Be my valentine or else
According to a Maritz AmeriPoll, conducted by St. Louis-based Maritz Marketing Research, over three-fourths of Americans (77 percent) give cards and gifts on Valentine’s Day. Despite February 14th’s popularity, 65 percent of us don’t know why the day is called Valentine’s Day.
The higher your income, the more likely you are to give, and if you consider yourself a romantic (as do 65 percent of people) you’re also more likely to participate in the love-fest.
In fact, 86 percent of romantic women and 80 percent of romantic men give gifts and cards.
So, to whom are we giving all this love and attention? Spouses, children and parents top the list, followed by girlfriends/boyfriends. Who’s last? Who else: your boss.
Men be forewarned. In general, 72 percent of women expect to receive a card or gift for Valentine’s Day. Forgetful ladies have a better chance of surviving the weekend though - only 59 percent of men expect something.
The average amount of money spent for cards and gifts varies by whether you’re a man or a woman. Men spend an average of $47.49, or $16.07 more, on cards and gifts than women. Women
spend an average of $31.42. It’s even worse for romantic men, who pay $50.35, or $18.11 more, for cards and gifts than their counterparts.
Over 72 percent of Americans celebrate Valentine’s Day. If you need some ideas, here are the top five ways to make it special:
Go out to eat .............................38 percent
Give chocolate or candy ...............20 percent
Send flowers ...............................18 percent
Have a romantic dinner at home ....12 percent
See a movie, play or concert .........10 percent
Other ways include a romantic getaway (5 percent), giving lingerie (3 percent), or proposing marriage (1 percent). But if none of this turns you on, you’re not alone. Twenty-eight percent of Americans do nothing at all to celebrate Valentine’s Day.
AOL megadeal faces user acceptance challenge
The acquisition of Netscape by AOL means that one out of three U.S. adults who go on-line monthly or more often will soon start their on-line sessions by opening a page owned by America Online, according to research released by Cyber Dialogue, a New York-based Intemet research and consulting firm. By year-end 1998, some 20 million surfers fit this description. As powerful as this fact is, the new company still faces a user acceptance challenge because Netscape’s users differ dramatically from AOL’s users, according to Cyber Dialogue.
"Based on audience reach, this deal makes AOL the hands-down winner of the race to capture on-line eyeballs," says Thomas E. Miller, Cyber Dialogue vice president. "However our surveys show that Netscape’s typical customer is far more business-like and oriented toward efficient use of the Intemet. They’re not likely to tolerate a barrage of unsolicited on-line merchandising offers."
Overall, AOL properties under the new deal will reach some 70 percent of the U.S. on-line market, including the third that begin their on-line sessions either by sing on to AOL or to Netscape’s Netcenter. This market dominance will allow the company to leverage advertising sales and merchandising by offering on-line vendors package deals across various AOL properties. AOL should also be able to expand the Netscape browser market installed base by four million users or more, depending on whether AOL decides to continue distributing Microsoft Intemet Explorer.
The biggest challenge facing AOL’s new megalith has to do with developing content and features that appeal to the diverse audiences represented by the merged companies. Cyber Dialogue’s data reveal that Netscape users are more reliant on the Intemet to make personal choices, including choosing an Intemet access provider. For example, users who rely on Netscape as their primary Intemet browser are 40 percent more likely than AOL users to have switched access providers in the past year, according to Cyber Dialogue’s research.
Overall, Netscape users are much more likely to view the Intemet as a workplace productivity tool, as seen in the accompanying table. In addition, Netscape users who do not currently use AOL are twice as likely to be destination shoppers who go directly to vender or retailer Web sites to look for product information rather than shop on-line from their service provider or other on-line venues. These differences confirm that AOL must move carefully in building strategies to integrate service content and features to avoid alienating its newly acquired Netscape user base.
Have fun, will travel
More Americans than ever will travel in the coming year for pleasure and business, according to a survey from Wirthlin Worldwide, a Grand Rapids, Mich., research firm. Seventy-six percent of respondents plan a leisure trip of 200 miles or more in the next 12 months – and most plan more than one. This may be yet another indicator that Americans are more confident in their finances than they have been in a generation. The fastest-growing source for planning travel is the Internet; more people under age 55 look to the Net than to travel agents for information. Web users bargain-shop and find firsthand reports on destination offerings from fellow travelers, though only 10 percent have booked lodging and only 11 percent have booked transportation on-line.
Transportation disasters and reports of substandard safety and maintenance practices seem to have at least a short-term effect on vacation planning. Before late-July 1998 reprots of a fire on a large cruise ship near Florida, 14 percent planned a cruise vacation; afterwards, only seven percent said they’d stay on a ship. Half of Americans say they are more concerned (26 percent much more concerned) about airline safety now than in the past. Still, 53 percent of Americans – 81 percent of those with $60,000-plus incomes – say they will fly to a vacation spot.
Those who worry most about airline safety (women aged 18 to 24, people with less income and education, and travelers who live in the South) are the least likely to fly for pleasure travel. The family vehicle remains the vacation transportation of choice for the vast majority (86 percent) of Americans, especially those with children and those with smaller household incomes.
Anticipated business travel over 200 miles is up seven percent from two years ago, with the sharpest increase among women. Some 43 percent of American men and 25 percent of women expect to travel for business in the next 12 months. Men make up nearly two-thirds of business travelers, and average more than eight trips planned in the coming year, while women average just over five.
Study finds companies re-engineering brands
Major companies are aggressively rebuilding their brands to boost their images, stand out from the corporate pack and attract investors, according to study by the New York-based Conference Board.
The study, which examines the strategy behind some of the world’s most prominent brands, includes surveys with 106 marketing and communications executives of companies based throughout the United States and Europe. Companies in the study include Microsoft, General Electric, IBM, Lego, Kodak, Levi Strauss, Bass PLC, 3M, DuPont, and Chase.
Some 43 percent of the surveyed firms have initiated a new brand strategy since 1995, aimed at increasing customer loyalty, differentiating their brand from others, or securing leadership in critical brand categories.
Large numbers of brand specialists say that profitable branding goes beyond advertising, one reason for why some companies are leaving their ad agencies to look for new agencies and new partners. While advertising continues to be a key factor in driving brands, the most successful firms see branding as a company-wide, top-to-bottom enterprise. Once handled by "logo cops" who guarded corporate identity, brand building is being rapidly linked to overall company strategy.
"With growing frequency, companies with established brands are abandoning long-time ties with their advertising agencies to search for new partners," says Kay Troy, director of the Conference Board’s Global Center for Performance Excellence and author of the report. "Other companies that were once content to use brands at the product level are now polishing up their corporate brand. Wanted is the ability to create a brand strategy message, or campaign that will give the company a competitive edge."
The study suggests an emerging connection between successful brand strategies and corporate performance. Total revenue data for 1991 and 1996 obtained from 53 survey participants (23 "high success" firms and 30 others) shows that the median increase in total revenues in the successful brand group was 33 percent, compared with 22 percent among other companies.
The stock value for a typical firm in the successful branding group increased 125 percent between 1991 and 1996, compared with 71 percent for a typical firm in the other group.
The larger the budget for brand building in participating firms, the more likely they are to report that their brand management effort is a success. Although the majority of firms estimated their expenditures to be under $10 million, almost a quarter reported spending $50 million or more. Those targeting a business-to-business audience typically spend less than thosehoping to reach the larger population of consumers. These expenditures represented between one and two percent of 1996 sales. The study finds that the maturity of a company’s brand strategy may be a factor. Almost half of the group who launched their brand strategy prior to 1990 have budgets of $50 million or more. In contrast, 60 percent of those who initiated a brand strategy in 1995 or more recently are investing
under $10 million.
Corporate advertising is often the largest piece of the budget, and most survey participants expect their advertising expenditures to grow over the next few years. The typical company allocated 20 percent of its 1996 budget to advertising.
The majority of firms identified eight measures as helpful in gauging the success of their corporate brand building: market/share penetration; ability to attract a premium; customer satisfaction; market position; brand leadership; brand awareness; value; and customer beliefs about the brand.
The ability to measure success remains an elusive goal. Only 20 percent of survey participants say they are highly satisfied with their ability to measure results. Firms that are highly satisfied are likely to use a more detailed set of measures to gauge brand building efforts - an indication that this group had moved beyond generalities to probe the nuances that differentiate their brand. The detailed set of measures included: brand personality, customer loyalty, sensitivity to the brand within its category, and brand leadership.
"We have key metrics that span the full purchase process cycle from initial awareness of the company all the way through customer loyalty and retention," says Ann Redmond of Microsoft. "But we also have a measurement architecture underlying that to assess the fundamentals of building brand equity. For example, we want to know how effective our advertising is, how effective our point of sale materials are, do people remember and internalize our tag line."
In some firms, internal audiences are targets for the brand message. The brand creates a strategic platform by embodying the corporate mission and aspirations. The challenge is to unite employees from a collection of diverse cultures around a common goal. Leading firms count "a distinctive corporate culture that serves as a platform for the brand" and "the ability to obtain support from a broad spectrum of employees," among the factors crucial to the success of their brand strategy. Over half of successful firms report that a widespread ability to articulate the brand promise is already in place. This is true for only about 15 percent of other participants.
Gen X optimists will propel Internet
The adoption of PCs, new media, and electronic commerce by Gen Xers will play a crucial role in moving the Internet into the mainstream, according to a new report from Forrester Research, Inc., Cambridge, Mass. Drawing on survey data from 120,000 North American consumers, Forrester has identified the technology optimism inherent in each new generation as the driving force behind this trend. Each generation has its technology optimists the people who adopt and proselytize high tech products. Forrester looked at three generations of optimists Gen Xers, Boomers, and seniors - and concluded that Gen Xers will embrace and evangelize the Internet as a mainstream technology in much the same way as Boomers have with television and seniors with radio.
"Optimism is what drives technology purchases and Internet commerce; therefore, locating technology optimists is essential for vendors and on-line marketers to succeed," says Meghann MacKenzie, Forrester analyst and author of the report. "Computer, software, and on-line vendors need to tap into optimists’ ages and motivations - entertainment, family, and career in order to predict a life cycle for consumers’ technology needs."
The technology optimism of Gen Xers will support several related trends, each of which will contribute to the mainstream emergence of the Internet. First, Gen Xers will dose the gap in PC ownership, catching up to wealthier Boomers thanks to the emergence of sub-$1,000 PCs. Second, Gen Xers will log on to the Intemet in greater numbers than Boomers or Seniors. Forrester’s survey data indicates that 82 percent of PC-enabled young optimists already use the Web on a regular basis, compared with 65 percent of Boomers with PCs. Finally, Gen Xers are far more likely to make on-line transactions and to use the Web to for pre-purchase research.
"Over the next few years, Gen Xers, Boomers, and seniors will evolve differently, using the Internet in distinct, specialized ways," says MacKenzie. "The Internet will increasingly become a lifestyle choice for Gen Xers, distinguishing them from Boomers, who will turn to the Interact for time-saving applications that cater to career and family needs. The few seniors on-line will use the Internet primarily for communications and community. To win on-line customers, marketers need to key into these distinctions."
Data for the report was drawn from a survey of 120,000 North American consumers and was conducted with the NPD Group in the fall of 1997.
Asian workers’ uncertainty varies from market to market
How confident are Asia’s employed about their jobs? Findings from a survey of over 13,000 respondents conducted by Hong Kong-based Asia Market Intelligence show different levels of anxiety in 11 markets.
Nervousness about job stability was felt most keenly in Malaysia - 45.3 percent of Malaysian residents claimed they were "very insecure" and "fairly insecure" about their jobs, followed by Thailand at 39.5 percent and Korea at 30.3 percent. Having survived riots, bank closures and a plunging rupiah, Indonesian respondents were suitably unnerved at 29.4 percent. Hong Kong respondents were also affected by the stock market malaise, retail slump and dour economic outlook at home - 20.2 percent were insecure about their jobs. Taiwan, virtually unscathed by the economic crisis, may have the most confident citizenry: 33.4 percent of respondents were "fairly secure" about their jobs, while 22.4 percent were "very secure." Philippine respondents were likewise upbeat: 33.2 percent were "fairly secure" about their jobs, while 26.8 percent were "very secure" - a surprisingly optimistic showing given the country’s problems in the wake of peso devaluation. Job pessimism, however, has apparently not affected outlook for the future. Only five percent of the total sample expect their personal economic situations to worsen a lot in the next 12 months. Forty-four percent - the majority - expect it to stay the same.
Here are the responses, by region, to the question: "Given the current economic climate, how secure or insecure do you feel about your job?"
Shanghai
Very insecure - 3.7%
Fairly insecure - 12.6%
Neither secure nor insecure - 36.2%
Fairly secure - 17.5%
Very secure - 5.6%
Don’t know/no comment - 24.3%
Beijing
Very insecure - 4.2%
Fairly insecure - 12.6%
Neither secure nor insecure - 40%
Fairly secure - 11.8%
Very secure - 4.6%
Don’t know/no comment - 26.7%
Guangzhou
Very insecure - 3.9%
Fairly insecure - 11.2%
Neither secure nor insecure - 37.9%
Fairly secure - 13.4%
Very secure - 5.0%
Don’t know/no comment - 28.5%
Hong Kong
Very insecure - 7.2%
Fairly insecure - 13.0%
Neither secure nor insecure - 21. ! %
Fairly secure - 21.4%
Very secure - 9.9%
Don’t know/no comment - 27.3%
Singapore
Very insecure - 7.2%
Fairly insecure - 10.5%
Neither secure nor insecure - 17.8%
Fairly secure - 26.9%
Very secure - 27.8%
Don’t know/no comment - 9.9%
Malaysia
Very insecure - 16.7%
Fairly insecure - 28.6%
Neither secure nor insecure - 12.7%
Fairly secure - 19.2%
Very secure - 1Z8%
Don’t know/no comment - 10%
Taiwan
Very insecure - 3.5%
Fairly insecure - 9.9%
Neither secure nor insecure - 9.3%
Fairly secure - 37.2%
Very secure - 24.9%
Don’t know/no comment - 15.2%
Thailand
Very insecure - 8.4%
Fairly insecure - 31.1%
Neither secure nor insecure - 20.5%
Fairly secure - 26.9%
Very secure - 12.3%
Don’t know/no comment - 0.8%
Korea
Very insecure - 8.8%
Fairly insecure - 21.5%
Neither secure nor insecure - 15.4%
Fairly secure - 14.7%
Very secure - 3.9%
Don’t know/no comment - 35%
Vietnam
Very insecure - 3.4%
Fairly insecure - 14.8%
Neither secure nor insecure - 29.9%
Fairly secure - 24.0%
Very secure - 20.9%
Don’t know/no comment - 6.9%
Indonesia
Very insecure - 6.7%
Fairly insecure - 22.7%
Neither secure nor insecure - 40.1%
Fairly secure - 24.8%
Very secure - 5.4%
Don’t know/no comment - 0.2%
Philippines
Very insecure - 4.8%
Fairly insecure - 12%
Neither secure nor insecure - 20.4%
Fairly secure - 33.2%
Very secure - 26.8%
Don’t know/no comment - 2.8%
"In the next 12 months, do you expect your personal economic outlook to improve a lot, hnprove a little, stay the same, worsen a little or worsen a lot?"
Total sample
Improve a lot - 5.5%
Improve a little - 30.0%
Stay the same - 44.0%
Worsen a tittle - 15.5%
Worsen a lot - 5.0%