KEY FINDINGS NEWSLETTER

Summer 1999 Issue

Marketing With Color
Color, an important part of the marketing message, proclaims the personality of a product or company. Red is obvious, loud and extroverted. Pink communicates a gentle, delicate feel. Blues and greens are serene, cool, and introverted. However, mixing these colors can change the tone of the message. For example, hot pink gives a sexy feel; adding blue to red yields a royal hue. Research shows that consumers can be divided into general categories based on their preference for color.

The Top Ten Advertising Icons of the 20th Century
Advertising Age recently named the top 10 advertising icons of the century based on their effectiveness, longevity, recognizability and cultural impact.

1. Marlboro Man (1955)
   Introduced to reposition brand from a ladies cigarette to more broad appeal. The cowboy image took this brand to the top position by 1972.
2. Ronald McDonald (1963)
   Recognized today by 96% of American children.
3. Jolly Green Giant (1935)
   Created to lightened up image of Green Giant that frightened kids.
4. Betty Crocker (1921)
   Fictitious kitchen expert who had a radio show, TV show, wrote 200 cookbooks and has had eight different looks.
5. Energizer Bunny (1989)
   Ultimate symbol of longevity, staying power.
6. Pillsbury Doughboy (1965)
   Named Playthings Magazine "Toy of the Year" in 1972.
7. Aunt Jemima (1893)
   Inspired by a song in a 1893 vaudeville show. Has reflected America’s changing perceptions of African American women throughout the 20th century.
8. Michelin Man (1898)
   One of world’s oldest and most recognized trademarks. Represents Michelin in more than 150 countries.
9. Tony the Tiger (1951)
   Transformed from tiger on "all fours" to today’s six-foot-tall spokescat.
10. Elsie the Cow (1939)
    Started as one of four bovines in medical journal ads.

Beer Consumption up; Milk down
American adults now consume more beer and soft drinks than they did 20 years ago. Milk consumption is down; fruit is only up slightly. The consumption statistics below may explain why the American Heart Association reports that almost 105 million adults are overweight; 42.5 million of them are considered obese.

Changes in Food and Beverages Consumed by Adults from 1977-78 to 1994-95

Source: USDA data cited by the Food Marketing Institute

Demand for Electronics On the Increase
According to the Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association, the average American household spends $1,000 per year on consumer electronics. In the last five years, sales of several items have jumped significantly.

Change in Electronic Sales During Last 5 Years

Computer Simulation in Court
The use of computer simulations to recreate airplane crashes, automobile accidents and industrial accidents is on the increase. The goal of this tool is to aid jurors in understanding the ordinarily complicated evidence presented at trial. Recent research shows that presenting a computer simulation of an automobile accident affected juror decision-making in three significant ways.

1. Jurors awarded lower compensatory damages when the simulation was used by the defense—potentially because they were better able to imagine alternate explanations for the accident.
2. Jurors appear to have more confidence in the final verdict. This may be because jurors were better able to comprehend the case facts and issues when provided with the simulation.
3. Jurors spent less time trying to understand the facts of the accident and, instead, were able to spend more time reviewing the defendant’s and the plaintiff’s arguments.

1998 Home-Buyer Characteristics

American Population Growth by Region
By the end of the 1990s, America’s total population will have grown 10.4%. However, this average growth belies significant expansion differences by region. Around 67% of the growth will be due to natural increase (birth minus deaths); the remaining percent from net international migration.

Regional Population Growth by Region

Plaintiff Win Rates
Who says, "Juries always favor the plaintiff?" Overall, American juries are just as likely to vote for the defendant as they are for the plaintiff. The table below notes the plaintiff win rate in various types of tort cases.

Plaintiff Win Rates in Tort Cases Involving a Jury

Source: National Center for State Courts, 1996

Leading Causes of Injury Death
Injuries kill about 150,000 Americans each year. These represent 7% of all deaths and 70% of deaths among people age 5 to 24. The U.S. death rate from injuries declined 6% from 1985 to 1995.

Leading Causes of U.S. Injury Death, 1995

Source:  National Center for Health Statistics

Bullets

• Ninety-nine percent of consumers say they agree with the statement no matter where you turn, there is advertising. Sixty-two percent strongly agree with this statement.

• Radio ads using a vanity 800 number get 14 times more calls than those using a numeric 800 number. However, consumers who respond to direct-response TV commercials prefer numeric numbers over vanity numbers 19 to one. (Vanity numbers are those that translate into words for easy recall).

• Affluent consumers prefer darker, richer colors for the products they buy.

• Department store customers returned 5.5% of all merchandize purchased in 1997.

• Ninety-one percent of Americans who listen to alternative rock music on the radio are Internet users. Almost 70% of top 40 and classical music listeners are online.

• Toll-free numbers and Internet addresses each appear in 58% of magazine ads.

• The U.S. has 60 million grandparents who spend an estimated $30 billion per year on their grandchildren.

• A Teen Research Unlimited survey shows that more than one-half of teenage girls and more than one-third of the boys do some grocery food shopping each week.

• Twenty percent of retail workers think that customers are too demanding; 15% think dealing with customers gets in the way of doing their jobs.

• More than 90 million Americans have low health literacy skills. This means they are not able to fully read and understand the instructions on prescriptions or medicine bottles, appointment slips, informed consent documents, insurance forms and health education materials.

• The most stolen passenger vehicles, in order of preference, are: Toyota Land Cruiser, Mitsubishi Montero 4X4, Lexus GS300. Those least likely to be stolen are the Saab 900, Saturn SC and the Subaru Impreza.

• According to the Journal of Applied Psychology, people who can see their reflection at mealtimes consume 32% less fatty food than those who can't view themselves.

• Eighty-nine percent of public schools had online Internet access in 1998, up from 78% in 1997.

• Almost 40% of colleges allow applicants to apply for admission via the college's web site; 51.4% of the remaining colleges plan to have this process available during the next 12 months.

• One in 12 U.S. motorcycle owners is a woman. Typically, she is in her late 30s or early 40s, married, has attended at least some college and earns around $44,000 per year.

• The number of wireless telephone subscribers reached 55.2 million in mid 1998. The growth of this market has been excess of 25% per year since 1984. The average monthly bill dropped from $95.00 in 1988 to $43.86 in 1997.

• About 8.2 million American workers telecommuted on a regular basis in 1998.

• According to the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, 75% of Americans believed in capital punishment in 1997. This is up from 38% in 1965.

• Around 35% of teenagers say that illegal drugs are the most important problem facing young people today, but only 26% of their parents feel the same way.

• Women cite the right to vote (73%), birth control (63%) and education (56%) as the changes that have had the most effect on women in the 20th century.

• The number of travelers using the Internet jumped 189% to 33.8 million in 1998. However, only 6.7 million actually booked their travel online.

• Four out of five people sing in the car.

• A study from Wilkes University Pennsylvania claims that people who make love once or twice a week are more immune to colds than those who abstain.

• Thirteen percent of couples share underwear, 37% share pajamas and 26% share a toothbrush. A surprising 80% say they always share the covers.

• More than 30,000 different models of motor vehicles travel U.S. roads today.

• There is one new Internet user every 1.75 seconds in the U.S.

• Americans recycled a record 45 million tons of paper (45% of all the paper they used) in 1998. This is a 44% increase over what was recycled in 1990.

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