Global investment bank Jefferies has used Onalytica data and insight to inform their latest piece of equity research into brands whose business models leverage the “many-to-many” network of the Internet.
The research explores the growth dynamics and business models of UK comparison sites MoneySuperMarket and Rightmove, as examples of businesses which exploit the many-to-many dynamic in different ways. Our previous work with Jefferies includes research analysing the global Fashion debate and retail markets, which eventually led to a buy recommendation on ASOS based on our insights.
Using our InfluenceMonitor platform, we draw out brand insights from the online debate to see how these sites’ share of influence has developed over the quarters in comparison to their market competitors. As David Reynolds states, our method of analysing brands through the online debate is “The Onalytica Way”!
This article has more information about the importance of weighting for influence when using online analysis as both a reflection and predictor of movements in brand perception and other areas. Copies of our recent co-presentation with Samsung at the WARC Next Generation Research are also available if you would like more information about how our platform can help inform brand strategy.
Jefferies, the international investment bank initiated coverage of clothing retailer ASOS last week with a buy recommendation.
According to equity researcher David Reynolds, the buy recommendation is in part based on the fact that ASOS increased its Share-of-Influence (SoI) of the online debate, when compared to benchmark companies Zara and H&M (SoI is one of many core metrics and indices produced by Onalytica that when trended traditionally acts as a leading indicator for market share, brand reputation and other corporate objectives).
Reynolds said “Their share of influence is growing, more so among the key influencers; in fashion, that's gold dust.”
The thorough (47 page) analysis which leads to the buy recommendation showcases the use of Onalytica InfluenceMonitor and provides a good overview of our methodology; we even got our logo on the front page!
The buy recommendation was initiated at a price of 1850.58 pence on the 7th of September with a price target on 2199 pence. Today, Sep 19th, the stock closed at 2076.88 after trading as high as 2250.18.
Pictures below show the front cover (cobranded Jefferies + Onalytica) and a page with some of the analyses from Onalytica InfluenceMonitor.
Earlier this week I looked at the use of the word ‘recession’ in the context of the UK economy. Following the downgrade of the US debt I had a similar look at the debate on the US economy.
The first chart shows the share of online mentions that use the word ‘recession’ in relation to the US economy.
It is clear that there has been a substantial increase in the index since March and that the level in August has surpassed the previous peak of August last year.
But while the mentions of Ben Bernanke seemed to correlate well with the mentions of recession last year, the story is different this time. Notice how the focus on Bernanke has gone down in July and August when the focus on ‘recession’ has gone up.
The explanation might be that the problems this time around are more centred on political issues or the inability of politicians to deal with the issues.
The second chart seems to indicate that this time there is a better correlation between the mentions of ‘politicians’ and ‘recession’ than ‘Bernanke’ and ‘recession’.
Note: The charts are adjusted for the measured influence each “voice” has in the debate on the US economy. For example, compared with the New York Times (the most influential), FT weighs in with 59%, Guardian with 43% and the blog Seeking Alpha with 15%
With just one year to go until the Games commence, we thought it was good time to take a look at some of the debate surrounding the Olympics. We have been tracking the global English debate on the Olympics since January 2011.
Some of the key stories driving the debate included talk of claims from Iran that the 2012 Olympic logo is racist, which appeared in February and interest in June as customers began to find out whether they had been allocated tickets to the Games.
We expect the debate to increase in July as people seize the ‘one year to go’ opportunity (much as we did!) to discuss this great event.
For this post, we will be concentrating on the Worldwide Partners; VISA, GE, Acer, Atos Origin, Coca Cola, Dow, McDonald’s, Omega, Panasonic, Procter & Gamble and Samsung. We show the spilt of the debate among these brands in the chart below. Of these competitors, VISA generated the highest volume of coverage in relation to the Olympics between the 1st January and the 30th June 2011, marginally ahead of Samsung.
Figure 1: Share-of-Buzz for Olympics Worldwide Partners in the global English debate on the Olympics
However, when mentions are weighted for influence the order changes considerably, as we show in the next chart. Although VISA still remains the most prominent partner, Coca Cola and GE move to take a close 2nd and 3rd place while Samsung is overtaken and falls to 4th place. This shows that although Samsung had a higher volume of mentions than GE and Coca Cola, it wasn't discussed among influential stakeholders as much as its competitors.
Figure 2: Share-of-Influence for Olympics Worldwide Partners in the global English debate on the Olympics
When we break this data down by month, as shown in Figure 3, it is clear that the overall conclusions are not as simple as ‘VISA is dominating the influential debate’. We can see that interest in VISA peaked in March and has been decreasing between April and June as attention has shifted towards GE and Coca Cola.
Figure 3: Monthly Share-of-Influence trend for Olympics Worldwide Partners in the global English Olympics debate
Coca Cola drew interest during May amid discussion of the torch relay, of which it is a presenting partner.
In June, GE came to the forefront of debate among worldwide partners driven by the International Olympic Committee’s desire to make GE a top-tier sponsor.
Currently we could say that VISA has been ‘winning’ the Olympic Advertising Games, but VISA may well be usurped by GE shortly, based on the momentum GE has gained since April. With one year to go until the Olympics, it is still early days and it will be interesting to see which brands manage to make the most out of their relationship with the Games.
Our latest report covering analysis on the debate of Mobile World Congress is now available - here is a summary of the findings:
- Google was the most-discussed company and held a sizeable share of the debate in relation to MWC throughout the timeframe.
- Samsung was the most-discussed company among influential stakeholders. The Galaxy S II and Galaxy Tab were the main drivers of attention.
- HTC, LG, Sony Ericsson and Nokia all benefitted from increased attention among influential stakeholders.
- Apple’s products fared well within the handset and tablet debate as they generated the highest volumes of coverage. That said, they appeared in a high proportion of collateral mentions as they were referred to as benchmark products.
- Android dominated the phone operating system (OS) debate.
- Discussion of MWC began to build in Jan, coming to a peak on the first day of the event. There was a small dip in interest on the second day and by the third day influential stakeholders had lost a significant amount of interest in the event.
- Engadget (engadget.com) was the most influential stakeholder and held the number one spot throughout the period, while other stakeholders moved around in the ranking. The debate was dominated by technology media sites during the end of 2010 as technology and gadget enthusiasts drove the debate. Into Jan and Feb the debate became much more mainstream as official announcements drew wider appeal.
As before, if you would like to receive a copy of this report, please contact me; Sophie Hill [sophie.hill@onalytica.com]. If you have a general interest in the event and analysis relating to it, or want to know how we help companies interpret and understand the discussion around industries, brands, themes and issues then please contact us on 0207 407 7642. You can also subscribe to this RSS feed where we will be posting some of the findings.
*This report was produced using data analysed from the period 1st Oct 2010 – 28th Feb 2011.
Our latest report covering analysis on the debate of Mobile World Congress is now available - here is a summary of the findings:
- HTC’s new Facebook-integrated handsets have continued to draw interest, boosted by talk that the ChaCha will be supplied by Three and Orange in the UK.
- Nokia built on its momentum in the debate as commentators were interested in when the new Windows Phone handsets would launch. Speculation spread that Nokia was waiting for Microsoft’s next generation, ‘Mango’, Windows Phone update which is widely expected to arrive later in the year.
- Aaron Woodman, Director of Microsoft’s mobile communication business, was interviewed by Engadget where he discussed the implications of the Nokia/Microsoft partnership for other original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) which spread online; drawing attention to both companies.
- News that tablets and handsets, fitted with Nvidia’s quad-core processors could be arriving to market as soon as August this year was prominent on the 16th Feb.
- The volume of MWC debate dropped significantly on the third day of the event.
As before, if you would like to receive a copy of this report, please contact me; Sophie Hill [sophie.hill@onalytica.com]. If you have a general interest in the event and analysis relating to it, or want to know how we help companies interpret and understand the discussion around industries, brands, themes and issues then please contact us on 0207 407 7642. You can also subscribe to this RSS feed where we will be posting some of the findings.
*This report was produced using data analysed from the period 27th Sep 2010 – 16th Feb 2011.
Our latest report covering analysis on the debate of Mobile World Congress is now available - here is a summary of the findings:
- HTC drew attention away from Microsoft on the 15th Feb with its Flyer tablet and range of handsets including the Salsa and ChaCha with Facebook buttons.
- Apprehension that the price tag may price the Flyer out of the market along with criticism of the lack of palm rejection technology for the tablet’s note-taking functionality drove negative comments.
- Google followed HTC in prominence driven by mentions of Android and Eric Schmidt.
- Key for Android was Movie Studio, but there was a strong feeling that this was not a ‘killer’ tablet app and too similar to Apple’s iMovie.
- Eric Schmidt’s announcement that Google ‘certainly tried’ to encourage Nokia to adopt Android over Windows Phone was widely discussed online.
- Nokia continued to feature strongly in the debate on the back of interest in its decision to partner with Microsoft. Peter Chou was surprisingly upbeat about the move. Commentators felt he would soon change his tune once Nokia’s sales began to eat into HTC’s market share.
- The volume of MWC debate dropped by 14% on the second day of the event.
As before, if you would like to receive a copy of this report, please contact me; Sophie Hill [sophie.hill@onalytica.com]. If you have a general interest in the event and analysis relating to it, or want to know how we help companies interpret and understand the discussion around industries, brands, themes and issues then please contact us on 0207 407 7642. You can also subscribe to this RSS feed where we will be posting some of the findings.
*This report was produced using data analysed from the period 27th Sep 2010 – 15th Feb 2011.
Our latest report covering analysis on the debate of Mobile World Congress is now available - here is a summary of the findings:
- Microsoft took the spotlight on 14th Feb as Steve Ballmer’s opening keynote had commentators talking about the new features and functionalities of WP7, with a focus on multitasking, Twitter integration and IE9.
- 3D technology returned to the fore, driven by LG’s Optimus Pad and Optimus 3D. The tablet elicited some negative feedback as consumers were unimpressed with the tablet’s anaglyph display and need for stereoscopic glasses.
- The Xperia Play remained prominent for Sony Ericsson as the handset was reviewed online. It’s main shortcoming came in the form of news that it would not be compatible with the PlayStation Store. This drove consumers to question why they would have to re-purchase their games in order to play them on the handset.
- MeeGo garnered attention following Intel’s demo of the new user interface for tablets and Fujitsu’s launch of its MeeGo-based netbook. Not all the attention was positive, however, as some commentators remarked they were left unsurprised that Nokia had moved over to WP7.
- Elsewhere, discussion of RIM and BlackBerry was boosted by interest in the BlackBerry Travel app and news that there would be two new PlayBook models launched later in the year. Commentators were particularly interested in rumours that the new models would have Android app integration.
- The first day of MWC marked the highest volume of discussion since tracking began.
As before, if you would like to receive a copy of this report, please contact me; Sophie Hill [sophie.hill@onalytica.com]. If you have a general interest in the event and analysis relating to it, or want to know how we help companies interpret and understand the discussion around industries, brands, themes and issues then please contact us on 0207 407 7642. You can also subscribe to this RSS feed where we will be posting some of the findings.
*This report was produced using data analysed from the period 27th Sep 2010 – 14th Feb 2011.
Our latest report covering analysis on the debate of Mobile World Congress is now available - here is a summary of the findings:
- Despite sizeable announcements from Nokia over the past three days, Samsung drove the debate. Attention was focused on the Galaxy Tab 2 as its specs were officially announced and it was deemed “a serious iPad contender”. It was revealed it would be exclusively available from Vodafone in the UK.
- Nokia followed Samsung in terms of prominence and Windows Phone was a key driver of the debate for the company.
- News that Nokia would make WP7 its primary OS for future handsets spread online as commentators questioned what Nokia’s input into the development of the OS would mean for other WP7 handset providers.
- A statement from Stephen Elop that Nokia would be receiving billions from Microsoft encouraged rumours that he was sent by Microsoft as a Trojan horse to infiltrate Nokia. He was quick to defend his name during Nokia’s MWC press conferences when questions of conspiracy arose.
- Sony Ericsson ranked third among the brands for discussion over the past three days. The Xperia Play was the key driver of debate but was overshadowed by other devices on its launch day. This was surprising given the overwhelming interest in the handset in the lead up to the event and the company’s previous dominance in the discussion.
- Discussion of MWC hit its highest point since tracking began as the MWC press conference got underway; drawing unprecedented interest for a Sunday.
As before, if you would like to receive a copy of this report, please contact me; Sophie Hill [sophie.hill@onalytica.com]. If you have a general interest in the event and analysis relating to it, or want to know how we help companies interpret and understand the discussion around industries, brands, themes and issues then please contact us on 0207 407 7642. You can also subscribe to this RSS feed where we will be posting some of the findings.
*This report was produced using data analysed from the period 27th Sep 2010 – 13th Feb 2011.
Our latest report covering analysis on the talk of Mobile World Congress is now available - here is a summary of the findings:
- New software and a new tablet were key drivers of the debate on the 8th Feb:
- Myriad Group’s Alien Dalvik software came to the forefront of discussion as news spread that it would feature at MWC and launch later this year for MeeGo-based devices.
- Images of Huawei’s IDEOS S7 Slim tablet sparked excitement online.
- Closely following Myriad Group and Huawei in terms of attention was LG. Teaser videos for the companies two new 3D devices were discussed:
- A clip of the Optimus 3D handset, displaying its dual-lens camera was picked up by some influential stakeholders and spread quickly online.
- The video of the G-Slate (Optimus Pad) was not so hotly discussed as its anaglyphic system, presenting two images – one in blue and one in red – and requiring the user to sport glasses in order to obtain the 3D effect, was described as “basic”: androidcommunity.com.
- Despite fast approaching the launch of the event, debate so far in Feb has been lower than it was during the second half of Jan. That said, Monday 7th Feb marked the Monday with the most discussion since tracking began. Tuesday 8th Feb, however saw less debate than was seen last Tuesday.
As before, if you would like to receive a copy of this report, please contact me; Sophie Hill [sophie.hill@onalytica.com]. If you have a general interest in the event and analysis relating to it, or want to know how we help companies interpret and understand the discussion around industries, brands, themes and issues then please contact us on 0207 407 7642. You can also subscribe to this RSS feed where we will be posting some of the findings.
*This report was produced using data analysed from the period 27th Sep 2010 – 8th Feb 2011.