Eco Japan

In my experience, it's quite a widely held view in the UK that Asian countries are somewhat lagging behind Western countries when it comes to eco-awareness. And judging from my recent experience in Japan, climate change and environmentalism do seem to be less of a 'hot topic' there - in the media or as part of the 'national conversation'. But look around and evidence of environmentally friendly behaviour is everywhere, from the litter free streets, to the almost religiously used recycling bins, present in every home but also outside every convenience store. What seems to be the real difference vs the UK is the relative lack of debate or hand-wringing around the issue. Perhaps stemming from the culture's Shinto roots, respect for the environment is taken as a bit more of a given to aim towards. That said, awareness does seem to be growing and brands are beginning to take on more of a visible 'green' tinge - from familiar names like Starbucks with their 'reuse, reuse, reuse, recycle' carrier bags to more local brands such as this 'eco market' (ie second hand clothes store!) below. Whether this is real eco or more a case of green-washing I'll leave up to you...

Nokia Global Youth Study - live!

Just as we've pointed out how it's not often we can share findings from our work with the world at large (see post below), there's another opportunity to get some insight from us. It's clearly a generous sort of month!

Thinktank's own Nick Roberts will be presenting findings from the Global Youth Exploration we've recently carried out for Nokia at Brands, Bands & Social Media Savvy next week (28th of April) at the IAB in Covent Garden, London. Feel free to email us for more details.

It's about the services, not how you pay

It has been suggested that consumers are pretty wary of paying through their phone bill (by using 09-numbers, or by texting in to pay or vote) after all the problems with ringtone subscriptions and TV voting over the past few years. Consumers don't see it that way, though.

Quite unsurprisingly, they focus on the services they get and the value that gives them - so if their vote can help Jedward escape (or get, depending on your preferences) the chop, they're quite happy with calling an 09 number to do so. If it's a question of a horoscope line, and that's not what tickles their fancy, reactions will be quite different, however.

Thinktank ran consumer groups, carried out quant research and even sized the market for all of these services for premium rate regulator PhonepayPlus. You can download a full report of all our findings about consumer attitudes to phonepaid services here.