Mama's Thumbs

Last Saturday, I saw a young Mom texting or tweeting as she was walking into the grocery store.

This is becoming more and more commonplace according to this recent report from Mediapost:

Moms Mobile Addiction

According to the "21^st Century Mobile Mom Report," by BabyCenter, mobile phones, and smartphones in particular, have become indispensible to moms, who are 18% more likely than average to have a smartphone. Smartphones among moms has risen 64% over the past two years, and 51% of moms say they are "addicted" to their smartphone.

Tina Sharkey, Chairman and Global President of BabyCenter, says "The smartphone screen is more intimate than any other medium... the majority of moms sleep with their cell phone next to their bed... more than half check their phone first thing in the morning and last thing before they go to sleep... it's her constant companion that makes juggling easier... "

53% of the women surveyed said they purchased a smartphone as a direct result of becoming a mom. The most important features of her phone changed from address book and text messaging to the camera, up 78% to #1, and video camera, which increased by 167% to #2. Apps, which weren't even on her top ten list of important mobile features before she became a mom, increased 67% to #3 on the list. 52% of the moms surveyed have ten or more apps downloaded, with nearly 25% of the apps being for her kids.

68% know how to use most of the features of their smartphone, and 75% troubleshoot their own phone. 33% of moms have used their smartphone for health and wellness in the past month, making a mom 50% more likely to do so than average. Moms are also 40% more likely than average to use their smartphone for social networking. The top three social activities include:

• Reading social newsfeeds (56%)
• Updating her status (54%)
• Reading answers to posted questions (48%)

68% of moms use their smartphone while shopping, 15% more likely to do so than average. 46% claim the most convenient time to receive information about a product is when they are in the store. Also, 62% of moms use shopping apps to research or compare prices.

Mom spends 37% of her daily media time with her smartphone, which is double that spent on TV, and more time than with other media, including radio, magazines, and newspapers. 78% of moms saying they use e-mail on their smartphone to filter incoming communications on a daily basis. Moms are also 284% more likely than the average adult to text their friends rather than call them.

When it comes to mobile ads, coupons, nearby local deals, and bar code scanning round out the top three most appealing features of mobile ads. 46% of moms have taken action after seeing an ad on their smartphone.

Moms Respond to Mobile Ads
Action Seeing Ad	% of Respondents
Any action	· 46%
More research later	· 52
Talked to someone else about it	· 51
Clicked to go to mobile site	· 31
Purchased product later in store	· 31
Purchased product later online	· 14
Clicked to call	· 10
Source: BabyCenter, April 2011

62% of moms say the phone is their lifeline to the world beyond your kids. 96% have Facebook downloaded, and more than two-thirds are tapping onto social networking sites at least once a day to many times a day.

Michael Fogarty, Global Publisher of BabyCenter, concludes that "... mobile is mainstream for moms, and is always on... infinite possibilities for today's marketers... "

Based on which products index highest for each stage of parenthood, 21st Century Moms report they are 423% more likely to buy a digital camcorder in the first six months of motherhood than prior, and 153% more likely to buy life insurance in the latter half of the first year of the child's life.

85% of moms say having a baby changed their purchasing habits, and 73% say becoming a mom changed their purchasing criteria. Before having children, women care most about quality, features, and design and after, they shop for safety, quality, and price. 62% of moms report that having a baby changed the brands they purchase.

The study captured the opinions and behaviors of more than 5,000 moms and members of the general population as well as an ethnography study of 23 moms that included over 1,000 text logs, 200 video entries, and 32 hours of in-home interviews.

More information from BabyCenter may be found here.

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The Informed Consumer

When I was a kid, Consumer Reports was the "Buyers Bible". Now we can ask our friends online via Social Media channels like Facebook & Twitter, or "Google It":

Online Research a Significant Part of Consumer Buying

According to a new study, "Inside the Buy," by the AMP Agency, to determine what's behind consumer's shopping behaviors, just 3% of consumers say they are loyal to a particular brand and never buy anything else. The study considered digital behaviors in five leading consumer categories: baby products, consumer electronics, food and beverage, health and beauty, and fashion.

Today's digital minded consumer has widened the scope of purchase possibilities, which appears to have shifted consumers' mindset and redefined contemporary brand loyalty. With only 3% of consumers loyal to a particular brand and never buy anything else, 97% have an apparent willingness to consider brand choices.

Allison Marsh, VP of Consumer Insights at AMP Agency, says "...new consumer behavior is redefining 'contemporary loyalty'...consumers have seized control and are more open to the wide choices in the marketplace."

Overall, 43% of consumers report doing some type of research before they buy. By category, 64% of consumers research consumer electronics before purchasing.

Close to one in four consumers report doing some type of research before making a decision in both the fashion and food and beverage categories.

Men are spending significantly more time doing pre-research: 46% of men reported that they always research fashion purchases, vs. 32% for females. Further, 37% of male respondents said they always research health and beauty products, while 25% of females stated the same. Also, 94% of consumers said that research positively influenced their decision to make a purchase, and 36% said they bought a product because of the research they found.

Though the web appears to offer an endless wealth of information and opinion, says the report, but the findings show that consumers want more information:

• 30% of consumers stated they cannot find enough of the information they are looking for.
• Only 4% felt overwhelmed by the amount of research available to them in a particular category.

The survey found that 47% of consumers look to a brand website for pre-purchase research, while 46% report visiting a retailer's website first. Websites dedicated to reviews and social media sites come close, with 40% of consumers visiting sites dedicated to reviews and 38% doing research on social media websites. Blogs fell below, with just 18% of consumers reporting.

72% of respondents stated they turn most to general consumer reviews when it comes to seeking information on product performance, close to twice the importance they place on expert "durability" or "functionality" reviews, which came in at 42%. Only 22% reported specifically seeking out information about the quality of the product.

52% of respondents said online consumer reviews most influenced their purchase. 41% said feedback from a friend was important, and 37% were influenced by the number of positive reviews they read online. Only 17% stated the number of negative reviews had an effect.

36% consumers spent at least a few days researching a product, while 24% spent less than one day conducting an online search, says the report. Overall, most consumers say they conduct some research before purchasing a product, with only 2% stating they usually make their purchases on the spot.

Ms. Marsh concludes that "...consumers are being strongly influenced by information and opinions shared online... this new path to purchase...has become an everyday part of consumers' behavior."

(Source: The Center for Media Research, 02/22/11)

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Beyond Branding

Brands aren't dead, but depending on what your brand stands for, you might want to retool how you present it:

Study: Gens X, Y Rely On Research, Less On Loyalty

Here's some advice to brands putting the onus on loyalty to drive sales: "Be afraid...be very afraid." AMP Agency, a Boston-based branding firm, has just completed a study of consumers, "Inside the Buy," that suggests that actually very few consumers between the ages of 25 and 49 are moved to purchase by habit, or sentimental considerations for a brand.

The study, based on a Fall 2010 poll of 865 Gen X and Y consumers, looks at what happens in the "consideration phase" of the purchase path, where the Web and what AMP found to be a "new/modern path" to purchase hold sway. The quantitative and qualitative study also addressed a changing view of brand loyalty. The firm found that just 3% of consumers say they are loyal to a particular brand and never buy anything else.

The study, which looks at five product categories -- baby products, consumer electronics, food and beverage, health and beauty, and fashion -- finds that the very idea of loyalty has changed for 97% of consumers. "New consumer behavior is redefining what we view as 'contemporary loyalty'," said Allison Marsh, VP, Consumer Insights at AMP Agency. "With more information, consumers have seized control and are more open to the wide choices in the marketplace."

Forty-three percent of respondents polled by the study said they do some type of research before they buy. By product category, 64% of people AMP surveyed said they do research before buying electronics; 44% said they do research when buying baby products; 31% do so for health and beauty; and about a quarter said they do "some type of research" before making a decision in both the fashion and food and beverage categories.

According to the "Inside the Buy" study, men spend more time doing pre-purchase research in areas pertaining to personal style and appearance. Forty-six percent of male respondents said they always research fashion purchases, while only 32% of females said as much. For the health and beauty category, 37% of male respondents said they always research products, while a quarter of female respondents said they did so.

Ninety-four percent of consumers said online research positively influenced their decision to make a purchase, and nearly four in ten said they bought a product because of the research they found. Paradoxically, given the fire hose of content the Web disgorges, 30% of those polled said they cannot find enough of the information they are looking for online, and only 4% said they were overwhelmed by the amount of research available to them in a particular category.

About half of consumers go to a brand's Web site for pre-purchase research, while 46% said they go to a retailer's Web site initially. Forty percent said they visit third-party review sites, and 38% said they go to social media Web sites. Almost three-quarters of respondents said their first choice is general consumer reviews, which is about twice the importance they put on expert reviews on product durability and functionality. In fact, half of respondents said online consumer reviews most influenced their purchase. Forty-one percent said feedback from a friend was important, and 37% were influenced by the number of positive reviews they read online.

"By identifying the steps involved in the consideration process, we found that consumers are being strongly influenced by information and opinions shared online," said Marsh.

(Source: Marketing Daily, 02/07/11)

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Starbucks & Twitter

One of the benefits of using internet based marketing programs is there usually is a lot of raw data generated for research purposes.

Brian Solis took a look at Starbucks customers from Twitter data:

The Interest Graph on Twitter is Alive: Studying Starbucks Top Followers

Posted: 08 Feb 2011 04:41 AM PST

Social media is maturing as are the people embracing its most engaging tools and networks. Perhaps most notably, is the maturation of relationships and how we are expanding our horizons when it comes to connecting to one another. What started as the social graph, the network of people we knew and connected to in social networks, is now spawning new branches that resemble how we interact in real life.

This is the era of the interest graph – the expansion and contraction of social networks around common interests and events. Interest graphs represent a potential goldmine for brands seeking insight and inspiration to design more meaningful products and services as well as new marketing campaigns that better target potential stakeholders.

While many companies are learning to listen to the conversations related to their brands and competitors, many are simply documenting activity and mentions as a reporting function and in some cases, as part of conversational workflow. However, there’s more to Twitter intelligence than tracking conversations.

We’re now looking beyond the social graph as we move into focused networks that share more than just a relationship.

Bringing the Interest Graph to Life

To demonstrate the value of interest graphs, I worked with the team at ReSearch.ly, a unique Twitter search platform that has indexed the last three years of Tweets to instantly provide a real-time and historical analysis of activity around keywords and also the people that Tweet them.

ReSearch.ly visualizes the interest graph, and also provides the ability to search within the search to sort activity by demographics and psychographics, sentiment, bio data, profession, and the list goes on. Essentially, it’s a product that anyone can use to learn about what’s really taking place on Twitter to better understand behavior and earn greater relevance by making more informed decisions.

As an example of audience profiling or competitive intelligence, we used ReSearch.ly to review the followers of @Starbucks, one of the most celebrated brands actively using Twitter today. We started by extracting 1 million follower profiles, sorted by follower count. The results were then further filtered to include only those who published a complete profile. ReSearch.ly provides the option to then organize the resulting information any number of ways, which in this case, we sorted the accounts by bio, location, and gender.

The Interest Graph

While we are what we say in our Tweets, our bios also reveal a telling side of who we really are. In this study we reviewed the complete bios of 50,000 of the top @Starbucks followers to learn a bit more about how they present their life story as well as their interests, opinions, and preferences.

Using the ReSearch.ly Twitter index, we created a word cloud to amplify the most common words used in each of the bios of these connected social consumers. Followers tended to use expressive words that suggest sentiment runs rich in the Starbucks interest graph. Top words include:

1. Love
2. Life
3. Friends
4. Music
5. World

We can also learn a bit more about Starbucks influencers by analyzing what interests them. Looking a bit deeper into the cloud, we can see that not only do emotions rise to the top; other revealing themes also surface:

1. Family
2. People
3. Mom
4. Wife
5. Husband

This is just the beginning. The words associated with the brands demonstrate the emotional and personal connections Starbucks holds with these tastemakers. Campaigns are a direct beneficiary of such data. As we submerge ourselves one level deeper into the study, we find that this information becomes paramount when we link it to individuals through demographics and psychographics. An import footnote is that the word coffee is among the least used words in the bio, but used nonetheless.

Studying Bio’graphy

With a 50,000-person sample in a traditional research survey, it may be difficult to organize individual responses. Here, we further reviewed each of the bios to find the commonalities in how each person presents who they are in a few precious characters.

Of those, we found that…

- 42 percent expressed strong ties to family, religion, and love

- 29 percent boast special interests, which is further discernible

- 22 percent are professionals who state their current place of employment and position

- 7 percent are students

Additionally, we can extract the attributes of @Starbucks followers further to better symbolize their digital persona. Further review highlights that followers…

- Identify themselves as enthusiasts, geeks, addicts, junkies, creatives

- Define the most popular areas of interest as Music, Food, Coffee, and Fashion

- Potentially favor dogs to cats (2 – 1 as per their mentions)

- Work in either Social Media and Marketing (Note: If we were to change the scale of followers, we would open up the sample to a much broader set of professions)

- Also are still studying. Despite the lower percentage, students account for more than any single professional field

Geo Location: Where in the World is @Waldo?

Brands are more than aware that no one marketing strategy reaches and moves everyone in the same way. Beyond demographic marketing, brands must also focus on driving traffic regionally. Having access to location data isn’t new, but using Twitter as a collective stream of intelligence to identify higher and underperforming locales and associative word clouds allow teams to surface the 3 W’s of real-time geo loco marketing:

Where is negative/positive activity taking place?

Why is it leaning in that direction? And,

What can we do about it?

To give us an idea of where the top @Starbucks followers are Tweeting, we zoomed in to their point of reference. We found that top users tend to Tweet from…

1. California
2. New York
3. Texas
4. Florida
5. Washington

Combining London and UK, we find that The United Kingdom would actually join the ranks of the most often cited cities.

Grouping locations provides a holistic view that provides regional marketing metrics and also areas in need of attention.

Here we can see that the top Tweeps are located in…

- US East, 30 percent
- Non US, 27 percent
- US West, 22 percent
- US Midwest, 21 percent

Tweeting from the Gender Lines

Over the years, I’ve studied the gender makeup of social networks and have consistently found that women outnumber men in some of the most popular networks including Twitter and Facebook. On Twitter, women represent the majority share with 57 percent.

Working with the team here at PeopleBrowsr and ReSearch.ly in conjunction with Klout earlier in 2010, we uncovered en masse, women are more influential than men on Twitter. In fact, the average Klout score within the general Twitter population 34 to 31 in favor of women.

Reviewing Starbucks top followers in ReSearch.ly, it comes as no surprise to see that the women are the predominant source of Tweets, 63 percent women vs. 37 percent men.

The Tweets Have It!: Introducing the Starbucks Brand Graph

The interest graph is defined by connections, but it is brought to life through self-expression. When we combine brand-centric relationships and conversations, the interest graph eventually evolves into what is essentially a brand graph. Within each brand-related graph is a group of highly connected individuals that serve as a company’s network of influence. The ReSearch.ly team extracted 50,000 of the most recent Tweets that included a mention of Starbucks. We then analyzed the connections between people and identified the top 100 individuals and the number of their followers who also mention Starbucks within the 50,000 mentions. We can then bring to light Starbucks influencers as a representation of its brand graph and influential hubs. As we can see, the difference between monitoring and gathering intelligence allows Starbucks to now identify relevant networks and introduce personalized campaigns to further spur advocacy and loyalty.

Here are the top 100 most connected people within the group mentioning Starbucks and the number of their followers also discussing Starbucks:

Accordingly, we can visualize the interest graph as connections, showing how influencers are not only interconnected, but also capable of disseminating relevant information and influencing behavior to varying degrees beyond the traditional reach of Starbucks. Social consumers and their place within the social consumer hierarchy determine reach and ultimately outcomes. Everything begins however, with recognizing who they are and what inspires or motivates them.

Conclusion

The era of analysis paralysis is officially over. Instead of just listening, companies can now study people and their interests based on what they say and do and also how they color their profiles. This goldmine of insight gives brands the potential to improve marketing, promotional and advertising campaigns to start. What we’re talking about here is the ability to personalize experiences that go beyond demographics and start to employ psychographics and behaviorgraphics – the ability to connect with groups of people by interest and how they interact.

As this practice develops, brands can also gather the intelligence necessary, and widely available, to improve products, services, and spark new waves of tweets gushing with positive sentiment. Doing so over time helps to build the social, and more relevant, business of the future while improving relationships to convert followers into stakeholders.

Brian Solis is the Chief Data Analyst at PeopleBrowsr and ReSearch.ly and author of Engage, the complete guide for businesses to build and measure success in the social web. Follow him on Twitter, @briansolis or read his blog, BrianSolis.com

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Splurge Time

from my email:

Consumer Indulgences Making a Comeback

Few companies were clobbered harder than Starbucks in the recession. The coffee chain with outposts on every corner came to represent all that was wrong with American businesses and shoppers: unchecked expansion, self-indulgence and mindless credit-card swiping.

But now customers who swore off frivolous spending during the recession are lining up again for their $4 caffeine fix. The company's net income nearly doubled and revenue rose 17 percent in the most recent quarter compared with a year earlier, as more Americans allowed themselves a small treat.

After seeing their retirement funds and home equity shrink severely, consumers tightened their belts in a shift some economists dubbed the New Frugality. Fortunately for the world's largest latte purveyor and other peddlers of small luxuries, Americans have a short memory when it comes to the economy.

Affordable luxury goods like gourmet coffee, lingerie and high-end skin cream have been enjoying a comeback since the stock market began to rally in August and higher-income Americans started feeling better about their finances.

At Estee Lauder Cos., whose brands include Clinique and MAC cosmetics, CEO Fabrizio Freda says customers who traded down to drug store brands when times were tough are returning. Revenue was up 14 percent last quarter, driven by brisk sales of high-end moisturizers and eye creams.

Specialty items like the "Miraculous" push-up bra have buoyed the company that owns Victoria's Secret and Bath and Body Works. Revenue rose 12 percent last quarter at Limited Brands Inc. as shoppers treated themselves to its stock in trade.

"People didn't feel good about having little indulgences" in recent years, says David Palmer, an analyst with UBS Investment Research. "The Suze Orman-type talk shows were telling you to kick your Starbucks habit."

Now, he says, austerity fatigue may be setting in.

For Michele Burkhammer, a nurse clinician for the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service in Rockville, Md., austerity was the only option after she was furloughed and her husband lost his job. She started buying groceries at Walmart and pared her list to the essentials.

These days, her husband is back to work, and she's fed up with pinching pennies. She still doesn't splurge on herself, but she recently bought Ralph Lauren khakis and other high-end items for her 3-year-old son. She's also returning to upscale and organic grocers.

"Shopping is starting to be enjoyable again," Burkhammer says.

Trading back up has raised hopes for the holiday season. Research firm ShopperTrak bumped up its holiday sales growth forecast to 3.2 percent from 2.9 percent after a solid start in November.

The recession technically ended in June 2009, but the recovery has been fitful. Manufacturing has been stronger, though hiring has not. Home prices have stabilized somewhat since bottoming out in the spring of 2009. A 17 percent gain in the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index since the end of August has helped raise consumer confidence, and with it spending, particularly among the upper class.

"When people feel their household wealth rising, they're more confident and that has a dramatic impact on consumption," says Chris Christopher, an economist with IHS Global Insight.

Still, it's unclear whether this signals the beginning of a broader retreat from thrift. Shoppers still are making lists and, for the most part, sticking to them. The unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent in November, holding a damper on spending in millions of households.

Frank Mangini, who lives in the Queens borough of New York, is back to making regular trips to Whole Foods, but only for specialty items he can't find at his local supermarket.

"I was trying to lay off a little bit" during the recession, he says. Even with the economy picking up, he says he's "trying not to overdo it." But he's happy to shell out for his favorite organic green tea.

After taking a drubbing during the recession, Whole Foods Market Inc. has been luring back shoppers. Revenue rose 15 percent last quarter. The company, the biggest national seller of organic and natural groceries, says shoppers are buying more higher-priced brands and trading up on pricey items like seafood, cheese and housewares.

"Middle-class people want to make these little splurges on basic luxuries like Victoria's Secret so that they're not breaking the bank or the wallet but are getting out of the doldrums of the recession," said Sherif Mityas, a partner in the retail consultancy firm A.T. Kearney.

These small splurges are unlikely to spark a broader recovery. After all, Starbucks or Whole Foods binges set shoppers back just a few extra dollars.

You'd have to see sales of bigger-ticket items like automobiles, designer handbags and extravagant vacations rebounding -- and see people racking up credit-card debt again -- to say Americans' frugality has ended, says Kenneth Goldstein, an economist at the Conference Board. And that's unlikely as long as unemployment remains stuck above 9 percent. Even with car sales improving, the industry will sell 4 million fewer cars in the U.S. than it did in 2007.

Alan Levenson, chief economist at T. Rowe Price, says Americans couldn't revert to old spending patterns even if they wanted to because banks aren't willing to lend. The personal savings rate remains high, and although consumer spending rose an annualized 2.8 percent in the third quarter, the biggest bump since 2006, that's not enough to rev up the overall economy.

Certainly there's pent-up demand, Levenson says, but shoppers are "not blowing anybody's doors off."

(Source: The Associated Press, 12/09/10)

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Company Christmas Parties

Yes, I said Christmas.

Not only is the use of the word Christmas coming back, company Christmas Parties are back too.

Ours is Friday.

Restaurants Offering Deals for Holiday Parties

Despite the economic Grinch threatening to steal corporate party business as it has over the past two holiday seasons, a number of operators say early incentive efforts have been helping them boost sales over last year.

However, even for those operators managing to book parties during the holidays, the season could be merrier.

One survey released in November predicted 2010 would see the worst holiday party slump in 22 years. The poll, conducted by Amrop Battalia Winston, a global executive search firm based in New York, found only 79 percent of businesses were planning a holiday celebration, down from 81 percent in both recessionary 2009 and 2008 -- the previous lows in the survey, which started in 1989.

"Compared to last year the amount of parties seems to be the same," said Ashley Lightfoot, private events manager at the Eddie V's Prime Seafood in Dallas. "They booked later than normal but seemed to be very selective while doing research. I had lots of inquiries early but the bulk of the groups did not confirm until October-November."

And costs remain top of mind, Lightfoot added. "I have noticed the major thing is the wine selection," she said. "For instance, I have a repeat group from last year that chose wine in the $50- to $60-a-bottle range and this year is going with our house (wine) at $28 per bottle."

That is a trend seen throughout the year, Lightfoot said. "I can pretty much say that for the whole year: same amount of parties but spending less."

This season, restaurant operators started offering incentives early to inoculate against the party-blues flu.

The 15-unit Texas de Brazil churruscaria chain had offered gift-card rebates to parties of 15 or more for bookings made before Nov. 30. The deal was to give 10 percent of the holiday party cost at regular dinner menu prices, up to $1,000, in gift cards.

Wolfgang Puck Catering offered early booking discounts for holiday events. And Dave & Buster's offered free room rentals or more than half off game play for those booking before November.

Smith & Wollensky Restaurant Group of Boston offered complimentary butler-passed hors d'oeuvres for events booked prior to Nov. 15. And the eight-unit chain's private-dining managers planned fixed-price dining packages, exclusive pricing on signature items and custom menus.

Nicole Lierheimer, spokeswoman for Smith & Wollensky, said, "The holiday promotions have been helpful in motivating event bookings.

"We are pleased to report that sales for the holiday dining season are up, thanks to the ongoing support of our loyal customers and the communities in which we do business," Lierheimer said.

Coming off the dismal party-spending years of 2008 and 2009, many companies were pleased that some business wallets actually were open this year.

At Ruth's Chris' Steakhouse, holiday party reservations rose 17 percent over last year's depressed numbers. "We are looking forward to our most successful holiday private-dining season since 2007," Mike P. O’Donnell, president and chief executive of parent Ruth's Hospitality, told securities analysts in late October.

Amrop Battalia Winston's 2010 "Annual Survey on Corporate Holiday Celebrations," which polled 103 leading companies, also found that for those companies holding celebrations, just over a quarter, or about 28 percent, said their parties will be more modest. This follows on the heels of the nearly half, or 49 percent, who downsized in 2009.

Amrop chief executive Dale Winston said, "Fundamentally, those having holiday parties this year are much more optimistic about the year-ahead, while those not having parties are more pessimistic."

Among other survey findings:

• Celebrations this year will not be for client or business prospects. Only 5 percent of those holding parties intend to invite clients and friends. Over two-thirds -- 69 percent -- will be "employee only," while 26 percent of organizations intend to invite employees and their families to gatherings.
• Companies said they were planning not to skimp on cocktails. The number of companies expecting to serve alcohol increased this year, to 79 percent, which is up from 73 percent in 2009 and 71 percent in 2008. The survey high was in 2000, when 90 percent served cocktails.
• After-work parties are increasing in popularity. Of those conducting holiday celebrations, 57 percent are expected to be evening affairs compared with 53 percent in 2009. About 43 percent were planning holiday lunch parties compared with 47 percent in 2009.
• Many companies are expecting to get away from the office. More than three-quarters, or 77 percent, of firms said they were planning to host their parties off-site, up from 67 percent last year. And 76 percent of those companies said they would be holding a party "off-site" at a restaurant.

(Source: Nation's Restaurant News, 12/02/10)

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Race and Research

I don't like being lumped into a big group.

Most folks don't.

Yet researchers continue to lump us together.

A common "Target Demo" for broadcasters are adults age 25-54.

In my own family, I have myself, my son, two daughters, and three son-in-laws that are in that demo. There are three others in my family that are borderline with that demo.

But if you look at the trends and ways to create patterns, it makes sense, allowing for exceptions to all the research.

With all of that in mind, here's some info on consumer research and buying habits:
Consumer Spending Influenced by Cultural Differences Whites and Asians have the largest incomes, and generally have more disposable income than Hispanics or Blacks to spend on consumer goods and services. However, cultural and lifestyle factors introduce variations in spending by category, according to data from the New Strategist Who's Buying series based on Bureau of Labor Statistics cited in the 2010 Retail Business Market Research Handbook.

Asians and Hispanics, for example, outspend other races/ethnicities on groceries. Both cultures favor cooking with fresh ingredients, some of which are exotic and can be more expensive than common canned or frozen ingredients. In addition, Hispanics tend to have larger households that include extended family members, driving up their grocery bills.

Asians outspend other races/ethnicities in the consumer electronics category. This is a cultural difference: Many Asian countries are leaders in technology, and their higher-than-average spending may be to keep up with the trends they hear about from their homelands.

Non-Hispanic Whites and Asians dominate spending on jewelry, a category that is largely dependent on having disposable income.

Hispanic spending on toys and games and sporting goods is second only to non-Hispanic Whites. Hispanic families have more children than families of other races/ethnicities. In addition, Hispanics are the youngest ethnic group and are more likely to be in the early stages of starting a family, when spending on toys and games is at its highest.

(Source: Research Alert, 08/20/10)

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Next up: Generation Z!

from Mediapost:

Three Predictions About Generation Z

In 2010, Gen X, the group defined as having graduated high school around the turn of the millennium, might as well be considered over the hill. Likewise, Gen Yers are slowly growing up and out of their "teen" phase, paving the way for tweens to take the crown. Increasingly, pre-teens of today are becoming more savvy and in tune with behaviors and preferences normally reserved for teens.

So what is this generation -- chronologically called by the name "Generation Z" -- going to look like? Here are three predictions:

1. Sorry, Kindle, Gen Zers are iPad enthusiasts.
The iPad has been the breakthrough device of the year. One could argue that the iPhone 4 or other mobile technologies should take that crown. But the iPad has created an entirely different way of receiving and absorbing information in 2010. Has anyone seen that cool new Popular Mechanics application?

Increasingly, parents are turning to bite-sized devices to entertain and educate their children. The iPad will outpace the iPhone for the chosen "keep the kids entertained device" for Gen Z parents as there is more room for security, limited need for a data plan, and the device will allow parents to hold onto their cell phones versus giving them to the kids to stay occupied. Not to mention the price point of an iPad makes it the perfect, dare I say, in-be"tween" device that's not quite a computer, but not quite not either.

2. They won't take criticism well.
If there's one thing we've learned from Generation Y, it's that they're not to be ... umm ... messed with. One slip of the tongue with a teenager and they're likely to stomp on your foot, leave the room, and start an empire quicker than you can say Facebook. The generation of entitlement is only going to continue to grow, so be prepared to speak to your young-ers the right way.

Sounds weird, doesn't it? Don't ignore it because, from a marketing perspective, it's very important. A group of Gen Zers will be able to sabotage a brand, kill a campaign, and destroy the bottom line of a company with just a few keystrokes on a status update or Twitter. Qualified responses don't matter, perception is reality, and this group is going to have a big opportunity to shift brand perception in an unprecedented way.

3. They will continue to find loopholes.
This is probably the most important prediction as it will affect everything in a marketer's toolbox -- creative, media and loyalty programs included. As information continues to be more accessible, and advertisers look to find a way to reinvent media spaces, such as the 30 second spots, banner placements, etc., Generation Z will continue to find ways to access their information more quickly.

Loyalty programs will become "what have you done for me lately" programs, as the marketplace becomes more competitive, social and referral based. The days of using one brand of toothpaste for years is nearing its end! Creative will need to be more compelling to not just cut through the clutter but to engage this audience in something interactive. Overall, a very interesting game of cat and mouse is about to ensue, and marketers will need to be even more on their toes in choosing the right strategy, creative, and media to engage this audience.

The moral of the story? Engage teens, but prepare for the "über teen." Generation Z is on the rise, and it may just be the most agile, fickle and trickiest to engage generation yet!

Frank O'Brien is the founder of Conversation, a strategy-driven, independent advertising agency specializing in emerging technologies and cross-channel marketing integration. Building on his previous success at agencies such as Deutsch Inc and Mr Youth, Frank has grown Conversation's client roster to include The Children's Place, Estee Lauder, Unilever, E*Trade, Rocket Dog, Prince Tennis, Pollo Tropical and HGTV, among others.

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Back to School Shopping Trends

The last couple of years, we have seen such a shift in consumer buying habits due to job security fears, economic uncertainty, and a new approach to buying and spending.

But one thing continues, at the end of summer, it's back to school time for families. Here's how these changes are impacting this years shopping:

More Families Focused on Generic Products, Comparison Shopping This Year

Having outgrown shoes, shirts and even backpacks they've used the last two years, children heading back to school this year will arrive in style. The National Retail Federation's 2010 Consumer Intentions and Actions Back to School survey, conducted by BIGresearch, found that the average American family will spend $606.40 on clothes, shoes, supplies and electronics, compared to $548.72 last year, and close to the $594.24 in 2008. Total spending on school-aged children in grades K-12 is expected to reach $21.35 billion.

Combined K-12 and college spending will reach $55.12 billion, serving as the second biggest consumer spending event for retailers behind the winter holidays.

"We are encouraged by the fact that parents are eager to start their back to school shopping this year, but the industry still remains cautiously optimistic about recovery," said NRF President and CEO Matt Shay. "As the second half of the year gets under way, retailers will gauge their customers' spending appetites, which often serve as a bellwether for the all-important holiday season."

There remains no question that the economy will continue to play a role in American families' back to school preparations. This year's survey found that 44.3 percent of Americans will buy more store brand or generic products, compared to 41.7 percent last year. Additionally, more parents will comparative shop online (30.3% vs. 26.4% in 2009.) The state of the economy will also impact some families' lifestyles, such as deciding whether their child should attend public or private school (8.1% vs. 5.7% in 2009).

Most families agree that growing children means growing apparel budgets. Spending on apparel will take up the majority of consumers' budgets with the average family of school-aged kids expected to spend $225.47 on jeans, shirts and other types of clothing. Running the gamut from laptops and net books to smart phones and MP3 players, parents are expected to spend an average of $181.60 on their children's electronic or computer-related school needs. Families will also spend an average of $102.93 on shoes and $96.39 on school supplies.

As far as where families will shop this year, seven in 10 (71.2%) will head to a discount store and more than half (53.9%) will visit their favorite department store. Other popular shopping destinations include clothing stores (49.0%), electronics stores (23.0%), office supply stores (41.2%), drug stores (19.5%) and thrift stores (17.0%). Whether to save a few bucks and compare prices or simply because of the convenience, more people will shop online this year (30.8% vs. 22.2% last year).

"Many of today's shoppers are smarter than any other generation before them, especially when it comes to finding the best price," said Phil Rist, Executive Vice President, Strategic Initiatives, BIGresearch. "The affordability of online shopping gives parents an extra edge over the sometimes expensive back-to-school shopping season with price comparison options, free shipping offers and even coupons."

The survey found that teenagers and pre-teens will dish out more of their own money for apparel, supplies and accessories this year. Teenagers are expected to shell out an average of $31.74 for school items, up slightly from $30.88 last year. Pre-teens will spend an average of $18.27, up from $11.94 in 2009. When it comes to how much say children have in parents' buying decisions, six in 10 adults (61.1%) say their children influence 50 percent or more of their back-to-school purchases.

Nearly half (47.6%) will begin their shopping three weeks to one month before school starts and one-quarter (24.8%) will start one to two weeks before school begins. Some will get a jump start and begin shopping two months before the new school year (21.6%). Three percent (3.0%) will wait until the week school starts or even after school begins.

(Source: National Retail Federation, 07/15/10)


And here's a report on the college crowd:

Spending on College Merchandise to Increase Slightly

While spending on school items for K-12 students is expected to increase this year, spending on college-specific items will remain similar to last year. NRF's 2010 Back to College Consumer Intentions and Actions survey, conducted by BIGresearch, found the average college student's family will spend $616.13 on new apparel, furniture for dorms or apartments, school supplies and electronics. Students and their families spent only slightly more last year ($618.12). Total spending on back to college merchandise is expected to reach $33.77 billion.

Combined K-12 and college spending will reach $55.12 billion, serving as the second biggest consumer spending event for retailers behind the winter holidays.

"This year, parents will make sure to shop smart, stocking up on necessities like gift cards, apparel and personal care items for their everyday needs," said NRF President and CEO Matt Shay. "Some families may not have the luxury of providing extra spending cash for their child throughout the year, so preparing ahead of time will at least guarantee their child has the essentials."

College students and their families will spend the most on electronics, though not nearly as much as last year. The average family will shell out $236.94 on computers, cell phones, MP3 players, cameras and other electronics; down from the $266.08 estimated last year when spending on electronics reached an all-time high. Other expenditures include shoes ($62.20), collegiate branded gear or supplies ($36.26) and school supplies ($62.91). College students will spend significantly more on dorm or apartment furnishings this year, signaling a change from last year when more students lived at home to save their family money. Families are expected to dish out an average of $96.94 on bedding, microwaves, small refrigerators and chairs, up from $80.06 last year.

The survey found that just over half (51.8%) of college students will live with mom and dad, down from 58.5 percent who lived at home last year when money was tighter and jobs were more scarce. That being said, those planning on living at home encompass more than any other group. Nearly one-quarter (23.0%) will live off campus in an apartment or house, 18.8 percent will live in a dorm room or other college housing and 2.0 percent will go Greek and live in a sorority or fraternity house.

"As more students fly the coop this year, some retailers can expect a nice boost in the home furnishings and accents departments," said Phil Rist, Executive Vice President, Strategic Initiatives, BIGresearch. "Smart retailers would stage merchandise mom and dad would like near the Back to College aisles to boost parent impulse purchases while shopping with their college-bound children."

When asked how the state of the U.S. economy will impact their back to college purchases, 34.1 percent of families responded they would buy more store brand or generic products, up from 32.5 percent last year. Families will also shop online more often (18.2%) or share or borrow textbooks instead of buying new ones (19.3%). One in five (20.6%) said their back to college plans will not change.

Most college students (53.8%) will buy what they need from discount stores, 42.5 percent will head to department stores and more than one-third (36.5%) will shop at office supply stores. Other popular shopping destinations will include online (28.6%), clothing stores (28.2%), electronics stores (18.0%) or drug stores (17.0%). Forty-three percent are planning on buying décor, apparel or other items school from their college bookstore.

The survey found one-third (33.1%) of college shoppers will begin hitting the stores one month before school starts, with 23.2 percent preferring to wait a bit longer and go one to two weeks before school starts. One in five (20.2%) will start at least two months before school starts, 12.6 percent will wait until the week school starts and 10.9 percent will go after they've already started school.

(Source: National Retail Federation, 07/15/10)

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Boomers are Hip

The first friends I had who bought iPhones were Boomers.

They had money to spend and they spent it on tech.

MarketingCharts.com tells the full story:

Boomers Spend Money, Use Tech

The Baby Boom Generation is still responsible for a substantial portion of consumer spending and is technologically sophisticated, according to new data from The Nielsen Company.

Boomers Spend 38% of CPG Dollars
An estimated 78 million Baby Boomers, defined as those born between 1946 and 1964, currently reside in the US. This population segment spends 38.5% of CPG dollars. Yet it is estimated that less than 5% of advertising dollars are currently targeted towards adults 35-64 years old (which includes the latter half of Generation X, those born between 1965 and 1976, in addition to Boomers).

With most marketers generally targeting 18-49 year olds, more than half of the affluent Boomer demographic is ignored entirely. It is worth noting that Nielsen data shows Boomers dominate 1,023 out of 1,083 consumer packaged goods categories.

Boomers Watch TV, Employ Technology
Boomers watch one-third of all TV content consumed in the US. In addition, defying stereotypes of older people being out of touch with technology, Boomers:

• Watch the most video: 9:34 hours per day.
• Comprise one-third of all online users, social media users and Twitter users.
• Time-shift TV more than 18-24-year-olds (two hours and 32 minutes a month compared to one hour and 32 minutes a month).
• Are significantly more likely to own a DVD player.
• More likely to have broadband internet access at home.

Boomers Have Similar Web Tastes to Younger Adults
Baby Boomers have similar tastes in internet sites to adults aged 18-34. Of the top 10 sites favored by 18-to-34-year-olds, eight are shared by Baby Boomers. Both demographics rank Google and Yahoo as their top and second-favorite sites, respectively. Baby Boomers rank Bing third and Facebook fourth, while 18-to-34-year-old reverse this order of favoritism.

The two sites Baby Boomers rank in their top 10 which 18-to-34-year-olds do not are Ask.com (ninth) and Amazon.com (10th). In comparison, 18-to-34-year-olds differ in their preference for Fox Interactive Media (eighth) and Apple (ninth).

Pat McDonough, SVP, insights, analysis and policy at the Nielsen Company, said Baby Boomers should be as desirable for marketers as Millennials (ages 15-32) and Gen-Xers (ages 33-44). “As the US continues to age, reaching this group will continue to be critical for advertisers,” said McDonough.

Boomers like Savings Tied to Spending
In previous analysis, Nielsen advised that Baby Boomers tend to be big spenders who like monthly or quarterly cash-back savings programs that reflect spending levels. The upsell can be pursued into prescription medications, insurance, gifts for grandkids and kids, entertainment, travel, even discount wines by the case.

In addition, Boomers are big online shoppers, comfortable using email and messaging to stay in touch. Twitter is a huge untapped outlet for reaching Boomers, who increased utilization 469% during 2009. Reach one and you can reach their entire follower base with product info and special offers.

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Unmeasureable?

Success rates for online advertising is often measured as a click thru rate.

However a tiny % of folks who see or hear ANY form of advertising respond immediately.

That doesn't mean the advertising isn't working, as the following report explains:

The 'Subliminal' Effects of Banner Ads

Consumers say they ignore static banner ads, and don't click on them, but eMarketer Senior Analyst David Hallerman cites stats from a Microsoft Atlas study that suggest the static strips running across the tops of Web pages still influence purchase decisions.

Successful campaigns require a variety of tools and it appears that banner ads have begun to take on the dubious title of "staple." Hallerman, who has been researching a report about online brand marketing, calls banner ads "somewhat subliminal" because banner ads appear to affect consumers whether they realize it or not.

"The positive, yet not always easy-to-measure effects and the increasingly lower cost and availability of banners give campaigns a steady foundation," says Hallerman. "Banners help to fill in the campaign."

Expect the report to look at spending trends because where companies actually allocate budgets means more than any talk their executives say in front of conference podiums and public events. Hallerman also plans to analyze consumer reactions to banner ads and alternative ways of finding conversions, as well as measurement strategies, and some of the miss-measurement methods.

Banner ads complement search advertising, too. In 2010, the nearly $12.4 billion that companies will spend on search advertising accounts for about 45% more than what they will spend on all three display ad formats -- banners, video and rich media -- combined.

Citing research from an unnamed source, Hallerman says about 18% of consumers searched for the brand's products or services after being exposed to a banner ad. Success from banner ads, however, depends on the company, the industry, the product and the stage in which the brand tries to hit the consumer. How brands rely on targeting also plays a role.

As marketers look to engage consumers -- and to gain better measurement and targeting tactics than what's available with most other media -- they will continue to increase budgets for Internet ads of all kinds, cannibalizing newspapers, magazines and other traditional media spend. The Internet's share of total media ad spending will rise from about 15% in 2010 to more than 20% in 2014.

A large part of the growth will come from video, even in banner ads. Spending for online video advertising will make the format the second-biggest recipient of new ad dollars from 2010 to 2014, according to the eMarketer report "U.S. Ad Spending: How Big Is the Bounceback?" Of the more than $13.6 billion incremental dollars that will flow into online advertising during the next five years, 33% will come from video ads, compared with 44.5% from search.

However, don't expect the online video boom to become as hot as some hype would suggest, according to the report. Annual spending growth rates should hit between 30% and 40%, as brand marketers looking for greater targeting shift a portion of their TV budgets onto the Web.

As search attracts more dollars and video gets more growth, banner ads will increasingly become filler for those two ad formats, as well as for other elements of advertising campaigns. And as the market share for banner ads continues to decline -- even in 2014, when spending on banners will make up 20.3% of all the ads on the Internet -- the format will remain second to search.

Despite the ongoing commoditization of banner advertising, a result of the plethora of ad networks and the growth in the number of Web sites and pages with ad inventory, the total share of online ad spend for banners will stand at more than 20% from 2009 through 2014, according to Hallerman. It could turn the medium into a low-cost staple for online ad campaigns.

(Source: Online Media Daily, 06/24/10)

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Mobile Marketing

From ContentMarketingToday.com:

How the Sizzling Shift to Mobile Computing Is Changing More Marketing Rules

Posted: 17 Jun 2010 03:44 PM PDT

Get Ready to Rethink Your Content Marketing by Aiming at Millions of Buyers on the Move

For those of us who been around computing since the early days of PCs, the consumer move to mobile devices and away from desktop and even laptop computers is astonishing–and maybe a little terrifying.

In the first year of its existence, 1981, the IBM PC sold 100,000 units. Most of those buyers were geeks or leading-edge business users. Apple’s iPad sold 1 million units in less than one month and 2 million units in just two months. IPad users still include geeks and business types but they’re just as likely to include your six-year-old and your grandmother.

These unbelievable sales numbers represent a fundamental transformation in the way a very large segment of the population is consuming information and accessing the Internet. To get some idea of the seismic nature of this shift take a look my favorite highlights from a presentation given by Morgan Stanley at the June 2010 CM Summit in New York City:

Amazing Mobile Computing Facts from Morgan Stanley’s Presentation:

• It took more than 1 year to sell 1 Million iPods but only 28 days to sell 1 Million +iPads
• Billions of mobile apps have been downloaded:
  • 4B iPhone
  • 400MM Android
  • 12MM iPad (in just 6 weeks)
• In 2010 more Smartphones will be sold than either desktop or laptop computers
• In 2012 Smartphones will out sell desktop and laptop computers combined!
• Among Smartphone users as of April 2010,
  • 48% have browsed the web
  • 40% have used social media
  • 30% read the news
• The iPhone represents 55% of mobile page views
• At the end of 2009 twice as much time was spent on social networking as on e-mail
• Thanks to mobile devices, consumers are already doing cloud computing, leaving the enterprise behind
• Since 2008, mobile users have come to expect:
  • always on access with super fast boot time
  • near zero latency access to nearly all information
  • daylong plus battery life and elegant portable devices

Cranky Laptops Cave to Cuddly and Communicative IPads

It happened to me and it’s probably happened to you, too.

Within the past several days, I had to reach out to professionals to bring a six month old laptop back from a near-death experience. After three hours on the phone with an exceptionally patient and competent HP technician, I was both homicidal and suicidal.

We don’t want that. We want our information and our connectivity right now. We want easy and we want painless.

That’s exactly what’s driving so many millions of customers to mobile devices of which the iPad may be the perfect prototype. In fact, if I could write and dictate articles easily on the iPad, I would probably have tossed my laptop out the window.

IPad and Its Mobile Cousins to the Rescue

The iPad, or something very much like it, is what we really want from our information devices. It turns on immediately. It’s super responsive. It easily connects to the Internet. It’s both powerful and portable. And, perhaps best of all, it doesn’t rely on a resource hog of an operating system and a bunch of pesky devices that fail when you most need them.

For those of us who do a lot of writing, building complex spreadsheets or other very sophisticated applications, we will probably have to hang on to our desktop or laptop computers. But for many of you and for many of your customers, the use of computing devices is primarily:

• to connect and communicate wherever we are whenever we want
• to consume information via the Internet, including e-mail, news, web-based content
• to get our social media fix
• to consume locally based information from word processing documents, spreadsheets, PDF files, etc.
• to write a short e-mail or text messages
• to listen to music, watch videos, watch TV or movies
• to play games

We can do all of that with an increasingly rich and robust set of mobile computing devices that include not only the iPad but the iPhone, Blackberry, Android devices, and some potentially terrific tablet computers just over the horizon.

That means that just when you thought it was safe to go back into the content marketing water, you will have to do a bit of rethinking. But I think it’s more a matter of adjustment than a dramatic change in your approach to your customers.

How to Take Advantage of This Content Marketing Mobile Inflection Point

You are almost certainly using the Internet as a primary content marketing weapon. And, it is probably delivering significant a better results than many of your traditional advertising and marketing practices. Now, begin to think slightly differently as your customers go mobile for much of the information they consume.

• Make sure that your website is fully readable on the most important mobile devices which would include the iPhone, the Android, and the iPad. That may mean giving up Flash. At a minimum, it’s critical that any flash on your website takes a secondary rather than a primary role on your home and on your landing pages.
• Consider working with a developer to create an iPhone or an iPad app that will take advantage of the unique capabilities of these two pervasive computing devices. In particular, think about how the touchscreen might improve your users interaction with your content.
• Get social with Facebook, Twitter or other applications that can reach out to your customers with special offers while they’re on the move and in a buying mood. As indicated above, 40% are actively pursuing social media opportunities while on their smart phone or iPad.
• Provide special offers, coupons, or dedicated discounts that mobile users can bring with them directly on their smart phone or iPad. Don’t make them print something out if they can to show it to you on their mobile device.

We are at the beginning of a fundamental transformation in the way that we all consume information. Our customers and their computers are on the move as never before. Just as you may have tried to reach traveling prospects with billboard ads on the highway, now it’s time to make sure that you’re connecting with them on the virtual highway.

The good news is that, unlike driving a Corvette on Route 66, your prospects can slow down to pay attention to what you have to say. Just make sure that the new mobile information you’re providing is still relevant and compelling as all good content marketers do.

If you’d like to see the entire Morgan Stanley presentation you can click below:

Internet Trends 2010 by Morgan Stanley Research

View more presentations from CM Summit: Marketing in Real Time.

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Could this be an American Come back?

Ford has been quietly chugging along, avoiding government bail outs and doing a good job:

Survey Finds Ford is Top Auto Brand

Ford is riding sky high in terms of consumer perception, according to a market research firm that tracks how Americans view consumer brands.

Toyota took a huge fall in BrandIndex's survey of consumer sentiment after its recall crisis this year. It still is dead last among auto brands, but it has started to make a comeback.

New York-based BrandIndex surveys 5,000 consumers daily on their opinions of more than 1,100 brands. It rates brands on a scale from minus 100 to 100. Zero means equal positive and negative perceptions. Generally, the highest score is around 60.

Last week, Ford's score of 40 was tops among all auto brands in the survey. Chevrolet was second at 22, and Honda was third at 20. Rounding out the top 10 (as of June 7) were: 4. BMW (19); 5. Volkswagen (18); 6. Mercedes (15); 7. Cadillac (14); 8. Nissan (13); 9. Hyundai (12); 10. Buick (11).

With a score of minus 14, Toyota trailed all other auto brands. But that's a vast improvement from the minus 50 BrandIndex reported for Toyota on Feb. 4, just as the recall scandal was exploding.

Prior to June 2009, Toyota was consistently No. 1 among car brands, says Ted Marzilli, global managing director of the research firm. It peaked with a score of 44 in July 2008.

"The U.S. industry had been maligned for so long, but Toyota has tossed out the notion that the Japanese are superior," Marzilli says. "Ford caught up with Toyota in January 2010, when Toyota fell off the cliff. Honda suffered a little bit, probably due to the negative effect on Japanese makers because of Toyota."

Toyota is slowly climbing back, rising from a minus 24 in early May to minus 14 on May 31. But some Detroit 3 brands are improving, too. Cadillac went from a score of eight in early May to 15.6 on May 31. Buick rose to its best score ever -- 14.6 -- as of May 31, from eight in early May.

"Toyota still is in a negative position, and that's not a good place to be," Marzilli says. "They stumbled and proved they're human. That has benefited everyone, particularly the non-Japanese. The U.S automakers, led by Ford, have been on an upward trajectory for most of the year."

Sales results back up the brand perception. Toyota was the brand sales leader in 2009 for the second year in a row. But through the first five months of this year, No. 1 Ford's sales have soared 34 percent to 703,327 -- leading third-place Toyota by 104,749 units. Chevrolet, at No. 2, is up 31 percent and leads Toyota by 41,403 units. Toyota's sales were up 10 percent.

Says Marzilli: "I believe it will be three to six months before Toyota gets into the positive category and two years before it maybe can get back to where it was."

(Source: Automotive News, 06/14/10)

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Weekend Riding

3 of 5 of our jocks on my classic rock station own bikes....

What Do Harley Owners Like To Do?

Percentage of Harley Davidson owners more likely than the average American adult to:

1 Listen to classic rock radio +156 %

2 Own a full size pick-up truck +153 %

3 Be a union member +119 %

4 Own a rifle +102 %

5 Own bowling balls +100 %

6 Attend NASCAR auto racing + 95 %

7 Own a hot tub/whirlpool spa + 94 %

8 Contribute $100+ to charitable organizations + 87 %

9 Own U.S. savings bonds + 75 %

10 Agree that much of advertising is way too annoying + 21 %

Source: GfK MRI Survey of the American Consumer, Fall 2009

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Weekend Catch-Up

from MarketingCharts.com:

‘Behind the Curve:’ Week Ended May 28, 2010

Below are some links to recent research news, studies and lists from the collection of items that MarketingCharts didn’t get to writing up this week, but still may be worth a peek:

We Just Can’t Quit You, Facebook (or can we?)

Nearly 9 out of 10 Internet Users in Hong Kong View Online Video

‘Glee’ and the Rolling Stones Lead Surge in Indie, Digital Music Sales

Average Subsidized US Smartphone Price Rises

Deloitte Survey Finds Consumers Recharged

Americans Choose Gas over Alternatives

Twitter Top Site for Movie Referrals

Luxury Buyers, Retailers Use Mobile Coupons, Too

3-D TV Technology Waits on the Consumer

Future Optimism Drives Consumer Confidence

Self-serve Regular Gas Price Down from April ‘10

Nearly 1 in 5 Dads Hope for Grill or Grilling Accessories on Father’s Day

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10 Facts about...

The Hispanic Consumer from Mediapost:

10 Things To Know About These Shoppers

1. Hispanics are destination-shopping
Hispanics see shopping as entertainment and opportunity for family / friends time, "me time" and even date time with spouses. Different trips call for different experiences and companionship. Many stores have taken advantage of this opportunity to be a destination for social activity by adding cafes, lounges and bars.

When targeting Hispanics, the competitive set is not just other retailers and stores, but also destinations. By developing the overall store experience, retailers have an opportunity to increase time spent in store as well as store loyalty.

2. Variety is the spice of Hispanic shopping
Hispanics are not motivated to simplify their shopping routine. In grocery shopping, a minimum of five channels are used by shoppers.

Understanding what category associations the Hispanic shopper has with different stores creates new opportunities in distribution.

3. Personal map replaces "near my home"
For Hispanics, shopping is not an isolated event but rather a part of their busy daily routine. Knowledge and preference of stores are based more on proximity to daily activities than proximity to home.

The challenge is to evolve beyond zip codes and understand the Hispanic footprint and where they live their daily lives. This "personal map" opens the door to discovering and expanding the base of Hispanic targeted stores.

4. One shopper, four lists
Hispanics are making lists and any one shopper most likely has a number of different types of lists in their arsenal.

The four types of lists:

• Complete: family staples and add-ons, such as cereal and kids needs for school projects.

• Mental: routine shopping needs kept mentally, not written down, such as bread, eggs and milk.

• Recipe: created around the specifics for a recipe/occasion; usually complement a mental list.

• Eternal: the ever-evolving list of the things needed or wanted sometime, somewhere, depending on the availability, price, etc. Such as fresh nopales or other hard-to-find imports.

For brands, understanding trip mission and category helps understand which list you want to "get on" or "make" and where to start the conversation within the buying cycle.

5. Brands battle it out at the shelf
While-list making is important, the store shelf, where 70% of Hispanic purchasing decisions are made, is the last stand for swaying the brand purchase decision.

Key attributes, packaging and promotions are factors that influence the final decision. Being relevant to the Hispanic consumers' needs and preferences can win that battle from the shelf to the basket.

6. The emergence of digital in retail
The perfect storm is forming from the overwhelming numbers of Hispanics participating in the digital world and new digital retail activities. And while Hispanics under-index in coupon clipping, they are over-indexing in online and mobile application redemption.

Leveraging these opportunities with online, mobile and in-store applications is the next phase in connecting with Hispanic shoppers.

7. "Shopping" is limited to only planned trips
Hispanics have been under-reported in frequency of shopping trips, despite their high number of channel choices, enjoyment of experience and larger basket sizes. This disparity is because Hispanic shoppers define "shopping" differently. Shopping involves only the planned/routine trips, and doesn't include spontaneous trips, which are frequently made.

Understanding this small but important difference opens the door for creating moments of interception that encourage and recognize spontaneous shopping trips.

8. Private labels take the stage
Where 37% of Hispanic shoppers purchased more private label products in 2009, 25% plan to buy more this year. Private brands account for 31% of Hispanic household grocery basket; averaging $89 every two weeks out of a total of $267.

To the general market, private labels are seen as generic and recognized for their price benefits. For Hispanics, however, private labels are seen as store brands, placing a higher importance on the value they carry as a product from a trusted store. To take advantage, stores must leverage their store loyalty in promoting private labels.

9. Product attributes drive brand choice
The number one reason that Hispanics try out new brands/products is the quality of their ingredients. Hispanics are moved by attributes of "well-being" like real, natural and fresh. Additionally, Hispanics are becoming more aware and increasingly more educated on health issues, taking steps to manage these issues by looking for low-fat, low-sugar and low-calorie options.

Besides packaging, product cross-promotions and communications, highlighting well-being could make the difference in choosing one store or product over another.

10. Different definition for convenience
The convenience and drug store category is important for the Hispanic market; however, the Hispanic shopper defines the quick-trip benefit of convenience differently.

For the general market, convenience is based on the speed of the experience from location to transaction. For Hispanic consumers, it's about a good experience even at the c-store and drug store level. "Location convenience" is about how quickly they can get to the store so they have the time to find what they are looking for.

These fundamental differences change how we talk to consumers about the store experiences and product offers to better reach the Hispanic consumers' need for convenience.

Elizabeth Fauerso is Director of Strategy and Planning at Dieste with strong experience in consumer intelligence. In the last few years she has focused on the development of the "Nueva Latina" profile tool for the agency and led consumer and market strategy for AT&T, HP, Southwest Airlines and Levi's, among other clients.

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