Advertising Is Good For You

39% of smartphone owners use their devices while going to the bathroom

Click here to read more of the results of a Google-commissioned survey on smartphone usage. I don't believe it says anything about how many of them wash their hands afterward.

 

Today's polls skewed?

Illustration by Suphur Spoon

It was George Gallup's successful prediction that Franklin Roosevelt would defeat Alf Landon for the U.S. presidency that made his reputation as a poll-taker; most other polls had Landon winning by a landslide.

I remember reading that one of the reasons behind Gallup's correct prediction was that his competitors had based their predictions on surveys conducted via telephone. Trouble was, back then only the well-to-do owned telephones, thereby skewing the results of Gallup's competitors.

Many predict that Republicans will take Congress in today's voting. And, today, as in 1936, telephones may prove many poll-takers wrong.

Some suggest that today's poll numbers are skewed because surveys have been conducted via land lines and generally younger, generally better educated voters -- who are generally Democrats and left-leaning Independents -- no longer have land lines.

Tonight should be very interesting.

10 Most Disliked Companies in America

A recent Harris Interactive poll measured what companies Americans dislike most. Perhaps not surprisingly, nine of the ten most disliked companies were taxpayer bailout recipients.

10. Delta Airlines

9. Bank of America

8. JP Morgan Chase

7. General Motors

6. Chrysler

5. Goldman Sachs

4. Citigroup

3. Fannie Mae

2. American International Group (AIG)

1. Freddie Mac

Source: Huffington Post

How different generations save money during the recession

According to a Harris Poll, there are generational differences in how Americans are cutting back during our crappy economy:

Gen Xers (those aged 34-45) are more likely to brown bag lunch and cut back on hair styling.

Matures (those aged 65 and older) are more likely to cancel a magazine subscription.

Echo Boomers (those aged 18-33) are more likely to cancel their landline service and only use their cell phone, and to carpool or use mass transit. 

Source: Media Post

See more currency origami at Lone Wolf Sharing.

An experiment in social media

The social media evangelists can’t stop talking, posting, texting and Tweeting about the advertising/marketing potential of social media. To hear them tell it, the social media are a revolutionary, game-changing, paradigm-shifting, cataclysmic phenomenon that’s about to change how advertisers talk to customers and prospects.

Being a natural skeptic and distrusting of anyone who talks breathlessly about “revolutions,” I’m still not convinced that social media will have an earth-shattering impact on how advertisers and marketers try to influence consumers.

So I did a little experiment.

A totally unscientific experiment, to be sure, but I thought the results were interesting.

I read through seven days’ worth of posts on my Facebook wall in search of messages that might influence me as a consumer. Here’s what I found:

26 mentions of vacation/weekend/day trip destinations

13 links or mentions of entertainment (books, music, TV shows and feature films)

6 instances of friends actively job hunting or promoting their own or a friend’s company 

6 links to news content

4 mentions of bricks and mortar stores

4 links to blog content

3 mentions of specific bars or restaurants

1 mention of a charity

1 link to an actual ad

1 actual brand recommendation (someone spoke very favorably about Verizon FiOS)

Other specific brand names mentioned:

3 Twitter

2 Farmer’s Almanac

2 iPhone

1 Viagra

1 Mango Salon & Spa

1 Facebook

1 Boston University

1 SUNY Buffalo

1 tripadvisor.com

1 Betty Crocker

1 Powerball

What does this mean?

That I had too much time on my hands, for one thing, because it took about an hour to compile the above list.

And I think that, in the context of advertising and marketing, Facebook has brought more water cooler-quality conversations into my life. Interesting and fun, but not life-altering. Not yet, anyway.

How restaurants get you to spend more

Marketing research has proved that restaurant goers will spend more if the menu shows prices as numerals without dollar signs or forgoes numerals altogether and spells out the prices.

Why?

The researchers are assuming that dollar signs serve to promote thrift by reminding restaurant customers that they're spending money.

And spelling out the prices makes doing math in one's head more difficult, thereby discouraging diners from focusing on how much they will be spending.

I know this is the kind of thing that makes many consumers hate advertising. Personally, I find it fascinating. It's tidbits like this that inspired me to study advertising/marketing.

Image source:  Jenny Downing            Source: The Consumerist

Teachers get an A+ as consumers

According to a new report from MDR, schoolteachers make are an upscale and desirable consumer audience.

• More than 50% of teachers have traveled abroad in the past few years,

• 25% of them are always buying the latest high-tech gadgets to hit store shelves

• 73% of them seek out stores that carry their favorite brand names

• Almost 80% say that the Internet has influenced how they learn about products

• 49% revealed that they have used the Internet to research or obtain information within the past month

• The mean household income for educators is $117,000, compared with the mean household income of $80,900 for the general pool of survey respondents

• 62% of teachers invest compared with 38% of the general population

Image: Tostie14     Source: Media Map's Center for Media Research

What deranged focus group launched this product?

Kool-Aid scented sneakers from Reebok.

America's 10 Vainest Cities

Forbes has compiled a list of America's Vainest Cities based on the number of board-certified plastic surgeons per capita. Here are the results:

1. Salt Lake City
2. San Francisco
3., 4., 5. San Diego, San Jose and Miami (tie)
6., 7., 8., 9., 10. Louisville, Nashville, Virginia Beach, New York City and Los Angeles( tie)

To read the whole article, visit  Forbes. But turn your sound off before you go so you won't have to listen to the commercial for IFEZ, Korea over and over and over again.

Image: Nip/Tuck

Top 10 Most Memorable New Product Launches of 2007

According to a recent consumer survey, this year's most memorable new products are:

1.   Apple iPhone
2.   Microsoft Windows Vista
3.   Febreze Candles
4.   Domino's Oreo Dessert Pizza
5.   alli Weight Loss Capsules
6.   Oreo Cakesters
7.   Diet Coke Plus
8.   Subway Fresh Fit
9.   Motorola Razr2
10. Listerine Whitening Quick Dissolving Strips

One might interpret the list as revealing America's most prevalent preoccupations:

1. Snacking without getting fat(ter)
2. Owning electronics
3. Smelling nice

Relax. Ronald McDonald does not have a hold on children's minds.

According to a study conducted by Stanford University and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, children prefer food wrapped in McDonald's packaging over unbranded food.

Some have taken this study to mean that McDonald's has turned children into fast food fiends. Let's not get carried away.

All the study means is that kids prefer branded food to unbranded food. Just as you do.

Don't you assume the quality of a banana with a Dole label is likely better than that of a banana with no label? 

Don't you think the no-name brand of cola at the supermarket doesn't taste as good as Coca-Cola?

Don't you wonder just a little bit if the generic drug your health insurance covers is as good as the name-brand that's not covered by your plan?

I've been in advertising and marketing for more than 20 years and even I believe that most branded products are better than those that aren't.

So, as far as this study on kids is concerned, it pretty much just means that kids pick up on our buying behavior at an early age. Which is really not that scary at all.

Image: tankgrrl

Woman's Day and AOL Food conducted a survey that revealed 80% of American mothers say they are not concerned about their kids' weight.

Could children's obesity have something to do with parental apathy?

Nah. Everybody knows advertising is to blame for kids getting fat.

Image: painting by Fernando Botero

Source: Marketing Daily

Henry Ford on the downside of marketing research

When asked if he'd done any research before inventing the Model T, Henry Ford replied, "If I had asked people what they wanted, I would have built a faster horse."