The Fact Files

 Updated: June 24th, 2004

People are out there finding facts! Sometimes the reasons for such fact-finding is obscure, other times obvious. We are "fact hounds" ... since information drives marketing in so many ways. Read on and we'll share some with you.

Surfing Habits of Senior Managers. What the boss does online!
6/24/04 - Senior managers, who once left the wonders of technology to their younger staff members, are now fully integrated members of the Internet generation. A new survey by Harris Interactive and The Wall Street Journal Online found that 99 percent of senior managers use the Internet at work and 97 percent use it at home. Almost all the survey participants agree, the technology has become a vital and often-tapped tactic for remaining informed. "The survey results are positive for marketers that have embraced the Internet as a key point of contact with this otherwise hard to reach audience," says Todd Larsen, president of consumer electronic publishing for Dow Jones & Company, parent of WSJ.com. "Not only do they confirm the Internet's ability to reach nearly all senior executives, but they also reaffirm the importance of the Internet as a business tool – even at the highest levels of management." 

Among the results:
  • Senior managers use the Internet an average of 13.4 hours per week, up 20 percent from 2000.
  • Just under 70 percent of managers say they read online content for business purposes. That's a more than 20 percent increase over 2000.
  • Almost 50 percent of senior mangers say they read online content for pleasure.
  • Most frequented sites are those with general and business news. In second place, financial sites.
  • Senior executives spend 12 percent more time reading news online than they did in 2000. They spend less time with all other media.
  • 77 percent of senior executives have high speed Internet connections at home.
  • 55 percent use a PDA at least sometimes.
  • When online, executives say they spend about one third of their time handling e-mail and the rest in other online activities.
  • Top three business uses of the Internet: reading news, researching financial decisions, conducting online banking.
  • Top three personal uses of the Internet: booking airline tickets, buying books, making hotel reservations.

Call us a nation of chocoholics!
02/17/04 - American Demographics Magazine

 A little over 9 in 10 of us say we like chocolate. In fact, Americans consume over 3.1 billion pounds of chocolate each year, or 11.7 pounds per person, according to a report by Mintel, a market research firm based in London. Chocolate confectionary sales for 2003 were an estimated $14.4 billion, up 11 percent from 1998.

Just what kinds of chocolate do American consumers like? Mintel's findings show that ...

  • milk chocolate takes the lead, with two-thirds of those surveyed saying they like it.
  • Only 37 percent say the same of dark chocolate.
  • A little over one-quarter (26 percent) say they like white chocolate.
  • Older people tend to express a preference for dark chocolate, perhaps because it is an acquired taste or because the stronger flavor appeals to their tired out taste buds.

The three most popular forms of chocolate are bars, which 93 percent of us eat, followed by portion control pieces, which include Reese's Peanut Butter Cups or Kit Kat (80 percent) and popable pieces (71 percent), such as M&Ms.

U.S. Consumers Rack Up Debt!
01/06/04 - Associated Press

  • The nation's credit card debt currently stands at $735 billion, or nearly $7,000 per household. And since about 40 percent of card users pay their balances in full each month, the per capita card debt of those who carry balances is closer to $12,000.
  • Consumer debt hit a record $1.98 trillion in October 2003, according to the most recent figures from the Federal Reserve. That debt -- which includes credit cards and car loans, but not mortgages -- translates to some $18,700 per U.S. household.

Just In - Christmas Facts!

  • According to a study by PNC Bank of Pittsburgh, to actually buy the 12 gift items from "The 12 Days of Christmas," you would have to spend over $15,000. 
  • 56 percent of Americans sing holiday carols to their pets.
  • 1 in 3 men waited until Christmas Eve to finish their shopping.
  • There are 1.76 billion candy canes produced every year.
  • Based on a 1999 estimated population count of North America and Europe, on Christmas Eve of that year Santa Claus had to visit 42,466,666 homes in a 12-hour period -- that's 983 homes per second.

SOURCE: The Oregonian

Current Customers Worth More!
12/29/03 - Businesses - on average - spend 80% of their marketing dollars going after new customers and clients rather than nurturing, retaining, and maintaining the customer relationships they already have.  

  • Repeat customers spend 33% more than new customers.
  • Referrals among repeat customers are 107% greater than non-customers.
  • It costs six times more to sell something to a prospect than to sell that same thing to a customer.

Nurturing existing customer business is a strategy that will move you forward in increasing your sales by 50% without increasing your budget.
SOURCE: http://marketing.about.com/library/weekly/aa070203a.htm

Lodging Check:
12/23/03 - Lodging demand was constrained in the first half of 2003, as U.S. military action in Iraq, the outbreak of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in Asia and Canada, Federal security alerts, and low consumer confidence caused many consumers and businesses to avoid travel.

According to Smith Travel Research, U.S. lodging industry occupancy was 59.1 percent in 2002 and average daily rate (ADR) was $83.48, representing a 1.5 percent decline from 2001. Occupancy in 2002 marked the lowest point in the past 31 years, while ADR declines in 2001 and 2002 were the first in the past 34 years.

In a June 2003 National Business Travel Association survey of 204 corporate travel managers, approximately 58 percent of the respondents reported a decrease in overall travel spending compared to the same period last year. Further, room rates continued to decline because of discounting to encourage leisure demand. According to Smith Travel Research, year-to-date June 2003, U.S. lodging industry occupancy declined 0.9 percentage points and ADR (Average Daily Rate) declined 0.9 percent from comparable prior year levels.

However, the U.S. lodging industry experienced the beginnings of a strong recovery in the late summer of 2003. In July 2003, U.S. lodging industry occupancy increased 1.6 percentage points and ADR increased 0.3 percent from July 2002 levels. Smith Travel Research’s preliminary estimates for August 2003 indicate an even to a 2 percent increase in revenue per available room (RevPAR) from August 2002 levels.

2004 versus 2003 industry forecasts (2004 versus 2003) at hand: (Forecasts provided by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP)

  • Average U.S. daily room rate increase: +1.8% over 2003;
  • U.S. hotel occupancy level overall: 60.7% versus 59.1% in 2003

If these increases sound impressive and make you think that it will be a sellers' market, guess again. Average U.S. hotel occupancy in full-year 2000 ran 63.4%.
SOURCE: http://www.pcma.org (log in with password required)

Overweight:
12/18/03 - According to the World Health Organization, more than 1 billion people worldwide are overweight, 300 million of them obese. Part of the problem lies with our caloric intake, which, according to The New York Times, has risen by more than 10% since 1977. The worldwide export of the U.S.’ super-sized, fast-food culture is affecting weight from Ireland, where 13% of the population is now overweight, to France, where 5 million French are.
SOURCE: www.TrendSetters.com

Adrift In Data
12/17/03 - The amount of newly created information grew about 30 percent per year between 1999 and 2002, according to the How Much Information? study conducted by the University of California at Berkeley’s School of Information Management and Systems. Data flowing through electronic channels – telephone, radio, TV, and the Internet – contained almost 18 exabytes of new information in 2002. An exabyte is two bytes to the 60th power. How much is that? Try to imagine the Library of Congress’ print collections, multiplied 1.8 million times.
SOURCE: University of California at Berkeley’s School of Information Management and Systems and RedHerring.com
12/16/03 - SOURCE: www.WasteNews.com

Manufacturing Posts Best Performance in 20 Years!
12/16/03 - Manufacturers increased output last month to its highest level in nearly two decades while they reversed a 37-month decline in employment, say the nation's supply executives in the latest Manufacturing Report on Business. The report, which is issued by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM), gives an early indication of the status of the manufacturing sector. 

According to the November report, business activity in manufacturing grew for the fifth consecutive month while the overall economy expanded for the 25th month in a row. In fact, ISM's overall index of manufacturing activity registered its best reading since December 1983. And a closer look at the index's components suggests that robust manufacturing growth is likely to continue. Production, new orders and order backlogs all posted healthy increases as factories worked hard to keep pace with demand.
SOURCE: www.ThomasRegister.com (free registration required)

Millions Invest in Broadband High-Speed Internet Connections
11/11/03 - The promise of convergence, lower prices and convenience are driving more consumers to adopt broadband Internet services, according to a recent report. GartnerG2 (a division of Stamford, Conn.-based Gartner) expects 46 million households to make the broadband jump by 2007, up from 18 million households in 2003. 

Tech Execs Expect Rebound - Mid 2004
11/11/03 - More than half (51 percent) of CIOs and IT directors expect an economic recovery before the end of the second quarter of 2004. Just fewer than 70 percent expect a recovery before the end of the third quarter of 2004.
SOURCE: Software and Information Industry Association

Changing Hearts About Music Downloads
11/11/03 - The NPD Group, a market-research firm, estimates that in August, 1.4 million American households deleted all the digital music files on their computers, and it credits the Recording Industry Association of America's litigious anti-piracy campaign for the change in file-sharing habits. Also, according to NPD, the number of households acquiring digital music via file-sharing services dropped by 11% from August to September. Russ Crupnick, VP of The NPD Group, said in a statement, "The message that file sharing is illegal is getting through to mainstream consumers." 

Inside the Head of a 21-Year-Old
09/01/03 - Born in 1982, today's 21-year olds are barely old enough to remember when Ronald Reagan was president. Yet in their lifetimes, American society has changed dramatically. Immigration has made the country much more diverse: 1 in 3 21-year-olds are not Caucasian. Family structures have also changed: 1 in 4 21-year olds were raised by a single parent; 3 in 4 have working mothers. And while their parents are still prone to view the Internet and mobile phones as novelties, 21-year-olds have literally grown up with them and incorporated them into every aspect of their lives. “They're more sophisticated than their parents' generation,” says Edward Winter, founder of Knoxville-based consulting firm U30 Group, which specializes in the under-30 market. 
Excerpt from American Demographics.

In Japan, It's Known as "Karoshi"
 09/01/03 - In Japan, it’s known as “karoshi,” or death from overwork.
The Japanese government has reported 10,000 cases a year of managers, executives and engineers who have died from overwork, a fallout of the country’s prolonged economic slump.

Unhealthy Work
09/01/03 - An estimated 70 percent of more than 1,500 participants felt they don’t have a healthy balance between their work and their personal lives, according to a May survey on work/life balance by online job board TrueCareers.

Job Stress Up!
09/01/03 - The number of full- or part-timers who report high job stress rose to 45 percent in 2002, up from 37 percent the year before, according to a NIOSH study. An estimated 40 percent of U.S. workers reported their job was very or extremely stressful, with 25 percent calling their jobs the number one stress factor in their lives, the organization reported.

Digital Cameras Catch Film Versions - Disposables Hot, Too.
08/01/03 - This year, digital cameras (digicams) will outsell conventional cameras, 12.8 million to 12.1 million, excluding disposable, one-time-use cameras. That’s a big exclusion because sales of disposable cameras will reach 214 million this year, up from 198 million in 2002. Also - this week the first disposable 2Mb digital camera was announced. Selling at $11.00 each - the popularity of this entry is yet to be established, but the San Francisco based maker - Pure Digital Technologies - has high hopes. The camera - pictured below -will be available through Ritz Camera stores. Look for the "Dakota" brand.

Ritz Digital Camera :: Bigger Picture Kodak announced this week it will slash 6000 jobs this year due to slow film sales. 

SOURCE: Popular Photography Magazine as published at (http://trendsetters.com/)

Most Online Shoppers Won't Visit a Poorly-Designed Site!
06/26/03 - Nearly one-third of Web shoppers say site design is more important than offering a great product. More than half (65 percent) of U.S. Internet users won't patronize a poorly designed website -- even that of a favorite brand. Meanwhile, 30 percent say that website design is more important than offering great products. Even if a poorly designed site offers rock-bottom prices, just 4 percent of online shoppers say they would use such a site.

SOURCE: Genex as published in CIO Magazine (www.CIO.com)

Credit Card Companies Lose Most by Poor Customer Service
05/09/03 Source CIO.com. 

The Cost of Poor Customer Service

Worldwide mobile phone penetration to hit 24% by 2005
 Mobile phone penetration will reach 24% worldwide by 2005, up from 8.1% in 1999. Western Europe held the greatest market share in 2001 with 25.4%. North America was next with 16%, followed by China at 15.9%, Latin America with 11.7% and Japan with 11.4%.

More than 407 million mobile phone units were shipped worldwide in 2001.
January 3, 2002 - DisplaySearch

Stress - Read all about it in the workplace.
12/16/02 - Feeling some stress? You are not alone! This report tells you who's stressed, how much, and what the stress comes from. Not a bad start for getting a handle on things.  From NFI Research

SOURCE: http://www.darwinmag.com/read/120102/stress.html

Waiting for your email response? Don't hold your breath!
12/16/02 - Out of fifty of the top online retailers - only 9 replied to email requests within one hour. Read more about this recent survey, and what it means for enhanced customer relationships.

SOURCE: Darwin Magazine http://64.28.79.73/learn/numbers/number_detail.cfm?ID=all&METRIC=475

U.S. Internet Users Take the Prize.
12-16-02 - Number of Worldwide Internet Users Up 30 Percent
The number of Internet users worldwide will approach 655 million by the end of 2002. That’s an increase of 30 percent over 2001, when the total was around 500 million. In 2001, Internet usage increased 44 percent in Asia, 43 percent in Africa and 33 percent in Latin America. Overall, usage in the third world increased by a third in 2001. The United States leads all countries with 143 million Internet users, while China’s online population comes in second at 56.6 million.

SOURCE: UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development)

Stay Informed.
 11/14/02 - Are you missing the management boat? Learn which resources 2,500 international executives and managers use to abreast of the latest management trends. From NFI Research

SOURCE: http://www.darwinmag.com/read/110102/nfikeepup.html

Name your place in America - We'll give you the facts!
 09/18/02 - Here's a fabulous source of information on just about any town you can think of. Demographics, business, unemployment, schools, maps, a slew of facts for the asking. Just enter the name of the place ... and the facts will flow.

SOURCE: http://www.epodunk.com/

40 Million Americans Look For Homes Online
08/27/02 - U.S. adults who used the Internet to research home purchases numbered 40 million (36% of all U.S. Internet users) from March to May 2002. For the same period in 2000, 24 million (27% of all U.S. Internet users) went online to hunt for homes.

SOURCE: Pew Internet and American Life Project

U.S. Cable Providers Control 65% of Broadband Market
U.S. cable providers currently dominate the broadband market with 65% of its total share. The leading cable and DSL providers together added 1.37 million high-speed subscribers in the second quarter of 2002. That total consisted of more than 900,000 new broadband subscribers and 460,000 new DSL subscribers. DSL subscriptions have increased by 1.9 million in the past year, while U.S. cable companies have garnered 3.5 million new subscribers to their broadband services.

SOURCE: Leichtman Research

Name it with care, because what works here, doesn't work there!
 Not all names and slogans export well. Nuances of translation, pronunciation and connotation can mangle a marketing message. Among classic international business bungles:

  • Coca-Cola. Early attempts to replicate the drink's name in China produced "bite the wax tadpole"' or "female horse stuffed with wax," depending on the dialect.
  • Got Milk? The ad campaign had to be overhauled for Spanish-speaking markets when a direct translation asked Latinos "Are you lactating?"
  • Parker Pen. A poor translation in Mexico transformed the slogan "It won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you" into "It won't leak in your pocket and make you pregnant."
  • Vicks. Changed its product name to Wicks before entering the German market after learning Vicks sounds too much like a German expletive.
  • A baby food manufacturer raised eyebrows in an African nation when the largely illiterate populace thought the jars contained ground-up babies -- literally, baby food.
  • Kentucky Fried Chicken's "Finger Lickin' Good" slogan translated into the less-appetizing "Eat your fingers off" in Chinese.
  • In French-Canadian slang, large breasts are called Big Macs. MacDonald's reports its sandwiches are selling well there!

U.S. Hispanics number 900,000 online
Hispanics are the fastest growing ethnic group logging onto the Internet in the United States, as 900,000 new users have logged on in the past year. That number is an increase of 13% from 2001. Overall they are the third largest ethnic group online at 7.6 million in 2002. They trail Caucasian users (94 million in 2002) and African Americans (7.8 million). Overall Internet usage has increased by 3% in the past year, with unique users totaling 105 million people.

SOURCE: Nielsen//NetRatings & http://www.darwinmag.com/index.html

Job Seekers Log On

Job Seekers Log On

SOURCE: Pew Internet and American Life Project & http://www.darwinmag.com/index.html

 Marketing More Difficult In Increasingly Noisy World
Before we start. let's explain Accenture was once part of Anderson Worldwide, now simply Anderson, the firm that recently hit some huge rocks, punctuated by the Enron scandal. Last year, Accenture broke away from Anderson completely, and headed off on its own. Accenture's formation was as if the planet's largest corporate baby had been born, for the firm immediately started out with more than 70,000 employees, stretched across the Earth. The re-branding and re-positioning of Accenture is a story unto itself. 

The following information comes, in part, from an Accenture research report, as reported by Iconocast.com.
   
Accenture's 2001 "Insight Driven Marketing" research report is available in PDF form (see below link). The report cites an ad agency study that proves that brand erosion has indeed occurred, as the table below vividly illustrates:

Consumers Who Try to Stick to Well-known Brand Names
Age 1975 2000 %Erosion
20-29 66% 59% <7%>
30-39 73 59 <14%>
40-49 82 60 <22%>
50-59 82 59 <23%>
60-69 86 65 <21%>
70-79 93 73 <20%>
Source: 2000 DDB Lifestyle Study

Accenture blames the decline in brand loyalty on a plethora of product introductions. The result: An explosion in the number of marketing messages, from 650 messages a day in 1985 to 3,000 today. Part of that commercial overload arrives via plain old direct mail, which has soared from 35 billion pieces mailed in 1980 to 86 billion in 1999, and which is projected to reach 88 billion pieces in 2002, according to the U.S. Postal Service.

This means that the task to rise above the noise level is getting more challenging, with an additional 200 billion commercial e-mails expected to reach inboxes in 2004. A spring 2001 survey of 175 senior U.S. and UK marketing executives by Accenture revealed that due to the rising clutter, 70% have difficulty capturing the attention of customers.

According to Accenture's estimate, worldwide marketing spending is expected to rise from $825 billion in 1999 to $1 trillion by 2003. Accenture's survey shows that 68% of interviewed marketing executives have difficulty measuring the ROI of their marketing programs. 

Besides clutter, marketers are fighting a fierce battle against customer erosion. The average U.S. company loses 15% to 20% of its customers each year, or half of all its customers within five years of attracting them.

Part of the problem of customer relationship management solutions is that they require integration across company divisions, i.e. sales and service. Yet 57% of executives interviewed by Accenture, which came from Global 1000 companies, report that their campaigns are not integrated, or even coordinated with other areas of the company with which customers interact.

Our conclusions: The issues identified in Accenture's report are deep-seated. It will take years (perhaps decades) and far more money and education to get the world's 64 million businesses to understand what it takes to wring the most from their marketing dollars. The companies who step up now, will have a distinct advantage over the competition.

Download report.

Money Flows Out
From the start of June through July 17, investors sold about $46 billion more of mutual funds filled with stocks than they bought, according to Banc of America Securities. The $46 billion represents almost 1.5 percent of all stock mutual funds held in the United States. Barring a turnaround in the final week of this month, the redemption will be the largest over a two-month period since 1990.
-- New York Times, 7/24/02

Update: 8/3/02 - Reuters - Just for the week ended July 24, investors yanked a steep $12.2 billion from U.S. stock funds overall, researcher AMG Data Services estimates.
Nagging Wins Out
55% of 12- to 17-year-olds surveyed about nagging said they can usually get their parents to give in. "Average number of times kids ask parents until they give in: 9." -- Associated Press, 6/23/02 Center for a New American Dream

I Need a Vacation
"Those who lose sleep because of an increased pre-vacation workload: 26."
-- Time magazine, 7/8/02

"Percentage of Americans who say they return from their vacations feeling fatigued: 54."
--Time magazine, 7/8/02

Bad Moms
"73% of [moms] at home think working moms look down on them, and 66% of those who work feel the same way about moms who are at home."
-- Time, 5/6/02 Family Circle

I Won't Be In Today ... Either
19% of workers are "actively disengaged"--fundamentally disconnected from their jobs. These workers miss an average of 3.5 more days per year than other workers do and cost the U.S. economy more than $290 billion a year.
-- Gallup Management Journal, 3/19/01

Hello, Helooo
How often workers let an incoming call go directly to voicemail: Take every call, 46%; let vm pick up a few every day, 48%; screen every call, 4%; rarely take a call, 2%.  -- USA Today, 4/23/02 At-a-Glance Communications Survey

That's it for the fact file today. Check back for updates on your next visit.