KEY FINDINGS NEWSLETTER
Spring 2003 Issue

Consumers Against Negative Corporate Citizens
Over three-quarters of consumers are more than willing to act against socially irresponsible companies. The chart below details the actions people say they would take.

Career Blunders
Most (73%) corporate professionals say they have seen others make career blunders, but only 43% admit to making mistakes themselves. Men (50%) are more likely than women (38%) to admit they have made mistakes.

A study conducted by Mori Research shows that morning internet users are almost as interested in news (breaking, local, national, business and sports) as they are in e-mail. By the afternoon, entertainment-related categories such as movie times, maps and directions, and offbeat news rise in popularity. Users are more likely to refer to sites about jobs, cars, homes and shopping in the evening.

Doctors Online
The majority of doctors continue to use the internet to research clinical information, while increasing their other online activities. The chart below shows what doctors are doing online.

Expansion and Contraction of Retailers
Chain stores are continuing to take over more and more of the retail environment as the number of independent merchants decline. The chart below shows the top 5 fastest growing and the top 5 fastest contracting types of retail establishments.

Sources of Business Intelligence
According to FIND/SVP, 95% of business executives will use the same amount of business intelligence or more in 2003 than they used in 2002. While many (73%) are increasingly turning to the internet for information, 95% believe that information found online is not completely reliable.

Continued Media Contraction in America
In earlier decades, the ownership of media outlets (radio stations, television stations, newspapers and cable systems) was limited in order to insure opposing views were heard or seen by Americans. Today, ten companies own over 90% of these outlets. As a result, the US now ranks 17^th, below Costa Rica and Slovenia, on the worldwide index of press freedom established by Reporters Without Borders.

Family and Health Rank Highest With Americans
Americans say that family and health are the most important aspects of their lives, while work ranks a distance third. The chart below shows how other aspects fared in this ranking.

Consumer Use of Media Throughout the Day
Daypart advertising — placing ads in certain time slots based on the time of day and the day of the week — helps advertisers reach the right people when they are most open to the advertising message. While this method is traditionally used in radio and television, it is now receiving attention for its relevance to the internet. The chart below shows how media options stack up against one another on a typical weekday.

About 46% of consumers say that television marketing influences their purchase decisions, while 37% say the internet does. At this time, the most popular targeting method for online ads (81%) is the use of keyword/content. Only 1% of ad targeting involves daypart analysis.

Hispanics Online
Two different reports, one by America Online and the other by RoperASW, show that 48% of US Hispanics have gone online from home during the last two years, compared to 21% of all US consumers. However, all US internet users spent an average of $104 more than Hispanics during a three month time period studied in 2002. The chart below shows what items are more likely to be purchased online by Hispanics versus all internet users.

Small Employers Overhaul Health Benefits
One in five (19%) small employers that offer health insurance modified their benefits during 2002, which typically led to higher costs for the employees. Some 65% raised workers’ co-payments or deductibles, 30% boosted the proportion of premiums paid by employees, 29% reduced the package of benefits offered, and 26% expanded the scope of their health benefits. Over one-third (35%) of employers changed insurers.

Bullets

• Three out of four drivers say they have above-average driving skills. Almost none believe they are below average.
• About 87% of adults believe that most top company managers are paid more than they deserve and that they become rich at the expense of ordinary workers.
• One-third (34%) of people say they are very happy, compared to 38% in 1974. However, 46% find life exciting, up from 42% in 1974.
• Women account for 56% of all college students, up from 32% in 1950. Over one-third of college students are age 25+, compared to 15% in 1950.

• The wealthiest 10% of Americans (based on net worth) own 63% of all household assets and the top 1% own 30%.

• There are 115 motor vehicle crash deaths each day on US roads. This is the leading killer of Americans ages 1-35.

• Seven in ten people age 60+ drink coffee each day on average, compared to 25% of those in their 20s.

• Environmentally friendly vehicles have had a 54-fold increase in popularity during the last five years. Almost 35,000 electric and gas-electric hybrid vehicles were registered during 2002.

• Between April 2000 and July 2001, the Hispanic population grew 4.7%, from 35.3 million to 37 million. During this same time, the non-Hispanic black population grew 2% to reach 36.1 million. Hispanics have now surpassed blacks as the US’s largest minority group at 13% of the total population.

• Almost 80% of major companies keep tabs on their employees by monitoring their e-mail, internet usage, phone calls and computer files. This is up from 35% in 1997.

• Over 220,000 people age 65+ live with a partner to whom they are not married, up 85% from 1990.

• About 12 million Americans traveled to Europe in 2000, 12 times the number who traveled there in 1970. Over 8 million Americans will take a cruise of some kind during 2003, up from 500,000 in 1970.

• Women make up 46.6% of the US workforce and hold 50.0% of managerial and professional specialty positions. However, in Fortune 500 companies, they account for only 15.7% of corporate officers, 12.4% of board directors, 7.9% of highest titles, 5.2% of top earners and six CEOs.

• One-half (49%) of adults say that money issues are the main source of stress in their daily lives.

• Only 12% of employers have written policies on workplace dating. Of these, 92% prohibit employees from dating a subordinate and 69% prohibit dating a superior.

• Almost two-thirds (64%) of general-audience television programming includes sexual content, down from 68% two years ago, but up from 56% four years ago.

• Seven in ten Americans admit to committing “ice cream indiscretions.” One-quarter (26%, including 29% of women and 19% of men) eat ice cream instead of a meal. One in five (19%, including 22% of women and 15% of men) eat it in bed. About 8% pick out all the candy and nuts before anyone else gets to it, and 3% eat ice cream while in the bathtub.

• When it comes to political views, adults consider themselves Democrats (34%), Republications (31%), Independents (24%), not sure (5%) or other (5%). In 1969, Democrats had a 17-point lead.

• The number of fraud and identity theft victims grew to 380,103 in 2002, up from 220,089 in 2001 and 139,007 in 2000.

• While the U.S. population grew 38% between 1970 and 2000, the number of people admitted to hospitals only rose 10% and outpatient visits increased 227%.

• One-quarter (26%) of consumers think that the methods used by the pharmaceutical industry to market drugs to doctors are acceptable and reasonable, while 30% find them a little too aggressive and 25% say they are much too aggressive. Nineteen percent are not sure.

• Some 13% of large employers have terminated future retiree health coverage over the past two years. During the next three years, another 22% expect to do the same.

• Three in four (75%) physicians think that direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs leads their patients to believe that those drugs will work better than they actually do.

• Over one-half (52%) of women heart patients say they are dissatisfied with some aspect of the healthcare provided to them, particularly physician communication styles.

• Fears of liability cause 79% of doctors to order more tests that are needed, 74% refer patients more often than they need to, 51% suggest invasive procedures more often than they think is necessary, and 41% prescribe medications more often than necessary.

• Spam cost US corporations $8.9 billion in 2002 and is expected to cost $10 billion in 2003. These unwanted emails make up 15-20% of total inbound e-mail at corporations and 30% at internet service providers (ISPs).

• Four out of ten 4-18-year-olds (43%) own at least one type of wireless devise, up from 32% in 2001. Mobile phones (33%), ultra-light laptops (13%) and handheld organizers (12%) are the most popular.

• Eight in ten home internet users say that spam (unsolicited e-mail) is very annoying today, up from 48% in 2000. Some 74% of online adults would like sending spam to be made illegal.

• By the end of 2001, 90% of car dealerships had a website, almost double the percentage in 1997. About 97% of these had dedicated staff in charge of monitoring and maintaining their sites.

• In 2002, 65.6% of online shoppers said they had reduced their brick-and-mortar store shopping since beginning to make purchases through the internet. This is up from 52.6% in 2001.

• One-half (51%) of Americans have cell phones. Cities with the highest concentration of users are Greenville, S.C. (68%), Atlanta (67%), St. Louis (67%), Raleigh, N.C. (65%), Orlando (63%), and Boston (61%).

• American employees with internet access at home and work spend an average of 5.9 hours per week online at home for work and an average of 3.7 hours per week online at work for personal interests.

• One in five (21%) of US adults have their own personal web site, or a family member has one. Thirteen percent (or a family member) own a domain name or web address for a hobby or personal activity.

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