Global market research firm Ipsos India has announced a host of management changes in its leadership team.
Amit Adarkar
Detailing the changes, Amit Adarkar, CEO, Ipsos India, said: “The pandemic is almost behind us, and we are entering an era of exciting opportunities. Our clients, across industry verticals, are gearing up for a rebound, pursuing their own aggressive strategies for growth and they look at us to partner them in their growth journey. At the same time, Ben Page, Ipsos Global CEO has included India in Ipsos’ top priority markets for 2022. Keeping in mind client as well as internal expectations, we have reinforced and revamped the Leadership Team with the announcement of top management changes, effective immediately. This sets the tone for the growth path to 2025.”
These are the hanges in the top deck:
Krishnendu Dutta is being elevated as Group Service Line Leader, Innovation, MSU and Strategy3, Ipsos India. In this role, he will support our pan India, Client facing teams and lead strategic client conversations in areas of innovation, foundational consumer as well as shopper understanding and research-based advisory.
Rinku Patnaik will take on a new role as Managing Director, Research, Ipsos India. She will lead our select businesses in North & South India.
Geeta Lobo will take on a new role as Chief Client Officer (CCO), Ipsos India. In this role, Geeta will report to Amit Adarkar, CEO, Ipsos India, and will be tasked with deepening our business relationship with key Clients.
Ashwini Sirsikar is being elevated to Group Service Line (GSL) Leader, Ipsos UU (qualitative research) and SIA (Social Intelligence Analytics).
Geetika Singh, Executive Director, Ipsos UU (Mumbai) has been elevated to the role of Country Service Line Leader, UU (qualitative research), Ipsos India.
Maitreyi Mangrati, Executive Director, Ipsos UU (Qualitative Research, Delhi) will now take up the additional charge of the Country Service Line Leader, Social Intelligence Analytics (SIA).
Added Adarkar: “There is a clear need to integrate survey data with social data to provide a 360-degree perspective to Clients. Sirsikar, Singh and Mangrati will be tasked with connecting these two data streams more.”
With the reducing Covid threat and ‘physical’ world opening, Ipsos India is bullish for Channel Performance Service Line, which is not limited to mystery shopping, but also covers retail execution management and audits. With this aim, Abhishek Jha will lead the Channel Performance service line and would report to Rinku Patnaik.
Ipsos India, the global market research and consulting firm, has roped in Garima Mall and Pooja Doshi as Executive Directors effective immediately.
While Mall’s remit includes servicing Market Strategy & Understanding (MSU) and Brand Health Tracking (BHT) Clients in Mumbai and Bengaluru, Doshi will be focusing on servicing key CPG accounts apart from driving business development.
Amit Adarkar
Said Amit Adarkar, CEO, Ipsos India on the development: “Our Client First approach ensures that despite being among the top 3 MR firms in India and around the world, we provide our clients with small agency kind of attentiveness and counsel. “Accessibility of senior staff to clients is extremely critical. It also sends a tacit message that your work is our priority too.”
Vivek Gupta
Added Vivek Gupta, MD (Research) who is responsible for Mumbai and Bengaluru business said: “Both Mall and Doshi come with rich experience and sectoral expertise. Our endeavor is to provide our clients access to specialists as opposed to generalists, thus further strengthening our servicing capabilities in these focused geographies.”
Mall moves from Kantar and has previously worked with Nielsen and GFK Mode and Doshi has moved from BASES NielsenIQ, where she served as Director – Commercial Lead. Both Mall and Doshi will report to Gupta.
Ipsos, the global market research and consulting firm, is pleased to announce the acquisition of We Check, a Canadian specialist in Mystery Shopping solutions.
Said Tracey Conners, We Check CEO: “We Check is proud to join Ipsos. Our complementary skills and expertise in the mystery shopping industry will allow both the business and the experts to excel. Having partnered with Ipsos since 2013, it is the right time in the Canadian market to join forces.”
Amit Adarkar
Added Amit Adarkar, CEO, Ipsos India: “The acquisition of We Check, bolsters our mystery shopping offering in India and provides our clients with a more updated and enhanced channel performance measurement toolkit. As Covid threat wanes and physical retail opens up, we see an increasing need to monitor retail processes and retail execution. As consumers step out more and more, they would expect better experiences at physical retail. Our enhanced channel performance offer will help marketers and retailers as they gear up to welcome consumers in the past pandemic world.”
Ipsos has brought Instant|Labs, an advertising and communication tool to India. This tool, notes a communique, would help marketers in the early stage development of creatives to create sharper creatives and also save on time and money in first making the creatives and then testing them.
Amit Adarkar
Said Amit Adarkar, CEO, Ipsos India: “Built on decades of creative development research experience and with a blend of quantitative and qualitative methodology, Instant|Labs aims to uncover respondents’ reactions to creative ideas and explain those reactions, within a few hours. All stakeholders – client, creative agency and Ipsos execs can consider and discuss the findings in real time via a virtual lounge and decide on how to progress.”
Ananya Roy Mathur
Added Ananya Roy Mathur, Country Service Line Leader, Creative Excellence, Ipsos India: “The applicability of the tool transcends the entire CPG Sector – FMCG, financial services, durables, tech and retail sectors to accelerate the communication development path and derive meaningful outcomes.”
Jyoti Malladi
Said Jyoti Malladi, Group Service Line Leader, Brand Health Tracking (BHT) and Creative Excellence (CRE), Ipsos India: “It helps marketers in the creative development process and enables optimizing the creative for a more effective communication. It allows for the best of quantitative and qualitative consumer feedback co-opting stakeholders at every step of the way, thus making the whole process collaborative, speedy and actionable.”
Ipsos has rejigged its top team in healthcare cesearch in India. Gauri Pathak has been roped in to spearhead the Custom Healthcare Research business with immediate effect and will report to Vivek Gupta, Managing Director- Research, Ipsos India. Her predecessor, Monica Gangwani is taking up a key strategic role as the Healthcare Expert Advisor and will report to Ipsos India CEO, Amit Adarkar.
Amit Adarkar
Commenting on the key new roles, Adarkar said: “Ipsos India is already a market leader in custom Healthcare research. However, Healthcare is a dynamic space and post pandemic the whole sector has undergone a complete transformation with a number of non-traditional players entering the space. Healthcare has also seen immense Start Up activity. To juggle a plethora of opportunities with a diverse mix of clients and their portfolios in Healthcare, we have reinforced the team to cater to clients’ needs, providing them with the best of expertise and depth of knowledge and advice.”
Ipsos global Predictions 2022 Survey in 33 markets among 22,023 adults shows majority of urban Indians (80%) and global citizens (77%) are optimistic of the prospects for 2022, predicting it to be a better year than 2021!
Eight in 10 urban Indians (80%) and 61% of the global citizens polled predict the Economy to emerge stronger in 2022. The markets most optimistic were China (87%), India (80%), and Saudi Arabia (79%). The least optimistic were Turkey (40%), Belgium (44%) and Russia (45%).
Further, there is optimism around city centres getting busy again with life limping back ro normalcy around people getting back to offices again – 7 in 10 agree globally (71%), India has 3 in 4 agreeing (74%) and interestingly, all 33 markets have more number of respondents feeling optimistic – markets at the top were China (87%), Malaysia (86%), Netherlands (81%) and Israel (80%).
While most global citizens disagree, at least 6 in 10 Urban Indians (60%) expect people to get more tolerant towards each other in 2022. Markets that expect this more likely to happen, were China (83%), Malaysia (66%),
Amit Adarkar
Commenting on the findings of the survey, Amit Adarkar, CEO, Ipsos India said: “Most respondents are optimistic of the bright prospects for 2022 and expect the economy to grow, vaccination drive to accelerate and cover majority of population and further they expect tolerance levels to improve. Full recovery is still a long way off and Omicron surge could spoil the party if stern measures of isolation, vaccination and other protocols are not taken to stop the spread.”
Key trends emerging in 2022:
People could fly less than they did in 2019: 45% global citizens polled hold this view; India showed polarized views with 1 in 2 (52%) agreeing; Markets agreeing most were China (68%), Singapore (67%) and Malaysia (66%). And markets agreeing least were Belgium (27%), Saudi Arabia (29%), Colombia (34%), South Korea (35%) and Netherlands (35%).
Prices will outpace people’s incomes is the perception of most global citizens (75%). Markets agreeing most were Russia (88%), Chile (85%), Netherlands (85%), Romania (85%) and Colombia (84%). India had at least 2 in 3 agreeing (68%). Market agreeing least was Japan (33%).
A lot more people will live their lives in virtual worlds was the view of at least 57% of global citizens polled and 6 in 10 Urban Indians (60%); markets agreeing most were Turkey (77%), Malaysia (75%), Brazil (74%), Poland (72%) and Singapore (72%). Markets agreeing the least were Japan (18%), China (33%) and Saudi Arabia (36%).
Strict rules for large Technology companies could be introduced by the govt, expect China (74%), India (64%), Malaysia (59%) and Singapore (57%) most.
More extreme weather events could take place in 2022 feel 6 in 10 global citizens; India had 62% predicting. Markets most wary of adverse weather events taking place were Netherlands (72%), Great Britain (69%), Australia (68%) and Italy (68%). Saudi Arabia (27%) had least expecting it to happen.
A rogue AI program that can’t be shutdown and could cause global havoc – 27% global citizens feared it could happen in 2022 ; markets agreeing most were Malaysia (56%), India (46%) and Turkey (43%). Markets agreeing least were Hungary (15%), Sweden (16%), Netherlands (18%), Denmark (18%) and Canada (18%).
Global market research company Ipsos has reinforced its HR Team in India with the hiring of Shallet D’Silva as HR Director. She will report to Sanskrati Pathak Sail, Country HRD Lead, Ipsos India.
Said Sail: “For a vibrant and growing market like India where people acquisition, engagement and other HR specialties are the need of hour, D’Silva is a great addition in the Ipsos India HR organistaion . I am excited as she will work closely with me on HR Strategies and lead the implementation of other macro plans for Ipsos in India.”
Amit Adarkar
Added Amit Adarkar, CEO, Ipsos India: “Human Resources has played a key role in managing the mental and physical wellbeing of our employees during the prolonged pandemic. And as we end another tough year, we firmly believe that a robust HR team with varied skillsets is extremely important for an organisation like ours where it is employees led.”
Ipsos has announced the acquisition of Intrasonics, a leading provider of audio recognition technology based in the UK. This is part of Ipsos’ continued strategy to increase its expertise in the field of digital audience measurement and offer new capabilities in the area of Audio, Digital and TV content recognition.
Amit AdarkarGinus Tiemessen
Said Amit Adarkar, CEO, Ipsos India: “It boosts our audience measurement offering providing clients with most updated technology in measuring viewership or listenership, especially in the times of multiple screens.”
Added Ginus Tiemessen, founder of Intrasonics: “I am proud that our close cooperation has become permanent. The combination of Ipsos’ global audience measurement network with Intrasonics’ high-tech competence centre in Cambridge will offer great opportunities and even better service for all our clients. The team is eager to help create the new product market combinations that this collaboration will bring.”
According to the global survey by The Trust Project and Ipsos titled Trust Misplaced?, 71% urban Indians and 64% global citizens believe they have easy access to news from sources they trust. At least 6 in 10 urban Indians (59%) say, they read news they can access for free. 67% global citizens hold this view.
Amit Adarkar
Said Amit Adarkar, CEO, Ipsos India: “Media entities are highly evolved in India. There are trusted sources for news; media houses that come with ethos and values and have built reputations over many decades of news dissemination, beating the odds. Further, Indians look at various sources for news and free news is readily accessible across social platforms and digitally. Now news can be accessed at a mere click and it has become easier to stay updated, going beyond the conventional sources,”
Fake News and Trust
Interestingly, more number of Indians say they can tell Real News from Fake News – at least 6 in 10 (60%) believe this; but they have less confidence in the ability of people in general to be able to spot real news from fake – only 47% urban Indians believed they could.
Indians say they pay for news from sources they trust (57%) and are willing to pay for news from the sources they trust (56%).
The survey also shows that urban Indians are skeptical of news disseminated by influencers, bloggers, leaders, celebrities on social media – they tend to trust news shared by people personally known, friends and relatives more (58%) as opposed to news shared by bloggers, celebrities, leaders (48%), on social media. Global citizens are more circumspect in news consumption – 4 in 10 (42%) will trust people known personally, while only 1 in 4 (24%) will trust news shared by bloggers, celebrities, and leaders.
Global citizens (46%) and urban Indians (54%) believe their citizens are targeted by other countries with disinformation and fake news.
“Disinformation and fake news can lead to discord and incite citizens and are in poor taste; sadly, a number of countries face it. Legal action can act as a deterrent,” adds Adarkar.
Online Adverts – few takers
1 in 3 global citizens (35%) and 2 in 5 (42%) urban Indians say they use software or apps that blocks online adverts.
Global citizens (66%) and urban Indians (69%) say, they try and avoid online adverts, as far as possible.
Where is news read most?
One thing is clear, Indians are globally one of the largest consumers of news. Conventional media vehicles and new ones are all leveraged for staying updated.
Daily news is accessed most via TV (78%), Social Media (77%), News apps (64%), News sites (57%), print – newspapers and magazines (56%), and Radio (23%).
Notably, India has world’s largest number of those accessing daily news via Print.
And TV for daily news is very popular in Japan (76%), Italy (74%) and Turkey (73%).
“News is accessed from multiple sources to stay updated. Some news is accessed on the go, some read for finer nuances and some watched to further get the perspective. It is not about one over the other. Each has its own place in the consumer’s information needs, in times of instant gratification,” said Adarkar.
This study results from a collaboration between Ipsos and the Trust Project to explore four key factors influencing the future of truth and trust in media: technological changes that affect how and where people get news, access and affordability of quality news, ongoing disinformation campaigns, and the extent of nativist and populist sentiment. The Trust Project news partners helped develop scenarios in each area to produce survey topics.
The findings in the report come from two surveys conducted on Ipsos’s Global Advisor platform.
The first and main survey was conducted May 22-June 5, 2020 in 27 countries among 18,998 adults aged 18-74 in the United States, Canada, Malaysia, South Africa, and Turkey, and aged 16-74 in 22 other markets: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, China (mainland), France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Spain, and Sweden. The second survey (question on social and civic engagement) was conducted June 19-July 3, 2020 among 20,047 adults in the same 27 countries plus Colombia (aged 16-74) and Israel (aged 18-74).
The samples in each of Australia, Brazil, Canada, China (mainland), France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain, Sweden, and the U.S. consist of approximately 1000 individuals and those in each of Argentina, Belgium, Colombia, Chile, Hungary, India, Israel, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, and Turkey of 500 individuals.
The samples in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, and the U.S. can be taken as representative of these countries’ general adult population under the age of 75.
The samples in Brazil, Chile, China (mainland), Colombia, India, Israel, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and Turkey are more urban, more educated, and/or more affluent than the general population. The survey results for these markets should be viewed as reflecting the views of the more “connected” segment of their population.
The data is weighted so that each market’s sample composition best reflects the demographic profile of the adult population according to the most recent census data.
Where results do not sum to 100 or the ‘difference’ appears to be +/-1 more/less than the actual, this may be due to rounding, multiple responses or the exclusion of don’t knows or not stated responses.
The precision of Ipsos online polls are calculated using a credibility interval with a poll of 1,000 accurate to +/- 3.5 percentage points and of 500 accurate to +/- 4.8 percentage points. For more information on the Ipsos use of credibility intervals, please visit the Ipsos website.
Ipsos India has announced the appointment of Raja Bunet to Chief Operations Officer, for leading Contactless Data Collection Operations, with immediate effect.
Amit Adarkar
Said Amit Adarkar, CEO, Ipsos India: “Covid-19 hampered our fieldwork operations due to lockdowns and restrictions, considering, face-to-face data collection accounts for almost 99% of our fieldwork. And with woes of the virus far from over, we’ve majorly overhauled and launched our suite of contactless data collection solutions for clients to give them an edge in speed, quality and timely insights. And Raja Bunet from our top leadership team will be spearheading our Contactless Data Collection Operations with immediate effect. He will be designated Chief Operations Officer.”
Ipsos India has spotted an opportunity in the online research space given the new external environment. It has announced the launch of its global platform, Ipsos Digital with immediate effect. As part of the launch of the Ipsos Digital platform, Ipsos India has also announced the launch of its first online research offering of Fast Facts – a fully automated, DIY, AI-supported tool to cater to clients’ quick research and advisory needs. Vincy Jathanna, Executive Director, Observer & Champion – Fast Facts, Ipsos India will be overseeing the new foray.
Amit Adarkar
Said Amit Adarkar, CEO, Ipsos India: “Clients are on the rebound and are hard-pressed for time to conduct market research; Ipsos Digital provides them a combination of an AI platform based, end-to-end automated online data collection, analysis & dashboarding system with best professional expertise from Ipsos – the world’s most innovative market research organization (GRIT 2020). Ipsos Digital crunches the entire process to 24-48 hours, facilitating agile research. We are committed to bringing multiple products via Ipsos Digital platform to India, where traditional face-to-face data collection accounted for 95% of how market research was done in India, before the pandemic. And I’m pleased to announce the launch of our first digital tool of Fast Facts, which is extensively being used by Ipsos clients across geographies and we are now making it accessible to our clients in India.”
Ipsos India is turning to technology-based alternatives for seamless execution of client projects in the face of Covid-19 and lockdown restrictions, which have impacted fieldwork on projects.
Amit Adarkar
Said Amit Adarkar, CEO, Ipsos India : “India is different from all our other global markets. 95% of our market research work involves talking to people and observing people, in person. With the lockdown and restrictions, in the wake of COVID-19, we are now turning to a wide array of contactless options for talking to people and observing people riding on technology, ” adding : “We are providing online, mobile and telephonic methods as the supplement or replacement to in-person research. These methods either partially or completely eliminate personal contact; and are faster.”
“Whether online focus groups or interviews, mobile, video based consumer ethnography, mobile app based or online communities – the efficacy of these methodologies have been proven across at least 65 countries that Ipsos operates in. In fact, communities allow for longitudinal understanding of people’s attitudes and behaviors which is of interest for many of our clients in these turbulent times,” explained Adarkar.
