Independent surveys, Facebook and access to computers
View(s):The Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM) recently issued a media release on its forthcoming People’s Awards and clarity was sought by the Business Times on some of those statements. SLIM President Kalana Rathnayake and People’s Awards 2015 Project Chairperson Thilanka Abeywardena responded to the questions.
The first question was on an ‘independent’ national survey being undertaken by Nielsen. The BT asked:
A) Since Nielsen is an organiser/presenter of the awards titled ‘SLIM-Nielsen People’s Awards’, a survey conducted by the same organisation (Nielsen) cannot certainly be called “independent” (as stated in the SLIM announcement). What is your response?
SLIM: The main responsibility of Nielsen in the Peoples’ Awards is the survey component where SLIM as the National Body of Marketing does not get involved beyond finalising the categories for which the awards would be presented. We refer to these awards as independent for the following reasons;
1. SLIM nor Nielsen have any vested interest in the award categories or the winners of each award.
2. Most awards shows have a set of pre-selected nominees –the selection of which is often subject to argument. In this case there are no such nominees given at the time of conducting the survey. The general public is allowed to decide who the winner should be. The fact that neither SLIM nor Nielsen plays any part in this selection also makes the survey independent.
3. The selection of final winners is based purely on a statistical validation. Once again neither SLIM nor does Nielsen have the authority to amend the winners to their preference.
4. The information collected through this survey is available to any party interested (at a nominal fee) – this is to make the process transparent. All data is provided in this survey including all nominations – regardless of whether they reached the top 5, those that are listed down with the % of people who mentioned from different age groups, socio economic classes, provinces, etc. This makes it possible for anyone who purchases the data to see who won and why; which also adds to making the survey independent.
B) The second clarification referred to an online survey being conducted along with Nielsen’s face-to-face survey to ascertain the public’s most liked brands. SLIM also said there are 2 million Facebook users in Sri Lanka which is 11.5 per cent of the population. The question BT asked was: How many of these ‘represent’ the ordinary middle and lower middle income groups in the country to get a ‘fair’ assessment of what is perceived as a ‘Peoples’ Award’? How many people have access to a computer or for that matter, their own computer?
SLIM: In terms of the Internet accessibility; Nielsen estimates that about 21 per cent of the population between the ages of 15-60 years old access the Internet on a weekly or more often basis. There are multiple modes of access however over half of these individuals access the Internet using their mobile phones.
- It is correct to deduce that the Internet accessing population of Sri Lanka does not represent the average Sri Lankan which we hope will get reflected in the results. It is for this reason that SLIM and Nielsen have planned to keep the online survey and the nationwide survey mutually exclusive and have tagged each award where the winners are selected based on the online survey with the word ‘online’.
The online survey will cater to four award categories;
1. Peoples’ Online Media Institute
2. Peoples’ Online Brand
3. Peoples’ Online Celebrity
4. Peoples’ Website of the Year
- It is both SLIM and Nielsen’s view that the ‘netizens’ should have a platform to have their opinions heard and to reward brands and personalities who have made an impact to the ‘netizens’ through their online presence and activities.