November and December 2011

• Teens are more likely to say their mom is “cool” (63%) than their dad (47%).
• Baby Boomers – Americans born between 1946 and 1964 – began turning 65 at the start of 2011. They currently make up 26% of the population (79 million). Due to the aging of Boomers, the 65+ population is expected to increase 79% between 2010 and 2030.
• The content IPad owners consumed on their devices during 2010, included ebooks (70%), electronic magazines or journals (61%), network TV programs (51%) and paid-for content (13%).
• Some 79% of Americans in their 20s say they are overwhelmed by their financial situation, and 57% are at least somewhat dependant on their parents to pay bills.
• Some 23% of men say that shopping for a new suit is more stressful than going on a first date.
• Seventy-two percent of people tilt their head to the right when kissing.
• Almost two in three U.S. mothers with a mobile phone (62%) use the mobile web on a regular basis, up from 22% in 2009.  The group of mothers with the highest smartphone use is aged 45-54 (34%), followed by ages 55 and older (26%), ages 35-44 (23%), ages 25-34 (15%), and ages 18-24 (2%).
• The race/ethic breakdown of mobile phone owners with smartphones includes Asian Americans (45.9%), Hispanics (45.0%), African Americans (33.0%), General population (31.0%) and Non-Hispanic Whites (27.0%). Among smartphone owners, Asian Americans typically prefer iPhones, African Americans like Blackberry devices and Hispanics are almost evenly split among Android, Blackberry and iPhone.
• According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the likelihood of volunteering rises with education: 42% of adults with bachelor’s degrees or more education volunteered in 2010, compared with 29% of those with associate’s degrees or some college, 18% of high school graduates, and 9% of those without high school degrees.
• Almost one-half (47%) of all adults have had a job in the restaurant industry at some point in their lives.
• Three-quarters of men (76%) say it is essential to kneel when proposing marriage; only one-half of women agree.
• Some 200 million people play games on Facebook each month.
• Almost eight in 10 U.S. consumers (79%) say they visit their bank’s websites daily or weekly. Some 40% pay bills online using their bank’s website with one-third primarily using this method; 62% have paid with paper checks at least once in the last six months.
• “Cat people” prefer Diet Coke, while “dog people” prefer Mountain Dew.
• Two in 10 married women (21%) earned at least $5,000 more than their husband in 2010.
• A recent CareerBuilder survey finds that 51% of female senior executives typically wear black to work, compared to 18% of their male counterparts. However, the large percentage of males occupying C-suites means that blue is the most popular color. When you combine men and women, 36% of senior executives typically wear navy blue, 26% opt for black, 8% go for brown, and 8% choose gray. Some 63% of senior executives typically wear business casual, and only 14% wear suits.
• American men drive an average of 16,920 miles per year, 276 of them while “lost.”
• According to Women’s Health magazine, after a bad day, women want sweets, time alone and alcohol, in that order.

Brand Strategy

• Three-quarters of American online shoppers (74%) say finding a deal is always important and 29% say time constraints are always important to their online shopping.
• Two-thirds of 2-5 year olds (67%) know how to operate a computer mouse, 61% are able to play videogames, and 25% can make calls on a mobile phone.
• Some 40% of Americans say they have tried new retail stores, restaurants or hotels because they received gift cards for them. Seventy-two percent have returned to that venue.
• Five companies control 64% of all online advertising spending which reached a total of $63.4 billion in 2010. Google spent $29 billion (46% of the total), followed by Yahoo with $6 billion, Microsoft $2.2 billion, Facebook $1.9 billion, and AOL $1.3 billion.
• Americans spend about 13 hours each week using two or more forms of media simultaneously, including adults ages 65+ who do so more than 11 hours per week. The TV and Internet are the most common media used together.
• U.S. drivers spend an average of 87 minutes behind the wheel each day.
• More than one-half of women (58%) say they prefer to read a magazine in print rather than in digital format, compared to 48% of men.
• Almost seven in 10 consumers (69%) say that visible signs of aging are largely genetic and therefore are not affected by external remedies.
• Some 88% of impulse purchases are made because the item is on sale.
• African Americans watch TV an average of two hours more per day than adults overall, while Asian Americans watch two hours less per day.
• Hispanics are 51% more likely to pay attention and consider buying if an advertisement shows family and children, compared to 50% of Blacks and 34% of Non-Hispanic Whites.

Healthcare

• According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, each year more than 200,000 people are hospitalized due to influenza. Depending on the year, between 3,000 and 49,000 people die.
• Americans say they are more likely motivated to lose weight because they don’t like how they look (40%) than because they feel unhealthy (27%).
• One in ten Americans ages 18 and older (9.6%) have visited a hospital in the past month
• One-half (49%) of adults worldwide say they are trying to lose weight.
• One-quarter (26%) of internet users have purchased vegetable seeds.
• One-half (51.8%) of consumers say they frequently look at nutrition labels before buying food products to be sure they don’t contain anything they want to avoid eating. This is down from 1995 when 64% of consumers claimed to read nutrition labels.
• Among users of dietary supplements, the most popular products are fish oil, multivitamins, Vitamin D, calcium and coenzyme Q-10. Online retailers are the most popular source of supplements used by almost one-half (47%) of buyers, up from 44% in 2009 and 40% in 2008.
• Some 69% of adults say they are more likely to patronize restaurants that offer locally produced foods.
• While dentists recommend that people brush their teeth for two minutes, the average American only brushes for 27 seconds.
• Twenty-one percent of women say they do not want to have children.
• Eight in 10 Americans (80%) say they are eating enough fiber, while only one in 10 actually does. Some 20% mistakenly think meat provides fiber, and 10% think water does.
• Twenty-one million Americans live in their parents’ homes.
• Fewer than one in 10 workers (8%) are impressed by the dedication of coworkers who come in sick, and 31% say they are concerned about their well-being.
• People with spouses who nag them frequently are 300% more likely to develop heart disease than those with more easy-going partners.

Business to Business

• For 70% of business-to-business sales, the sales cycle is longer than three months.
• The proportion of workers who habitually arrived at work late dropped from 20% in 2008 to 15% in 2010.
• Up to 70% of a business’ buying decision is now made based on information he or she finds online, which is long before a salesperson has an opportunity to get involved.

Energy

• Some economists predict that nanotechnology will have a $1 trillion global market for nanoproducts over the next 10 to 15 years. (One use is a nanoproduct paint-like substance for spraying onto rooftops to replace costly rooftop solar panels that convert sunlight into electricity.)
• About one-third of U.S. homeowners are planning home improvement projects to make their homes more environmentally friendly including installing energy-efficient windows and/or doors (16%), adding insulation (12%), installing energy-efficient roofing (11%), and installing energy-saving heating/ventilation/cooling systems (10%).
• About 23% of U.S. consumers say it’s never acceptable for businesses to make vague claims about their products’ environmental impact, while 59% believe these kinds of claims are acceptable only when they are backed up by additional details.
• Only 43% of U.S. consumers say they trust companies to tell the truth about their environmental practices, down from 47% in 2008.
• More than one-half of Americans (54%) say that economic growth should take precedence over protecting the environment, while 36% show more concern about the environment than the economy. Young adults age 18-29 (51%) are more likely than overall adults to choose the health of the environment over the economy.
• The most important factors in a car purchase (besides price) are fuel efficiency (38%), brand or make (26%), safety record (17%), equipment (17%) and horsepower (3%). Forty-four percent of shoppers age 60 and older say fuel efficiency is most important, compared with 33% of 18-25-year-olds.
• Almost 70% of the jackup fleet in deepwater offshore drilling is considered old (25+ years) and inefficient like the BP drilling rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.