Daily Research News Online no. 5598 - In Case You Hadn't Noticed

In Case You Hadn't Noticed

June 9 2006

The World Cup is kicking off as this news goes out, with hosts Germany leading Costa Rica 2-1 at half time. Research agencies the world over have been gearing up with press releases concerning opinion polls, merchandising markets and celebratory software and stats releases. If you don't want to know the statistics, look away now.

European agency SKOPOS received responses to its 'World Cup 2006 Industry Survey' from over 1,000 industry contacts (clients and agencies) from the UK, Europe and around the world and found that 'just 21% of those in the marketing, media & research industries believe England will win the World Cup'. Twice as many (42%) think Brazil will win. SKOPOS' respondents predicted a score of 2-1 for the Final - never mind who's in it... at least that would mean no penalties.

www.skopos.info

Synovate found that 'Brazil are the overwhelming favourite to win the 2006 World Cup' with Brazilian star Ronaldhino tipped to be named the tournament's best player. 7,835 respondents contributed from Germany, France, the UK, Brazil, Argentina, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Poland, Serbia & Montenegro, Ukraine, Japan, Korea and Australia - all countries that have qualified for the finals.

Hosts Germany are a distant second at 10%, followed by Argentina, England, France and Sweden. Respondents in Brazil, Argentina, France and the UK saw their own teams as favourites, but Germans are always cynical about their own team's chances and this time is no exception - they were twice as likely to see Brazil lifting the trophy as they were their own team. Harald Hasselmann, MD of Synovate Germany, comments: 'Very often Germans do not see their team as favourites before the start of a World Cup. But many of them still hope that the German team will do better than expected - as happened in the last World Cup, when Germany reached the final.' Two goals in the first 15 minutes won't have hurt their confidence.

In the votes for tournament's best player, Frenchmen Thierry Henry and Zinedine Zidane shared a distant second place on 4% (nearly half chose Ronaldinho). English respondents were actually slightly more likely to choose Henry than French, familiar as we are with his brilliance for Arsenal.

Synovate also asked fans to pick a description that best matched their national team. Brazilians saw their side as 'exciting', as did Japanese, Koreans and Argentines, whereas 65% of Poles, 41% of Germans and 40% of the French opted for 'all talk and no action' to describe their teams. 15% of Czechs, 11% of Koreans and even 9% of Brazilians chose to describe their sides as 'thugs'.

A majority of respondents - 58 per cent - said they did not normally follow football, but made an exception for the World Cup. And almost one-third of women surveyed admitted that they 'just like watching the men in shorts', with Brazilian women topping the list at 62 per cent.

www.synovate.com.

Online measurement company Hitwise yesterday reported that UK Internet searches 'are pinpointing the interests of a nation gripped by World Cup fever' - Peter Crouch's robotic celebration dance and David Beckham's hairstyle.

According to Hitwise, 'the UK's Peter Crouch is close to overtaking Ronaldinho as the most searched-for player in the UK... almost entirely due to the England striker's robotic goal celebration'. Four of the top five Crouch search terms are 'Peter crouch dance', 'peter crouch robot', 'crouch robot', and 'peter crouch robot dance'. Meanwhile, amid growing speculation regarding the 'look' that David Beckham will be wearing, searches focused on the star's hair style, with 'david beckham hairstyles' and 'david beckham hair' among the most popular search terms for the England captain.

www.hitwise.com

In Asia, an online mPulse survey by MindShare and Pulse Group showed China as the keenest followers of the tournament, with 95% of respondents are preparing to follow the tournament. Singapore (84%), Malaysia (82%), Australia (63%) and Thailand (59%) also have majorities planning to follow the World Cup.

Almost a third of Chinese plan to track results on their mobile phones, and on average Chinese fans plan to watch over 11 nights of matches on television. 'The only thing Asians are more passionate about than the World Cup is their mobile phone, so it's not surprising to see so many fans starting to track their teams in real-time, on-the-go' according to James Chadwick, MindShare Asia-Pacific Insights Director. 'It's just another reminder that we need to think beyond traditional marketing and media.'

Of course, fanaticism among these Asian nations is despite the fact they are not even in it. Although their teams may not have qualified this time, fans across Asia have picked favourite teams to support. Many Chinese will be supporting the hosts Germany, Singaporeans favour England, and many Thais will be adopting underdogs Australia. Australian fans of course will be firmly behind their team, which has reached the World Cup finals for the first time in 32 years, and 80% of Australians fans will be cheering for the Socceroos.

www.pulse-group.com

Lightspeed Research found that, while 26% of English felt England would win the Cup, only 5% of Scottish and 14% of Welsh participants agree. Only? WHO are the five per cent of Scots, we ask. The poll was answered by 16,550 people across England, Scotland and Wales and found Brazil the clear favourite among Welsh and Scottish voters and a narrow winner over the home team in England.

[table]

Lightspeed points out that mini-polls are open to all its panellists and do not have any quota controls.

Male voters in all three countries put Brazil as an even clearer favourite and in Scotland nearly half of male respondents thought Brazil would win. Female voters were also seen to be less interested in the World Cup than the male voters although in England the females who were interested had more confidence in their own team to win than Brazil.

www.lightspeedresearch.com .