Made-in-Japan products are still being highly evaluated in emerging markets the world over, according to a survey conducted from May to July 2008 by Hakuhodo Inc, a Japan-based advertising agency.

Japanese products beat their European counterparts and gained the top position in an overall evaluation of product image.

Hakuhodo asked people living in 14 cities in nations including China, Vietnam, India and Russia questions concerning six product image factors such as "quality," "ingenuity" and "uniqueness." In comparison with products made in Europe, the US, Korea and China, Japanese products topped in five evaluation categories out of six.

In particular, 70% of all the respondents answered that Japanese products are "superior in quality," leaving European products, which took the second position with 46.9%, far behind. Also, respondents who described Japanese products as "cool," "unique," "fun" and "worth the price" respectively accounted for 30 to 40%.

However, the percentage of those who "feel energy and momentum" from Japanese products was 35.5%, the second largest after Korean products, which were chosen by 41.5% of all the respondents. This result confirmed the momentum of Korean manufacturers that are implementing branding strategies by eagerly advertising their products in emerging countries.

Asked, "What Japanese product do you think is high quality?" 28.6% cited digital cameras. The highest ranks were occupied by products from home appliances manufacturers, with white home appliances (28.5%) and large flat-panel TVs (25.8%) coming second and third, respectively.

Especially, many respondents in Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City) highly appreciated Japanese products as being "superior in quality," with supporters of Japanese digital cameras, white home appliances and flat-panel TVs accounting for almost 60 to 70% each.

The survey was conducted in an interview style in each city, targeting 500 to 800 males and females at the age of 15 to 54 with a medium- to upper-level household income. Product fields included are commodities, foods and services in addition to home appliances and automobiles. The 14 cities were Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Taipei, Seoul, Singapore, Bangkok, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Ho Chi Minh, Deli, Mumbai and Moscow.