Developing countries more brand loyal

It revealed that consumers in developing countries are more brand conscious than developed countries and brand loyalty is declining amongst middle classes in all markets.

Ask Afrika, which owns the South African license, provides insights into TGI Global Consumer Perspectives 2013A research.

Less affected countries

South Africans are embracing a wider range of brands in their everyday lives, just as much as brands are identifying the status of being in every South African household. Consumers in emerging economies are gaining power and consumer behaviours are diverging in developed and developing markets.

The company analysed the trends in the world GDP evolution from 2007 to 2011 and noted that developing countries were less affected by the economic crash in 2009 than developed countries.

"In the wider context, there has been a seismic shift in the global economy within the last decade, with the start of the shift in the global power balance from developed markets to developing markets. The last 12 months have seen the developing world expand GDP at about 7%," says Maria Petousis, TGI Director at Ask Afrika.

The Guardian and The Economist predict that China might well take over from the US as the biggest economic power by 2018 or even 2016, Brazil has become the sixth largest power, ahead of the UK and the debt crisis continues to plague European markets.

Middleclass preferences

"In our data, we can see that China, Brazil, Egypt and South Africa are very receptive to brands. German consumers are far less likely than any other market to identify themselves as being into brands (we know there is culturally less focus on brands/advertising).

"In the UK and Germany, middle classes are brand loyal but not necessarily to well-known brands. In Brazil, the middle class show strong preference for well-known brands. In China, the middleclass prefer well-known brands, although higher classes more so, and they are not particularly brand loyal. So there exists strong potential for well-known brands, but caution is needed as they are not as loyal as consumers in other markets - even less so in Egypt where there is a strong emphasis on labels."

Macro-environmental changes

Recent events demonstrate that the pace of change is rapid. "There are several macro-environmental influences on daily life which force these changes: politics, economics, social trends and technology. These influences create a set of expectations about life amongst consumers. We set out to explore consumers globally, to understand the new expectations and behaviours resulting from the macro-environmental changes in the last five years."

A review of recent world events created a sense of context. The Arab Spring (the uprisings in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Syria); global and local economic meltdowns (Eurozone uncertainty, US banks, Detroit); 'Occupy Wall Street' protests and London riots (increasing bifurcation and angst, partisanship politics disappearing); technology increasingly creating transparencies and 'speed of truth' (the amazing rise of social media, Wikileaks) and finally natural and nuclear disasters.

Data analysis

The research is a single source sample of 15m, it has a global geographic coverage of 67 markets and measures services and products, media and brands. The TGI research will be explored further with its annual Icon Brand winners, which are to be announced at an awards ceremony in Johannesburg on 19 July 2013. For more information, go to www.askafrika.co.za.