAULO: The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) released its Mobile Banking Overview yesterday, Thursday, 29 January 2009. This educational resource is designed to provide analysis of the marketing opportunities and attributes that the mobile channel represents for the financial sector. Also updated this week was its Mobile Advertising Overview. Read full story... Send to a friend

The US president Barack Obama has undoubtedly inspired art, street art and fashion
The Getty Images Creative Research team finds how a politician is influencing marketing and advertising and how his look is becoming a visual reference. Read full story... Send to a friend

Loeries weekend date change
The 31st anniversary of The Loerie Awards will depart from its traditional Saturday and Sunday timetable; this year's festival weekend runs 25 - 27 September 2009 in Cape Town. With Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, starting on the evening of Sunday 27 September, the awards ceremonies will take place on Friday and Saturday nights. Read full story... Send to a friend

Branding News

Meltdown creates new global champions
We have now arrived right in the middle of that second half of the hyper-accelerated phase, where western brands start to fall like dominos. As pointed out in my column first printed in 2006, Global image repositioning race heats up, in the US alone hundreds of its world-class brands are being erased. From monster banking to mega manufacturing, some 73 000 stores alone being closed in the first half of 2009, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers. Read full story... Send to a friend

One crucial factor
Every brand relies on one crucial factor: what happens inside the company behind it, or what is known as the ‘inside out' factor. This is the specialist focus of Interbrand Sampson Inside, the new brand engagement consultancy in the Interbrand Sampson Group. Read full story... Send to a friend

Exhibition News

What happens offline drives online
When the IEC recently announced a second voters' registration weekend, where did you first go to find more information on where to register? What about when Thabo Mbeki resigned? Where did you find the lineup of the Coke Zero music fest or the photos of Barack Obama's inauguration? Most likely, your first point of call was an online search for information. Read full story... Send to a friend

Thebe goes greener in 2009
Thebe Exhibitions and Projects will ensure that all steps are in place towards a greener events industry in future. Managing Director Carol Weaving says the company's greening policy will be further refined and presented to exhibitors as part of its marketing strategy. Read full story... Send to a friend

Even more to talk about at Design Indaba
Despite the tough economic climate, Design Indaba Expo 2009 has reported that it has grown with more than 60 new exhibitors and has secured more than 20% extra floor space since 2008. With a month to go until the event, already more than 100 buyers have pre-registered, including 70 international buyers. Read full story... Send to a friend

Youth Marketing News

Campaign on the alert for smarties
Sasol regularly awards university bursaries to over 250 up-and-coming Grade 12 learners and BEng, BSc and BCom students every year. “To promote Sasol's bursaries programme among the smarties out there, we've launched a campaign that uses an awesome cast of seven characters,” explains Bronwyn Watt, Sasol group brand and marketing manager. Read full story... Send to a friend

Africa's first family and children's industry network
Being leaders in connecting families and children with brands, and building on the success of their monthly newsletter, Chirp, Egg Marketing & Communications will be launching Chirp Network, Africa's first family and children's industry network platform, in February this year. Read full story... Send to a friend

The State of Green Business in the USA

Greenbiz.com releases an annual State of Green Business report and recently released the newest one.

The report assesses how, and how well, companies are doing from an environmental perspective. The free 62-page report offers 10 trends of the past year as well as their GreenBiz Index, a set of 20 indicators that, in aggregate, provide a picture of U.S. companies' environmental achievements.

Here is the table of contents

Top Stories of 2008............................................................................ 4
The Green Economy Gains Currency.............................................................. 4
Water Becomes the New Carbon.................................................................... 5
Building Efficiency Rises Again........................................................................ 7
Universities Take Class Actions........................................................................ 9
Green Moves Up, and Down, the Chain of Command................................. 10
Product Stewardship Creates a Material Change.......................................... 11
Green Marketing Suffers a Failure to Communicate..................................... 13
Carbon Becomes a Business Imperative....................................................... 14
Information Technology Plugs Into Green..................................................... 16
Greener Design Comes Out of the Lab........................................................ 17

The GreenBiz Index
Introduction ................................................................................................... 19
Summary Chart .............................................................................................. 20
Building Energy Efficiency ............................................................................ 22
Carbon Intensity............................................................................................ 24
Carbon Transparency .................................................................................... 26
Cleantech Investments ................................................................................. 28
Clean-Energy Patents.................................................................................... 30
Corporate Reporting..................................................................................... 32
Employee Commuting.................................................................................. 34
Employee Telecommuting ............................................................................ 36
Energy Efficiency........................................................................................... 38
E-Waste......................................................................................................... 40
Financial Impacts............................................................................................ 42
Fleet Impacts.................................................................................................. 44
Green Jobs..................................................................................................... 46
Green Office Space ...................................................................................... 48
Green Power Use .......................................................................................... 50
Packaging Intensity ....................................................................................... 52
Paper Use and Recycling............................................................................... 54
Toxic Emissions ............................................................................................. 56
Toxics in Manufacturing.................................................................................. 58
Water Intensity................................................................................................ 60
Credits / About Greener World Media........................................................... 62

Take Overs- December 2008 to 4 February 2009

Please see a summary of this month’s TakeOver Talk activity below. Additional information and search / sort facilities are available on our website (click on TakeOver Talk):


click on image to enlarge

Access to South African Institute of Race Relations

The library recently acquired access to the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR).

This website is home to the largest and most comprehensive database tracking trends on South Africa. It provides a wide variety of statistical and other data on South Africa, ranging from education, health, social development and welfare to business, employment, the economy, and politics.

It really is a terrific website and well worth bookmarking it or subscribing to its RSS feed.

The Research and publications section covers the following:

• South Africa Survey
  The South Africa Survey has been published annually by the Institute since 1947. It is a 500-page statistical reference work on every area of the country’s socio-economic development. Made up of statistical tables and charts, the Survey tracks trends over time and offers forecasts where available. It also contains international comparisons and limited analysis.
• Fast Facts Online
  Fast Facts is a monthly bulletin providing analysis of key development and policy indicators. It is designed to be read quickly by busy people. Fast Facts also tracks 170 socio-economic indicators in each issue.
• Resource Centre
  The Institute's Resource Centre tracks and updates files on over 1200 political, social, and economic subject headings on a daily basis. It is the best and biggest current affairs library in South Africa. It also contains significant holdings of books, journals, historical documents, and biographical files. It provides an Information Service for Business and Corporate subscribers to send electronic requests for any available data on South Africa. Queries are answered within 24 hours.
• South African Mirror
  The South African Mirror is a state-of-the-nation style briefing presented annually by the Institute at venues around South Africa. Briefings are also available in-house for Corporate subscribers
• Special research projects
  The Institute operates a number of Special Research Projects which range from information services for public representatives to in-depth research on race relations, affirmative action, and other topical issues.
• Outreach projects
  The Institute is regularly consulted by the local and international media on all aspects of South African development. Literally hundreds of Articles and News Reports cite the Institute annually. This section contains selected references to the Institute from the media.
• Annual Report
  The Annual Report contains the activities and accounts of the Institute for any given year
• Historical publications
  The Institute has published widely on South Africa since 1929. A selection of these historical documents, reports, and papers will be uploaded to this section of the website from time to time.
• Hoernlé Lectures
  The Hoernlé memorial lecture honours Professor R F Alfred Hoernlé, and his wife, Agnes Winifred Hoernlé, both of whom, as presidents, shaped Institute thinking during the organisation's early existence.

Logo's after the financial crisis (a bit of fun)

I recieved this in an email and am unable to trace the orginal source. Some can be found here, however, if you know who the legal copyright author is please let me know.

Intelligence 2.0 Webinar

Case Studies in Healthcare and Life Science Software Systems for Understanding and Anticipating Industry Change

Hosted by the Center for Business Intelligence - Presented by Aurora WDC, Digimind, Comintell & Traction Software - February 12

Web Seminar Overview:
The first generation of competitive, business and market intelligence systems were designed to produce asymmetries of information between a company and the forces of risk arrayed against it. But ubiquitous, real-time open source information access has given desktop access to even the most granular of industry market information. The result is that competitive advantage based on an information gap is fleeting at best and, if relied upon too much, can even lead to errors in judgment when deciding which direction to take the company.

The age of asymmetric interpretation is upon us. Decision makers everywhere must now look at the same massive data stream as everyone else, but see things differently to create competitive advantage based on these differences. We call this inflection point "Intelligence 2.0" as it is also characterized by a new, deeper level of engagement and collaboration by and between the employees of the firm in order to help the system function properly.

There are a variety of tools that can help automate the routine information processing activities of a company's intelligence team so they can see indicators of change more clearly, think ahead about what and how to manage their businesses, and make decisions that create breakthrough value for customers and performance for the company.

Join us for detailed case studies by three of the top vendors in the software business today about how they have helped healthcare and life science companies to use their systems to understand risk, create value, and drive performance and success.

Register Today!
Enroll online. Use Promo Code WDC212 and receive a $50 Discount
Call toll free (800) 817-8601. Use your American Express, Visa or MasterCard.

Can't Attend?

Choose between the MP4 or listening in on the Encore presentation:
MP4 File / Event Recording:

• $295
• You'll receive an electronic file for you to save and play as many times as you wish. This file includes the entire web seminar, including the Q&A period and all presentation materials, within two weeks of the live date.

24/7 Instant Access Web Seminar Presentation:

• $145
• You'll have access to one dial-in for an archived recording of the entire web seminar, including the Q&A period. You can log into the URL in any time of day or night for three months from the live air date

OECD: Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs and Local Development news

5th Annual Meeting of the OECD LEED Forum on Partnerships and Local Governance
The meeting will focus on Building Strong Partnerships with the Private Sector for Better Jobs and Inclusion. Public sector institutions increasingly understand that working with business at the local level is crucial for promoting quality jobs and social inclusion. Localities are gearing education and training to business needs. Some regions are upgrading local skills demand, working with business to improve productivity thus increasing the availability of good quality jobs. A collective response is required from industry, government, educational institutions, trade unions and community.

Increasing the Attractiveness of Places through Cultural Resources: Publication and Follow-up Seminars
The Tourism Committee has recently completed a study on “Increasing the Attractiveness of Places through Cultural Resources”. The main documents and case studies are summarised in "The Impact of Culture on Tourism " (published January 2009). Two follow-up seminars will be organised to disseminate the outcomes: “Culture and Tourism: A Strategic Partnership ” on 23-24 January 2009 in Mexico; and “A new Design for Tourism: culture, tourism and creative industries; driving forces for local development” on 26-27 February 2009 (visit www.vorarlberg.travel).