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		Brand equity study for the world's largest sports footwear & apparel company. This involved depth interviews with athletes, focus groups with the fashion conscious and observation research in stores and on the streets across Japan.

		Our task was to establish a practical segmentation of the newly emerging outbound tourist market. Who are they and what would make them visit Britain? IDI's with the trade and a subsequent quantitative survey of the "Post-Kimchi Generation" allowed us to generate appropriate strategies for the British Tourist Authority.

		Consultants with SRI (Stamford Research Institute) in developing marketing and business plans for Asia for one of the Big Four cognac houses. This involved several multi-country research projects - diagnostic, usage & attitude studies and new product development across the Greater China markets (Hong Kong, Taiwan and PRC).

		Leading manufacturer of printers wanted to develop a 'masterbrand' ad campaign across Asia-Pacific to complement its usual product specific advertising. A cross-cultural inquiry involving Taiwan, Singapore and Australia allowed the client to avoid the pitfalls inherent in an all encompassing execution due to the differences in culture, advertising literacy/cynicism and market development levels.

		For a decade, Asian Strategies has worked with the family-owned Mcllhenny Company in making TABASCO from Avery Island, Louisiana, part of the Asian food culture. Qualitative research, ethnography and U&A studies have helped understand the limitations and opportunities of taking this little bottle to the big markets of Asia.

		In partnership with Bonsey Design, Asian Strategies developed new brand systems for Havoline and Delo lubricants for Caltex in markets as diverse as Pakistan, South Africa, China, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines. This required a rationalisation of literally hundreds of name, pack and size variants into a simple, logical system that consumers from Karachi to Katoomba would understand and relate to.

		Asian Srategies consultants conducted the first major national quantitative survey in Vietnam in the 80's. It involved N=2,000 interviews across eight urban areas. In those days, travel was difficult and accomodation spartan. There were no hotels for foreigners in Hanoi for example and visitors had to stay in the official, Soviet-style Government Guest House. Another challenge was to discourage local Peoples' Committee apparatchiks from attending focus groups, monitoring respondents and taking notes. Greenberg Research in Washington conducted the 'People on War' project for the ICRC (International Committee for the Red Cross) in 1999 to mark the 50th anniversary of the Geneva Convention. It gathered views on war from over 20,000 individuals with first hand experience, civilians and combatants alike in Afghanistan, Lebanon, Somalia, El Salvador and thirteen other countries. Asian Strategies conducted the Cambodian survey. N=1,000 interviews were conducted across urban and rural Cambodia, focus groups with fighters and victims of decades of conflict as well as in-depth interviews with land mine victims, military leaders, "Killing Fields" survivors and even former Khmer Rouge fighters in remote areas near the Thai border. The Cambodian report and the other country reports can be found on the ICRC website. The ICRC encourages researchers to consult the raw data which is archived at the SIDOS (Swiss Information and Data Archive Service for the Social Sciences) website.

		Like many Asian countries, Thailand is still predominantly rural. Our client was understandably concerned about Thai farmers re-using attractive plastic containers originally designed to contain agri-chemicals but were often used for other purposes such as carrying drinking water. Research was conducted to test alternative pack physicals that discouraged re-use as well as a communications programme to educate farmers about correct handling procedures. Re-using bottles has also been part of the counterfeit whisky scene in Thailand. Research also helped another client provide reassurances to its customers that their imported spirits were genuine.

		A Swiss confectionary group needed to develop appropriate regional strategies to boost their sales in Asia. Research in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand identified a unique positioning with Pan-Asian appeal for a very European brand.

		"Dyads" (paired interviews) in a luxury hotel suite with the super wealthy and entertainment celebrities proved to be the best way to test and refine the concept of the world's most exclusive mobile phone.

		On the early 90's, there was optimism that Myanmar was opening up. In order to find out how our client's brands could be positioned in this emerging market, we conducted an ethnographic study plus 20 focus groups in hotels, restaurants and tea shops in three major cities. Our objective was to understand the traditional and modern Burmese drinking cultures and the opportunities for imported beer and spirits.

		A detailed survey of sexual habits in the world's most populous Muslim country? We expected some resistance but an imaginative use of interviewing techniques delivered N=800 questionnaires required for a global study on time.

		In partnership with Greenberg Research (Washington), our task was to interview IOC and members of the Olympic press in the week leading up to the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. To say that the respondents were busy and difficult to interview at this time was an understatement. Depth interviews were conducted at the Olympic Press Centre where journalists were filling reports, at the Regent Hotel where IOC delegates were relaxing, and even on the train to the Olympic Village. Transcripts were typed overnight and the analysis and reporting were completed in the first week of the Games.

		New brand and packaging development research for PNG's leading brewery involving six trademarks over fourteen years; the client's domination of the substantial PNG beer market was assured by taking over its major competitor.

		The first major market research surveys were carried out in Fiji, PNG and the Solomon Islands by Asian Strategies' consultants. Our major clients in developing countries have been the international radio broadcasters such as the BBC, Radio Australia, VOA and RFA. Fieldwork in the Pacific requires some interesting modes of transport to reach 'starting points'. We've travelled up-river in canoes to reach remote villages. And to get to Gizo Island in the Solomons, we had to land on a tiny coral atoll airstrip and then travel by boat to our final destination in order to complete the audience measurement survey.

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