National survey follows consumer use of financial services
Equifax Marketing and Elrick and Lavidge Marketing Research have jointly released results from Financial Forum, a national survey of 13,500 households containing use and demand information for more than 100 financial services. Financial Forum is the first survey from the Equifax Forum, which obtains first-hand information on consumers' needs and preferences in the marketplace.
Financial Forum includes data on product usage (i.e., checking accounts, credit accounts, life insurance policies) within different stages of consumers' lives and lifestyle profiles. Lifestyle profiles detail the financial behavior of people of different ages, incomes, and family situations with differing financial needs. According to John Davis, assistant vice president, Consumer Forum, "The study results reveal how consumers use combinations of financial services like those provided by banks, insurance companies, and brokerage houses. For example, the data might reflect the ages or life events at which time consumers start or stop using different financial services. Then consumers are segmented into ZIP +4 groups reflecting similar usage patterns and household characteristics." This enables Equifax to generate profiles of consumers who would likely be interested in different financial services.
Study results are available as a magnetic tape data file by contacting the Financial Forum Hotline at 800-67P-ANEL. Also available are analytical reports and PC Infomark files. Infomark is a desktop marketing system with a variety of marketing databases and mapping capabilities.
New enhancements for CHOICES
Simmons Market Research Bureau announces enhancements to its CHOICES system. The Crosstab Trender provides users with the ability to analyze up to five years of Simmons data on a single screen. Users can calculate year-to-year differences from a base year, a prior year, and on an average of all the years being analyzed. Year-to-year differences that are statistically significant can be flagged. And output can be sent directly to Lotus ".WKS" files. Choices has always had English language dictionary capabilities which eliminate the need for card/column/punch coding. Now the dictionary usage has been expanded to do the search for you. With the Dictionary Searcher, users type in the subject and the system locates the information, eliminating multiple steps.
In addition, Choices now has a workscreen which is visible throughout the input process, so work can be reviewed as it's being created. Logical operators can be directly entered or edited into definitions on the screen, so users can view the statement as it's built.
Demosphere to distribute Claritas products
Demosphere International will now distribute the Compass desktop market analysis system and PRIZM neighborhood lifestyle target marketing software products from Claritas Corporation. Claritas welcomes this agreement as a means of complementing its primary domestic sales outlets. Likewise, Demosphere International has, until now, concentrated on market segmentation databases for countries other than the United States. Demosphere's president, Jay Baker, was a founding partner of Claritas and helped develop the Compass software.
Data on credit shoppers available
National Planning Data Corporation (NPDC) has joined forces with TRW Target Marketing Services to offer credit shopper market summary (CSMS) data. This information is designed for site evaluation and target marketing applications. The data can aid in the evaluation of the credit profile of a market area, including credit shopper penetration, saturation and market potential. In addition, the data provide information for analysis of credit shopper activity to assess responsiveness to new credit offers.
NPDC has developed a CSMS report which can be summarized by geographies as small as ZIP codes and census tracts. Data for larger geographies - counties, metro areas, Yellow Pages directory areas, and user-defined market areas (such as rings and polygons) - are available as well. Custom reports combining additional, non-credit related information with the CSMS data can also be provided to satisfy specific client needs.
TRW maintains data files covering more than 150 million individual consumers in over 80 million U.S. households. Information on credit shopper households is compiled from more than 25,000 sources nationwide. Many of these sources are governmental bodies which regularly provide much of their information to the general public. Only general credit information is included in this assemblage of data. The resulting CSMS information reveals nothing about individuals and is in compliance with all regulations governing the use of individual credit data. The data is then provided in summary form to NPDC for delivery to clients in standard or custom report formats.
NPDC's CSMS information can be output as printed reports, displayed on color-shaded maps and furnished in a form for use with popular database management, spreadsheet, and mapping software. The data are also accessible through NPDC's "MAX Online" system as an optional database in the company's "Prime Location" desktop product.
Census data now ready
CACI Marketing Systems has released 1990 census data in readily usable formats, including reports, diskettes, magnetic tapes, CD ROMs and PC systems. The census data is being released by the U.S. Census Bureau on a state-by-state basis. Because of this, CACI processes the data immediately to make it available for all businesses looking to learn more about their current and future markets. The list of available states will be updated weekly.
The data that are available include: total population counts by racial group, total population counts for ages 18 and over by racial group, Hispanic population counts, Hispanic population counts for ages 18 and over, and housing unit counts. CACI will make this data available for any location requested: radius around a street intersection, census tract, block group, town, county or state.
Monthly directory keeps track of corporate ownership changes
A new monthly directory offering up-to-date information on U.S. corporate ownership is now available on a subscription basis from On Demand Data. Called The Corporate Tree, the 1200+ page directory cross references all major U.S. corporations to their divisions, groups, subsidiaries, and affiliates. It provides current information through the use of high speed printing technology. Editorial material is updated daily and incorporated monthly into the directory. The Corporate Tree lists over 35,000 entries of major U.S. corporations, their divisions, groups, subsidiaries, and affiliates, including those listed on the New York Stock Exchange and Fortune 1000 companies. The directory is available by annual subscription or single copy. Custom services are available.