Summary
This paper identifies four key misconceptions held by Western marketers and researchers that impact the ability to understand consumers in emerging Asian markets. These are: 1. "Emerging" means becoming more like developed Western countries. 2. Best research practices derive from underlying scientific principles and these principles apply across all countries. 3. The primary research challenges in Asian markets are largely a matter of infrastructure and skills levels of local researchers. 4. Getting the language translation correct is all that really matters. Each of these beliefs is countered with an in-depth analysis of local, cultural understandings and the paper proposes countermeasures to reduce the impact of these misconceptions: recognise the potential for bias and abandon preconceptions, add divergent thinking to the study design process, work closely with local staff and channel partners and demand more from local research agency partners.

Summary
The role of consumer co-creation in developing multi-market Asian brands is the focus of this paper. It focuses on a co-creation project undertaken by Mizone, a beverage brand that has grown strongly in the APAC region, with an independent brand voice in different Asian markets. The key business challenge for Mizone was to develop a consistent, but differentiated, brand voice and vision that worked across markets, supported the growth of the brand and was relevant to consumers. It achieved this through a research process involving ethnography, online communities and co-creation workshops. Using this process, the authors argue, helped to root the brand vision and purpose in consumer truth and allowed Mizone to rapidly test and re-iterate the activations and articulations of the brand vision in real time.

Summary
This paper, which updates earlier research, clusters different Asian markets according to consumers' response to advertising, and is designed to help global advertisers assess the transferability of advertising. With a number of markets in Asia having seen significant evolution and exposure to advertising and brands, it looks to assess if the clusters still hold true. The paper finds there are still distinct clusters of markets in Asia when it comes to advertising response, but not always by geography. Equally, it identifies India and China as regions in themselves. Overall, the research enables global advertisers to assess the transferability of advertising from one market to another, and has practical applications in creative development and assessment.

Summary
This paper argues for local distinctions to be recognised in brands' Asian strategies, with universal truths to be adapted and expressed in the right language to penetrate cultural beliefs and filters in each market. The authors point out that concepts like motherhood, beauty, achievement and power - which many brands are built on - can mean very different things across cultures. It maps out the significant historical and cultural differences that shape consumption and brand choices in these markets - which make them remarkably different not just from developed markets but also from each other. In particular, the paper contrasts China and India, with examples of how the same need can mean different things in each nation, and how the same global positioning strategy can translate to quite different executions.

Summary
This paper discusses results of the Latino Influence Project, a research initiative carried out among the US Hispanic population to quantify the extent to which Latinos are influencing the non-Latinos around them. Among the findings are that non-Hispanics living among Hispanics are more likely to be interested in other cultures, and are more likely to use their cell phones and the internet for information and entertainment. Latino culture, from salsa to jalapeños, are also becoming part of daily life for this segment. The authors also extract specific implications from marketers, including advocating a tighter focus on Hispanic markets as hotbeds for cultural activity.

Summary
This presentation shows how Russian cultural specifics (as well as its growing similarities with the West) can be successfully considered and implemented into multinational brand strategy through a case study of the Danone kids' brand Rastishka (known as Danino or Danonino in English speaking countries). The paper presents a holistic view of Russian kids aged between 5 and 8, from both the perspective of an insider and by contextualising this culture with that of Western Europe. Russian children watch The Simpsons, listen to Justin Bieber, aspire to have 'gangsta style' and sometimes even say 'hey' instead of the (Russian) 'privet'. But the paper also argues that, while Russian kids might appear to be similar to their Western this is merely a pitfall for international brands aiming to directly export Western marketing communication to Russia. Because the differences are not obvious from the outside, the authors argue that it is more important than ever to go beyond the surface and listen to cultural specifics.

Summary
General learnings from the world of shopper behaviour are shared in this presentation which examines the commonality that exists between markets in terms of shopper needs. At a CEE level the unbranded learnings are referenced that demonstrate how shoppers' generic perceptions and needs are surprisingly similar - although activation in-store needs to reflect different contexts. The markets may be different, but there is often a common shopper language, common issues, and common shopper needs.

Summary
Asian-Americans lack the advertiser recognition and investment levels enjoyed by other ethnic groups in the United States. Given this demographic group’s greater purchasing power and comparable growth rate, online survey and in-depth executive interviews reveal how US Asians’ income, language, and other audience traits are valued by US television advertisers and compares these perceptions to those for Hispanics. Recommendations are offered to overcome reported advertiser misperceptions and agency obstacles and to help encourage investment in this growing and affluent demographic segment.

Summary
This paper aims to advance segmentation methodology in international settings. We suggest two techniques that, inserted in current international segmentation methodology, can help researchers find and validate possible transnational segments using various consumption dimensions. In order to facilitate the choice of an appropriate path, we suggest comparing the international segmentation to the country-based segmentation by using the eta-squared test. Then, if needed, in order to bring out the underlying logics of product consumption in various countries, we suggest comparing the correlations between consumer motivations and product attributes (based on Means–End Chains theory) among the target countries. We provide evidence of the effectiveness of these techniques in the case of an international study of the wine market in China, Chile and France, and conclude with a research agenda.

Summary
This paper describes a complex 5-country segmentation of the mobile telephony market on behalf of MTS, a leading global mobile phone provider. MTS wanted the segmentation to maintain a common framework across all countries, while capturing any real differences between them. A critical requirement was “targetability”—the ability to accurately attribute a segment to each one of MTS’s subscribers. This entailed that the segments be well differentiated on “hard” behavioral metrics from MTS’s billing databases. However, it was also critical that such differentiation was not achieved at the expense of richness on “softer” aspects of marketing—segments also needed to have distinct needs, attitudes and motivations, so that they could be used as a platform for messaging, product development, and advertising. Meeting these competing requirements led to a solution that combined survey data on more than 10,000 respondents and billing data on more than 80 million customers using an innovative analytic technique.