Brands are back - bigger and better than ever before, with the official launch of PAMS/CPS Fusion data next week in South Africa.

South Africans are under pressure as indicated by the latest results of The Conference Board® Global Consumer Confidence Survey, conducted in collaboration with Nielsen, which reflects a 5-point decrease in South African consumer confidence to 90 in Q2, 2018.

The FTSE4Good and Dow Jones Sustainability Index recognitions are part of a growing investor interest in companies focused on sustainability.

South African consumers are facing an increasingly stressful, time-starved lifestyle which has created a burgeoning demand for convenient solutions that can help simplify their lives and points to a host of untapped opportunities for South African manufacturers and retailers.

Nielsen has added a new product solution to their Shopper toolkit - a creative and unique solution for retailers and manufacturers globally, helping them get closer to shopper behaviour at the moment of truth and uncover What's Next.

Disparate consumer sentiment across West Africa means that while Nigeria’s Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) for the second quarter of 2018 has risen a very healthy nine points to 122, Ghana’s CCI for the same quarter has fallen 12 points to 108.

Cautiously optimistic may well be an apt way to describe Kenya’s latest Nielsen Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) score for Quarter 2, 2018, which has risen two points since the previous quarter to 104.

South African consumers have removed up to three grocery categories from their repertoire and have reduced shopping frequency. The latest Nielsen Shoppergraphics Report looks at these shifts in consumer purchasing behaviour.

Nielsen has announced that it will release Consumer Panel data fused with 2017 PAMS data in August this year, this is an enhanced survey that will provide the industry with rich information on 200 consumer goods categories and more than 5 000 brands.

Here are the five biggest commercial sports trends for 2018 that will have a notable influence on the way sporting codes, brands, broadcasters and publishers play the game in the future.

Brand spend on advertising and sponsorships last year totalled a hefty R45-billion investment into the South African market, signalling it as most brands’ biggest marketing investment. However, while spend figures are up from 2016, growth is still muted (below inflation) with brand investment often one of the first costs to be cut when budgets are constrained.

The South African consumer landscape is set for a multitude of shifts in the next ten years, not least of which is the maturing of the local market with growth in the Generation X (35-49 year old) market segment set to outpace that in the Generation Y Millennial age group.

The latest Nielsen Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) for Q1, 2018 for West Africa reflects a mixed bag of sentiment, associated with lingering uncertainty. Ghana’s CCI remains stable at 120 – the same level as the previous quarter – while Nigeria’s level has dropped nine points to 113.

In stark contrast to preceding quarters of decline, consumer sentiment in Kenya is on the rise in the latest Nielsen Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) results for Q1, 2018, having gained eight points to 102.

Nielsen has earned the #19 ranking on the 2018 DiversityInc Top 50 list for corporate diversity and inclusion, moving up 13 places. This is Nielsen’s fifth consecutive year moving up on the annual ranking of companies that excel in hiring, retaining and promoting women, minorities, people with disabilities, LGBT+ and veterans.

Reality bites when it comes to Kenya’s latest Nielsen Consumer Confidence Index score (Quarter 4, 2017), which has dropped six points from the previous quarter to 94.

In the latest Nielsen Consumer Confidence Index for Quarter 4, 2017 both Ghana and Nigeria show a marked increase and continued positive performance. Ghana climbed eight points to 120, while Nigeria’s score rose five points to 122.

The latest Nielsen South African Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) for Q3, 2017 reflects a 5-point increase from the previous quarter to 83 points, the highest level since Quarter 3, 2016.

In the latest Nielsen Consumer Confidence Index for Quarter 3, 2017 both Ghana and Nigeria show a small increase with 112 and 117 index points respectively.

Nielsen today announced that Nielsen Sports will expand its footprint in Africa with the acquisition of Repucom Africa, operated by TransAfrica Media. Repucom Africa was a licensee of Nielsen Sports and has been trading as Nielsen Sports South Africa.

The 2017 Nielsen State of Private Label in South Africa report shows that Private Label (PL) has maintained its growth rate since 2016, with its share of total sales having climbed over 20% in 2017.

Manufacturers and retailers seeking to stay one step ahead in Africa’s complex markets need to move beyond ‘business as usual’ - they simply cannot keep doing the same things and expecting a different result, as per the findings from the fifth Nielsen Africa Prospects Indicator (APi) report.

Consumers around the world are displaying a growing preference for global brands rather than locally manufactured products.

Despite South Africa’s current pressurised retail environment and consumers having less to spend on impulse purchases, there is excellent potential for growth within branded garage forecourt stores.

Streamlining the media planning process, Nielsen’s new media budget forecasting solution is an intuitive, web-based simulation tool that will enable brand marketers to easily evaluate thousands of combinations of marketing allocations and budget options, to make more informed, media planning decisions.

Nielsen’s 2017 Shopper Trends Report for Ivory Coast has found that the country’s Modern Trade arena has seen the greatest evolution in the last two years and holds the most potential for growth, despite Cote d’Ivoire still being dominated by a traditional trade retail base.

Nigeria’s retail sector is dominated by traditional trade formats but despite the prevalence of these channels, the Nielsen Nigeria Shopper Trends 2017 report reveals that Modern Trade formats like Supermarkets and Hypermarkets are stepping up to fulfill the needs of consumers.

Nielsen has today completed its acquisition of Visual IQ, a leading independent provider of multi-touch attribution modeling of advertising on digital platforms that helps improve ROI for brand marketers.

Nielsen announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Visual IQ, a leading independent provider of multi-touch attribution modeling of advertising on digital platforms that helps improve ROI for brand marketers.

Nielsen Holdings plc announced today the addition of Guerrino De Luca as a member of the company’s board of directors, effective Oct. 19, 2017. De Luca is a seasoned consumer technology executive with more than 30 years of global experience, and significant expertise in strategy, marketing and management.

Consumer Confidence Index for Quarter 2, 2017 up 1-point to 78 in South Africa - the same levels as Quarter 2, 2016.

Nielsen’s Digital Ad Ratings heralds a new era of audience-based advertising metrics in South Africa, where advertisers now know who, as opposed to just what, consumers engage with digital advertising across screens and publishers.

Nielsen has announced the launch of Nielsen Esports, a new business vertical focused on competitive gaming that will leverage the company’s expertise and leadership in media consumption and valuation.

Global consumer confidence showed signs of continued improvement in the second quarter of 2017, with an index score of 104, which was up three points from quarter four 2016.

vBrand’s advanced machine learning platform will be integrated into the growing Nielsen Sports business for added speed and scale.

Beset by challenging macro-economic forces due to global commodity- turmoil, Nigeria’s market conditions are set to recover but the reality is that in the interim they have compelled Nigerian consumers to make fundamental changes in what, where and how they shop.

Target Group Performance Analysis is a new innovation evaluation framework that will allow FMCG manufacturers to more accurately predict an innovation’s overall viability and the growth potential within specific, target, consumer segmentations.

Nielsen released the first official details of the Connected System, designed with and for a broad range of decision-makers across FMCG and retail companies to foster collaboration, align organizations and achieve sustained, profitable growth.

The ongoing dynamic of Modern versus Traditional Trade within South Africa’s retail sector has seen exceptional growth of the Spaza shop format with an increase from 45% to 53% of South African modern trade shoppers (2015 vs. 2016) who now also utilise Spazas.

The latest Nielsen Africa Prospects Indicator (APi) Report delivers proprietary data, trending the country-level prospects of pan-African countries based on Macro, Business, Consumer and Retail dynamics.

New research by Nielsen reveals that thinking in terms of bricks versus clicks is outdated, bricks-and-clicks is the current and future retail reality; especially in emerging markets, including South Africa.

Nielsen has been named to Google’s Marketing Mix Model Partner program. As a preferred partner, this program enables Nielsen to collect Google advertising impression and spend data directly from Google in a standardized, granular and accurate way.

Sentiment in the west of Africa is on the increase with the news that the latest Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) figures for Quarter 4, 2016 have seen Nigeria climbing three points to 116, after a steep decline in the third quarter, while Ghana’s score rose two points to 111.

‘What goes up must come down’ applies to Kenya’s latest Nielsen Consumer Confidence Index score (Quarter 4, 2016), which has dropped 11 points from the previous quarter to 109. It should be noted, however, that this is still a positive result, as it is above the 100-point level which indicates overall optimism within the CCI and is despite the drought situation in the country, which has resulted in rising food prices.

South Africa is navigating choppy economic and political seas and nowhere is that more apparent than in the latest consumer confidence index (CCI) figures, which showed a 10-point decline to 77; offsetting the gains made in the previous quarter.

A phenomenal 92% of South Africans reveal they are willing to pay an above-average price for products that deliver higher quality, offer superior functioning (91%) or stand behind environmentally responsible (86%) or socially responsible (77%) principles.

Nielsen’s South African media business has a new face in the form of Terry Murphy who has been appointed as Director for Nielsen Watch Services in South Africa. Murphy will lead the commercial and operational teams responsible for Audience Measurement, AdIntel, Software Tools and the recently launched Digital Ad Ratings.

South Africans it seems are loyalty mad. Proof of this is that of six Africa/Middle East countries surveyed in Nielsen’s latest Global Retail Loyalty Survey, South Africa had the highest number of respondents (84%) stating that that they were currently members of a loyalty programme.

Nielsen has entered into an agreement with Tribune Media Company to purchase Gracenote, a premier provider of media and entertainment metadata. With this transaction, Nielsen will acquire the data and technology that underpins the programming guides and personalized user experience for major video, music, audio and sports content.

These are uncertain times and third quarter Nielsen Consumer Confidence Index scores varied dramatically region to region, demonstrating considerable economic diversity around the world.

According to the new Nielsen Mobile Shopping, Banking and Payment Report, 53% of global consumers say they feel anxious when their mobile devices are not close at hand. Mobile has also revolutionized the world of retail and banking.

The Nielsen Sports Paralympics and Para-Sports Report shows how changing attitudes will have major implications for this month’s Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, not just in terms of challenging stereotypes, increasing inclusion and breaking down social barriers, but also the commercialization of the Games themselves.

Around the world, consumers are increasingly opting for specialized diets that address their desire to eat organic, low-fat, low-carb, or eliminate ingredients based on food sensitivities, allergies or personal convictions.

Global consumer confidence held steady in the second quarter of 2016 at 98, an index score that was flat from the first quarter. North America was the only region to sustain growth momentum in the second quarter with a three-point confidence increase to 111.

Nielsen announced it has completed its acquisition of Repucom, the global leader in sports measurement, evaluation and intelligence.

Part of the fun of shopping is the thrill of the chase and 59% of global respondents say they enjoy taking the time to find bargains. This is a particularly strong motivator in North America (68%) and Latin America (64%).