IMAGE
“BIG 4” AGENCY IMAGE –
AND, WHAT ABOUT THE INDEPENDENT AGENCIES?
The Asia Research buyer surveys conducted in Q1 and Q2
this year assessed the image of the leading research firms
in Singapore and Indonesia.
T
he dominant players in Singapore and Indonesia with whom
most clients are familiar are Nielsen, TNS, Ipsos and Millward
Brown. The perception of the image of each is summarised
as follows:
agement team image. Primera (recently acquired by GfK) is another
agency in Indonesia with a stronger-than-average image, particularly in terms of personal rapport with account managers and for being
an “up-and-coming” agency.
Nielsen has a strong image in both Singapore and Indonesia. They
are far ahead of their peer group for being “highly regarded in the
research industry” (e.g. demonstrating leadership and promoting
high standards). Nielsen is viewed as having high-quality data collection techniques such as interviewing and survey QC, more innovative methods, and higher levels of client servicing. In Indonesia,
Nielson’s image is even stronger and ahead of its peer group competitors for having staff with prior client-side experience and the
quality of its reports.
In Singapore, areas where clients feel there is least differentiation
between agencies and where they have stated “no agency” have
qualities including innovation (31%) and report quality (22%).
This contrasts quite significantly with Indonesia, where only 10%
of clients did not vote for any agency for innovation and reporting
quality.
TNS has a stronger image in Indonesia than in Singapore. In
Indonesia, it is significantly ahead of Ipsos and Millward Brown for
being “highly regarded in the industry”, having good senior management and research teams, having an extensive network of offices,
and to some extent for innovative research solutions and quality of
data collection.
Ipsos does not differentiate itself much from its peer group.It tends to
have a slightly stronger image that Millward Brown in both markets,
but this could be attributed to more clients using Ipsos than Millward
Brown, which means they have a better “chance” of scoring higher
for brand image.
Millward Brown has the weakest image out of the “Big 4” agencies,
but this is as a result of having a lower penetration in the market
compared to others in their peer group. Millward Brown does not
have such a wide repertoire of clients as the other companies, and
therefore clients tend to be left with a weaker impression. However,
among its clients Millward Brown has a stronger image for highquality reporting (e.g. insight and quality of presentation), particularly in Singapore.
Conclusions
The big agencies have dominated Asian markets for decades and
still retain a strong higher-level image for leadership and standards.
There is more differentiation among the images of the “Big 4”
agencies in Indonesia, but with Singapore being a more mature
market, the images of these agencies have come that much closer
together, being almost viewed as a single entity of “large multinational agencies”.
The big agencies are still able to hang on to some of the talent that
can really make a difference between research suppliers. However,
smaller and more nimble agencies will inevitably provide competitive advantages in these markets, causing further redistribution of
business across the supply side of the industry.
The results also demonstrate the contrasts between Singapore and
Indonesia. The Singapore market has become saturated to such an
extent that the brand image of agencies has become diluted to a
point where it fails to differentiate many of the agencies. Clients are
also harder to impress in Singapore, with far more clients claiming
that no agency impresses them for “innovation” and “reporting
quality”. ■
Independent agencies
After the “Big 4” agencies, there is quite a big “step down” in terms
of market penetration, and therefore the views of the independent
agencies are quite diluted. Acorn, GfK, and Insight Asia have
sizable operations in both markets, but appear to have a narrower
repertoire of clients, which means their image in both markets is
quite weak.
In Singapore, the fragmentation of the market means the brand
image votes are highly scattered, but based on the Asia Research
sample, those independent companies with stronger image than
average include BDRC Asia, Kadence, Added Value Saffron Hill
and ORC International.
In Indonesia, Kadence has grown significantly and has a strong
image for being “up-and-coming”, for speed, low price and
high-quality client servicing.
Mark Plus is known to most clients in Indonesia but has a relatively
low market penetration. However, it does have quite a strong man4 ASIA RESEARCH | Q3 2014
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