From the National Business Review

Click below for regular Synovate commentary on marketing, consumer, and media issues.

• How the Recession Burned Kiwis' Hopes (November 2009)

• Has the Exodus to House Brands Revealed the Emperor's New Clothes?(August 2009)

• How Clients Can Play their Part to Make Market Research Effective (June 2009)

• Mapping the Labyrinthine Consumer Brain (May 2009)
  
  

• Tickle the Fancy - Don't tax the Brain (May 2009)

• Brevity is the Soul of Tweet (April 2009)

• Decadence is Greener than Green (April 2009)

• Up Recessionary AdSpend to Win Customers (April 09)

• Customer Satisfaction Tops List of Myths (March 2009)

• Why Make Research Measures Change If Nothing Changes For Real? (March 2009)

• The Business of Research is Money, Not Insights (March 2009)
  
  

• Plain Vanilla’s The Flavour Of The Times (March 2009)

• A Slightly Watered Down Can-Do Spirit (March 2009)

• Not Everyone Shares Kiwi Angst (February 2009)

• Inside the Political Polls (October 2008)
• New Auckland Logo has Rangitoto Rumbling (September 2008)
• Research Closes Gap with Business Reality (September 2008)
  
  
• Australia's Online Junk Mail Success Story (July 2008)
• Marketing Through the Depression (June 2008) 
• The Boxes to Tick when using Online Market Research (June 2008)
• Commodification of Market Research being Reversed (May 2008)
• When Consumers and Marketers are as Illogical as Each Other (May 2008)
• What Does the Average Kiwi Think? (April 2008)
  
  
• Lessons from Small Town Retailers (March 2008)
• The Culture Code Predicts an Obama Win (March 2008)
• Mentoring a Well-Established Path for Marketers (February 2008)
• PWC Leading the Charge on Clever Companies (January 2008)
  
  
• Auckland City Council a Bully Brand (November 2007)
• Mayoralty Race Shows How Anti-Brands Still Need Substance (November 2007)
• Mayoral Elections Demontrate How Politicians Are Out of Touch (October 2007)
• Effective Research Means Getting Past the Gatekeepers (October 2007)
  
  
• Overexposed? 10 Reasons Why Sports Teams Are the Ultimate Brands (September 2007)
• Gay Sex Less Offensive than Paris (August 2007)
• Honda and Robin Hood CEO Bring Home the Big Ones from Marketing Awards (July 2007)
• What Zapped the Ad-Zapper Can Zap You Too (July 2007)
• Sugging Marketers Do No One Any Favours (July 2007)
  
  
• Sky TV: Lots of Channels, Nothing to Watch (June 2007)
• Green is Becoming the New Black for Marketing (May 2007)
• Ministry's Marketing Decision Smells Fishy (May 2007)
• Success of Brokers Holds Lessons for Everyone (May 2007)
• When it Comes to Brands, Size Really Does Matter (April 2007)
• Traps for Marketers in Brand-Led Strategies  (April 2007)
  
  
• Why Marketers Should Go Round in Circles (March 2007)
• Glass Will Not Always Be Half Full for Marketers  (February 2007)
• Why Ferrit is Doomed to Online Oblivion (January 2007)
• What Should Have Happened in 2006 (December 2006)
• Police Need to Open the Marketing Toolkit (November 2006)
  
  
• Research Solutions and Focus Dominate Market Research Effectiveness Awards (September 2006)
• Marketing Competitions: It's All about Fulfillment (August 2006)
• Marketing Awards: Winners come with a Kiwi Flavour (July 2006)
• Rabobank the Bank for Adulterers? (June 2006)
• The New Networking Network (June 2006)
  
  
  
• How to Avoid the Pitfalls of New Product Failure (May 2006)
• Charities Ride Fashion Rollercoaster (May 2006)
• Ferrit gets the Retailers, TradeMe gets the Customers (April 2006)
• Will Podcasts Kill the Radio Star? (April 2006)
• More Specialist Agencies Despite Multi-channel Integration (March 2006)
• When Marketers Have to Live with Consumer Disinterest (March 2006)
• Homestays for Generation Y (January 2006)
  
  
• Otago Marketing Forum:  From 'One-to-One' to 'Many-to-Many' Marketing (January 2005)
• Otago Marketing Forum: Cynical Consumers Re-writing Marketer's Frame of Reference (December 2005)
• Otago Marketing Forum: Speakers put Service before Product (December 2005)
• Ad Agencies Not Adapting for Female Staff? (November 2005)
• Lemon Z a Wannabe or Winner? (October 2005)
• The Last Post Sounds for the TVC at Marketing Conference (October 2005)
• Don't Confuse Ambient with Non-Traditional (October 2005)
• The Marc Ellis Brand will Sustain Him (September 2005)

• Airline Magazines Need to Come Back to Earth (September 2005)
• The Death of the Album may be Nigh (August 2005)
• Spammers Amongst the Slickest Marketers (August 2005)
• PR Research Presents Tough Contradictions (July 2005)
• Science of Prediction Makes Marketers' Job the Hardest (July 2005)
• 2005 Marketing Awards one Bubbly Hell of a Night  (July 2005)
• New Zealand Made as Fashionable as Ever (June 2005)
  
• How To Choose a Market Research Company (Ask Researchers for their Media Habits? (June 2005)
• Nestle Noodle Campaign Campaign Tries Texting, Web and TV (May 2005)
• Fine line Between Political Communications and Propaganda (May 2005) 
• Homeowners Like Unsolicited Mail (April 2005)
• Power Centres see Females Adopt Male Shopping Habits (April 2005)
• Crown Lager's Attacks Underwhelm its Audience (March 2005)
• Marketing Moves into Non-Traditional Areas (March 2005)

• Marketers' Response Rates make for Double-Standards (February 2005)
• Two of Three Vitamin Websites Need a Good Dose of Pep (January 2005)
• Marketing Books Have Changed Since You Were at Uni (December 2004)
• When TV Polls Do More Harm than Good (December 2004)
• Sponsorship Always Worth Learning From (November 2004)
• When Brands Go from Cooler than Cool to a Bit of a Fool (November 2004)
• Marketing to the Inner BOBO Can Work Wonders (October 2004)

• Brand Personalities and the Mayoral Race  (October 2004)
• Market Research Firms Rise to the Challenge (October 2004)
• Not Everyone's Watching TV (September 2004)
• When Being NZ-Owned is Not Enough (September 2004)
• Early Media Decisions can Stifle Opportunities (September 2004) 
• Vioxx takes Post-Modern Route Around Anti-DTC Lobby (August 2004)
• When Loyalty Programmes Provide Few Rewards for Marketers (August 2004)

• Marketing Today Conference Highlights Local, Not Overseas Stars (July 2004)
• Marketing Awards - Repeat winners show how not to rest on your laurels (July 2004)
• American Express Takes its Brand Downmarket (July 2004)
• Challenger Brands Missing their Chances (June 2004)
• Pacific Blue - There's More to Business than Fun Brands (June 2004)
• Australian Observations - Why The Warehouse Is Struggling? (May 2004)

• Need for Marketers to Market Marketing (April 2004)
• Journalists Scathing about Performance of PR people (April 2004)
• Get to Know Your Audience's Minds to Avoid Wasting Advertising (March 2004)
• Satisfaction No Longer Satisfactory (March 2004)
• You'll be Alarmed to be a Kiwi when you find the Source of Watties Sauce (March 2004)
• Strange Case of 'cool' Monopolies (February 2004)

• Lotto account to create lots of losers (January 2004)
• Marketers Dream of a Kiwi Christmas(December 2003)
• Councils Change the Landscape for FMCG Marketers(December 2003)
• Understanding All Blacks Brand Commitment with the Conversion Model (November 2003)
• Top 10 Tips for Packaging Research (October 2003)
• GM Threatens Brand New Zealand (October 2003)
• Market Researchers Coming Out from Behind their Pie Charts (October 2003)

• All Blacks Sponsorship may not be the best Bang for Buck (October 2003)
• Databases Have Emotions Too (June 2003)
• Getting the Big Picture with Cinema Advertising (June 2003)
• Walking the PR Talk (June 2003)
• Vodafone Marketing Right Outside the Square (May 2003)
• Customer-Centric Intelligence the New Smart Way (May 2003)
• A Gourmet Case for Gourmet Research (April 2003)

• Telecom Flogs a Dead Horse (March 2003)
• McDonald's New Menu (March 2003)
• Lack of Loyalty Among the Young May Be a Good Thing (February 2003)
• How To Get A Widely Inaccurate Poll of Your Electorate (January 2003)
• Company Reputations (December 2002)
• When Market Research Passes the Test (November 2002)
• Anti-Capitalists Play Brand Game For All Its Worth (November 2002)

• Great Message, Good Execution, Un-credible Product (October 2002)
• Poor PR Sees Bands Facing The Music (October 2002)
• Forget Your Prejudices When Marketing to Real People  (September 2002)
• Ambient Media’s Bastard Cousin Sometimes Shines (September 2002)
• Lessons To Be Learnt From Past Predictions (August 2002)
• How To Cut Through The Confusion To Choose Your Firm’s Market Researcher (August 2002)
• Worm Has Its Place But Needs Genetic Engineering (August 2002)

• Trendy Prefixes Like ‘e’, ‘i’ And ‘@’ Quickly Reach Use-By Date (July 2002)
• The Best Kind Of Political Marketing Strategy (July 2002)
• Local Online Bright Sparks Get Chance To Make Their Mark In Unique Test Case (June 2002)
• The Challenge Is To Counteract Online Forces And Then Move On (June 2002)
• Using Old Research Leads To Gems And Fools’ Gold (June 2002)
• New Business Is Still Where The Buck Stops (June 2002)
• Kiwi Culture Under Internet Cloud? (May 2002)

• Alter-Egos On The Internet Highlight Vulnerability Of Thriving Businesses (May 2002)
• Blogs And Search Engines How To Be Up With The Latest Trends (May 2002)
• Local Businesses Decide There Has To Be A Better Way Of Doing Things (May 2002)
• Poor Online Service Undermines Technical Wizardry (May 2002)
• Dominance Of An Inferior Product Not Good Enough For Net Ratings (April 2002)
• Online Marketers Have Work Cut Out With Consumer Ambivalence (April 2002)
• Internet Complements Rather Than Kills The Radio Star (April 2002)

            Click here for the NBR "Smart Marketing" series on Customer-Centric Intelligence