September and October 2011

• When Americans go on vacation, most would rather see a sunset than a sunrise (66%), try new food than stick to their regular fare (66%), allow for spontaneity than stick to a structured schedule (60%), and get up early instead of sleeping in (55%).
• Most Americans think that these activities should be banned while driving: send a text (88%); read a text (80%); make a phone call without using a hands-free device (71%); and search for directions (63%).
• Almost 63% of restaurant goers think it is rude for diners to talk, text and tweet on their cell phones while at the table. However 83% say it is okay to take photos of food and friends.
• Hispanics account for only 16% of the U.S. population, but 50% of consumer spending growth during 2010.
• Some 71% of travelers say they experience anxiety at the airport or during other travel situations. Those who are nervous in air travel situations (68%) say it is due to airport security-related issues. They are most commonly anxious or frustrated about having to remove their shoes (57%), putting things back into their carry-on bag after going through security (56%), and having to remove their laptops or netbooks from their cases (23%).
• Most American retirees believe their children (73%) and grandchildren (76%) will not have as good a career or lifestyle as they were able to have. They also think their children (52%) and grandchildren (62%) will never be able to live the “American dream.”
• Most parents (65%) charge their electronic devices daily, though 62% dislike the cords that come with their devices and 68% say they clutter up their homes.
• The average age a man marries is 28.2 years, up from 26.8 in 2000. For women, the average age she gets married is 26.1 years, up from 25.1 in 2000.
• Only 26% of 20-something adults were married in 2008, compared to 68% in 1960. A slight majority of all adults (52%) were married in 2008, compared to 72% in 1960. Of Americans aged 30-49 years old, 44% have cohabitated with a partner at some point during their lives.
• More than 60% of men say they would rather toast a special occasion with beer than with champagne.
• Americans increased their cooking and eating of ethnic dishes by 29% in 2010 over 2009. The quickest growing cuisines are from South America, Japan and Korea.
• Three-quarters of iPad owners (75%) use their device five days a week, including 55% who use it every day.
• Some 67% of pet owners say their pet has a sixth sense and knows when bad weather is coming.
• Some 30% of Americans say they feel anxious when their cell phone is not within arm’s reach; 53% even take their phones into the bathroom.

Brand Strategy

• Some 62% of affluent Americans (top 10% of households in terms of annual income) feel more comfortable shopping online if they can call someone directly for assistance. Some 76% have used a mobile devise to compare prices, and 21% have used such a device to research product information while shopping in a store.
• On average, 33% of college students spend six or more hours online via computer, cell phone, gaming console or other electronic device.
• Most U.S. college students say the Internet has made it easier to feel close to people, compared to 28% who say it has made it harder.
• On a typical day, 1% of Internet users access geosocial services, with only 4% of online Americans ever using such a service. Men (6%), Hispanics (10%) and 18-29-year-olds (8%) are most likely to use this kind of service. Geosocial services (such as Foursquare, Gowalla and Facebook Places) allow users to check in online at a physical location and see who else is there, and sometimes access special offers.
• The percentage of US adults who use an e-reader device such as a Kindle, iPad or Nook jumped to 15%, up from 8% in 2010. In addition, the percentage of adults who plan to get an e-reader rose from 12% to 15% over the past year.
• Some 32% of smartphone owners say they are more likely to buy from brands that advertise within apps they have downloaded to their devices, and 70% say ads are a fair price to pay for free apps.

Healthcare

• Men who recently became fathers say they have trouble sticking to an exercise routine (45%) and maintaining friendships (38%) since having children.
• Some 77% of consumers say they would like to see lower-calorie menu options at restaurants. In addition, consumers want to know about menu items that accommodate allergies (53%), low-sodium items (52%), ingredient lists (51%), gluten-free items (27%), and peanut- and nut-free items (22%).
• Children of U.S. active-duty military personnel make 18% more trips to the doctor for behavioral problems and 19% more visits for stress disorders when a military parent is deployed, compared with when the parent is home.
• One-half of children in grades one through 12 (51%) are happy with the way they look including 30% of those in grades five through eight and 18% of those in grades nine through 12.
• Most White and Hispanic children (58%) eat breakfast daily, compared with 41% of Black children.
• Almost three-quarters of Americans adults (74%) say they would choose to have a terminally-ill family member receive care at home rather than at a nursing home or other care facility.
• Annual emergency room visits increased almost 31% from 1997 (94.9 million) to 2008 (124 million). Median wait times for treatment during that period rose from 22 minutes to 33 minutes. An estimated 14% to 27% of all emergency room visits are unnecessary.

Business to Business

• Twenty-five of the 100 highest paid U.S. CEOs earned more in 2010 than their companies paid in federal income tax, according to the Institute for Policy Studies. Many of these same companies spent more on political lobbying than they did on taxes.
• Almost one-third (31%) of office managers do not take any additional vacation days (aside from employer-provided vacation time) between Thanksgiving and New Years. Some 25% only take an extra day or two, while fewer than 25% take an additional week or more.
• Only 46% of business owners have considered a succession plan for when they retire, and of those, only 20% have identified who will replace them. Businesses with more than 50 employees (78%) than those with fewer employees (42%) are more likely to say a succession plan is important.
• Americans receive more than 70 billion voicemails annually, and 34% say the thing they most dislike with this service is listening to long rambling messages.
• Some 4.0% of adults (9.2 million Americans) used a mobile app to read a newspaper in the prior month, and 3.7% (8.4 million Americans) used an app to read a magazine. The newspaper readers are aged 16-33 (50%), aged 35-54 (28%), aged 46-64 (20%) and aged 65 or older (2%).
• Two-thirds of Americans (66%) say that big banks have lost touch with regular people, and 58% believe larger banks cannot offer the kind of customer service that smaller banks can.

Energy

• Most Americans (81%) say they would buy and wear clothing made from recycled materials.
• Despite rapid growth in recent years, solar power accounts for less than 1% of electricity use in the U.S. During 2010, the U.S. accounted for $1.6 billion of the world’s $29 billion market for solar panels.
• Ethanol from corn supplies 10% of U.S. car fuel.
• Renewable energy is projected to be the fastest growing source of primary energy worldwide over the next 25 years, but fossil fuels will remain the dominant source of energy. Renewable energy use is expected to increase by 2.8% per year and the renewable share of total energy use will increase from 10% in 2008 to 15% in 2035. Fossil fuels, however, will continue to supply most of the energy used worldwide accounting for 78% in 2035.
• In 2011, the United States had less than 1 megawatt (MW) of installed hydrokinetic, as compared to more than 77,000 MW of conventional hydroelectric generation capacity. Some experts say that hydrokinetic energy could provide 13,000 MW of new generation capacity to the United States by 2025. (Hydrokinetic technologies use the power of moving water – ocean waves or currents in canals, rivers, and tidal channels – to produce electricity.)
• The total installed generation capacity for campus microgrids is expected to increase by 164% between 2011 and 2017, jumping from 620 megawatts  to 1.6 gigawatts. By the end of 2017, the campus microgrid market will reach $777 million in annual revenue.  (Microgrids are pockets of distributed energy resources that can be isolated from the utility power grid. Formerly, this technology was centered on educational campuses but demand is now growing in the areas of government, health care and industrial campuses.)