Teens See Better World Ahead

A 2005/2006 study shows America's teens optimistic that innovations will solve global problems such as providing clean water (91%), eradicating world hunger (89%), eradicating disease (88%), reducing pollution (84%), and conserving energy (82%).

These teens think they are personally prepared for the future with 77% saying they've learned good problem-solving skills in school, 72% feel ready to work in teams, 71% say they think creatively, and 61% are ready to lead others. However, only 32% feel they've learned enough to be good money managers.

The career choices they are most interested in include medicine (17%), arts (17%), engineering (14%), science (9%) and business (8%).

Senior Citizens in America

Senior citizens are becoming a larger part of the American population. In 2003, 35.9 million Americans (12% of the population) were age 65+, which is a dramatic rise from 3.1 million in 1900. Further growth is expected with seniors reaching an estimated 72 million (20% of the population) by 2030.

One contributing factor is that life expectancy rose in the last century from 47.3 years in 1900 to 76.9 years in 2000. The number of centenarians - people who live 100 years or longer - jumped from 37,000 in 1990 to 50,000 in 2000. Some 80% of centenarians are women.

Introverts Do Well As Executives

Surprisingly, introverted people populate many of the highest corporate offices, including four in 10 top executives. In comparison, introverts and extroverts are split 50-50 among the overall population age 40 and older.

While an outgoing, gregarious personality typically allows fast risers to stand out in a crowd of talent, many successful introverts have mastered the ability to act like extroverts when needed. The list of well-known corporate CEO introverts includes Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Charles Schwab, movie magnate Steven Spielberg and Sara Lee CEO Brenda Barnes.

CPP (formerly Consulting Psychologists Press) has research showing that our younger generations are becoming increasingly extroverted. Those born prior to 1964, including baby boomers, are split about 50-50 between introversion and extroversion, however 59% of Generation X (born 1965-81) are extroverted, as are 62% of Millennials (born after 1981).

Emerging Minorities

As the following statistics show, these emerging minorities may be more significant than many marketers are aware.

• For Americans 65+, the ratio of Whites to people of color is 7:1. For those less than 10 years old, the ratio is 1:1.5.
• The spending power of U.S. African Americans is $723 billion and therefore ranks as the ninth largest consumer market in the world.
• The U.S. Asian American population (approximately 12 million) is larger than many European countries including Portugal, Greece, Norway, Finland, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark and Belgium.
  

Americans' Primary News Sources

When US adults look for news, their preferred sources vary based on the type of news they seek. The chart below shows differences in sources for national and local news, plus where consumers look first for breaking news stories.

Major Trends Affecting Media

According to the Project for Excellence in Journalism, there are six major trends emerging - some rather disturbing - affecting the media today.

Americans Without Health Insurance

The number of Americans without health insurance in 2003 rose to 45 million people (16% of the population), up 45% from 1987. Lack of insurance is the greatest among of 18-24-year-olds; some 30% are uninsured. However, the fastest increase in uninsured is for those age 45-54, where the number more than doubled from 1987 to 2005.

Adults Eating Healthfully

Almost two-thirds (64%) of American adults think of themselves as healthy eaters, with almost half (45%) of these following some type of health-conscious diet. When looking at healthy eaters by age category, it includes 75% of adults age 55+ but only 47% of those age 18-34.

While people say freshness is the number one characteristic of healthy foods, 60% of Americans' diets are frozen, packed/processed or prepared. Fruits and vegetables are identified as the top two healthiest foods, but 60% say they eat too few fruits and 49% eat too few vegetables on a typical day.

More than one-half (52%) of adults use organic food at least sometimes, with 2% doing so all the time.

"Consumer-Driven" Healthcare Plans

"Consumer-driven" healthcare plans, those designed to make people more cost-conscious, are proving to be unsatisfactory to consumers, compared to comprehensive health insurance plans.

More than one-third (35%) of people with both high-deductible plans and health savings accounts and 31% of people with only high-deductible plans have delayed or avoided getting medical care, compared to 17% of people covered by comprehensive plans.

When they do get care, 42% of people with high-deductible plans and 31% of those with health savings accounts spent more than 5% of their income on out-of-pocket costs and premiums in the past year, compared with only 12% of people with comprehensive plans.

Companies Find New Hires Online

A survey published by the DirectEmployers Association shows that companies now find more new employees via the Internet than anywhere else. This report shows Internet sources garnered 51% of all hires in 2005, with only 5% from the classified ads in newspapers, the traditional strategy used for many decades.

Corporate websites produce 21% of new employees, general job boards 15%, niche job boards 6%, social network websites 5% and commercial resume databases 4%. Non-electronic sources of new hires include referrals by employees 19%, search firms 10% and campus recruiting 8%.

Generating Marketing Leads

Surveys show that business-to-business firms consistently report that their number one goal for marketing is to generate leads, followed closely by branding. The chart below shows that 62.6% of business-to-business marketers rated in-person events as either "effective" or "very effective" in terms of generating qualified leads. A good 42.1% said the same for online marketing, which equaled that for direct mail and was ahead of business magazines, newspapers and printed directories.

Business-to-Business Websites Can Use Overhaul

According to the "B2B Website Usability: Design Guidelines for Converting Business Users into Leads and Customers" report from the Nielsen Norman Group (NNG), people using business-to-business sites accomplish what they set out to do only 58% of the time compared to a 66% success rate on consumer e-commerce sites. Problems appear to stem from not focusing on the customer. The elements of bad design and the resulting perceptions found by NNG include:

1. Incomplete product description, which creates skepticism
2. Overwhelming and convoluted content, which creates confusion
3. Convoluted navigational structure, which causes prospects to lose patience
4. Pushy marketing tactics, which cause annoyance and distrust
5. Lack of pricing information, which customers say they want the most and get the least.
6. Requiring prospects to fill out lengthy registration forms, which can send sales prospects running the other way.

Bullets

• American adults' romantic blunders or missed opportunities are most likely to include turning someone down and later regretting it (41%), judging people by their appearance (37%), and making out with somebody without knowing their name (12%).
• Asian Americans rank e-mail as the number one most important media, while only 49% of Whites and 35% of African Americans put e-mail in the top three media.
• Sales of computer game software dropped 19% to 38 million units in 2005, from 47 million in 2004.
• Sixty percent of Americans take at least one annual vacation, and 60% of those go to the same destination each year.
• More than one-half (56%) of cell phone users rely on their cell phone features such as a camera, clock, calendar, etc. as substitute flashlights to see in dark places.
• Most Internet users keep their e-mail accounts for 4 to 6 years, and almost two-thirds never change their e-mail address.
• More than one-third (35%) of parents play computer and videogames, with 80% of them doing so with their kids.
• More than six in ten Americans (62% - which includes 75% of single adults and 58% of married adults) have met someone they were interested in getting to know better but have not acted on it. Men (68%) are more likely than women (55%) to have experienced this.
• About one-half of cell phone users have decreased the use of their landline service - 60% on average - for long distance calls. One in five consumers with a cell phone service plans to drop their landline service.
• Although Whites make up only 58% of the public school student population, the average White student attends a school which is 78% White. The average Black student attends a school that is 30% White, and the average Hispanic student a school that is 28% White.
• Some 27.5% of workers admit to having had a tryst with someone in their office.
• The median age of children at which parents think they should receive a cell phone is 11.
• While workers' wages rose 2.4% in 2005, inflation averaged 3.4%, giving a net decline of 0.9% in the average worker's buying power.
• Almost one-half (49%) of men head straight for the sales rack when shopping for clothes, including 60% of the 18-24-year-olds.
• The US has 1,210 mega-churches, defined as churches averaging a Sunday attendance of at least 2,000 people. Most of these churches are nondenominational (34%), followed by Southern Baptist (16%) and Baptist, unspecified (10%). Some 48% are located in the South, with 25% located in the West, 20% in the North Central region, and 6% in the Northeast.
• Only 28% of American adults can name more than one of the five fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment to the US Constitution (rights to freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly and to petition for redress of grievances). In comparison, 52% can name at least two members of "The Simpsons" cartoon family and 22% can name all five (Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie).
• In spite of Wal-Mart's popularity with shoppers, some 63% of consumers say they would oppose a Wal-Mart being built in their own community.
• Outliving retirement savings is the main retirement worry of 56% of American workers, up from 49% in 2004.
• According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, one in every 136 U.S. residents was behind bars in June 2005, up 2.6% from June 2004. Prisons accounted for about two-thirds of all inmates (1.4 million), while the other one-third (almost 750,000) were in local jails. Some 61% of respondents with an at-work Internet connection admitted that they spend at least some time surfing non-work-related Web sites during the workday. On average, 24% of their time on the Internet at work is not work related.
• In 1972, the typical male high school graduate, aged 25 to 34, earned $42,000 in inflation-adjusted dollars; thirty years later, male high school graduates of the same age were earning just over $29,000.
• About 17% of people who work in jobs that do not require college degrees, actually have college degrees. These are very often people in their twenties who can't get professional-type employment, or people in their fifties who have been through lay-offs and are considered too old by many employers.
• Based on 12 key measures, Wisconsin is the most typical state in the country, compared to all states combined. This CNN poll included four criteria that measure race and ethnicity, four that look at income and education, and four that describe the typical neighborhood in each state. The top 10 most typical states are Wisconsin, Missouri, Kansas, Indiana, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Nebraska, Georgia and Minnesota. Americans spent $395 million on dog and cat training products in 2005, up 30% from 2001.
• Americans spent $8.3 billion in coffeehouses during 2005, up approximately 100% since 2000. The number of coffeehouses during this time jumped from 13,809 to 21,400.
• Some 30% of National Public Radio listeners identified themselves as liberal, 31% as conservative and 33% as moderates, which is comparable to the public at large. For commercial radio call-in shows, 45% of listeners identify themselves as conservative and 18% call themselves liberal. For one of the shows most known for its conservative take on issues (hosted by Rush Limbaugh), the ratio is 77% conservative to 7% liberal.
• Almost one-half of male golfers have gotten into verbal confrontations with other golfers. Only 27% of female golfers have done so.
• Only 6% of consumers who have a bad experience with a store will contact the company; however 31% tell their friends, family and co-workers about the experience, with each one telling an average of 4.1 people.
• Almost one-half (47%) of Internet shoppers research items online and then purchase them in a bricks-and-mortar store.
• Some 80% of advertisers do so via the Internet. Online marketing is expected to grow 19% during 2006; in comparison, this is eight times the growth rate of TV ads and six times the rate for print ads.
• Internet advertising revenues exceeded $12.5 billion in 2005, an increase of 30% from 2004's record-breaking $9.6 billion. Internet advertisements have enticed more than one-half (52%) of 18-34-year-old college students to purchase products or services online.
• For the first time ever, post offices processed more pieces of bulk or standard mail (often referred to as "junk" mail) than all other mail combined in 2005. The junk mail count was 100.9 billion pieces; the other mail included first-class (98.1 billion), priority (887.5 million), and express (55.5 million).
• Workplace alcohol use and impairment directly affects an estimated 15% of the workforce (19.2 million workers); 9.2% (11.6 million) work with hangovers.
• One in 20 Americans now have diabetes, up 86% in 10 years. Some 61% use pills and 30% use insulin to control the disease, while 9% take no medications.
• Almost five in six teenage girls (84%) feel that celebrities' looks can lead to eating disorders among teens.
• If they could only do one thing in the morning, 44% of US couples would rather drink coffee than shower (25%), kiss each other goodbye (15%), eat breakfast (8%), or brush their teeth (7%).
• The average family's out-of-pocket medical expenses grew twice as fast as family income between 1996/1997 and 2001/2002.
• The average US consumer spends $54.13 per month on prescription drugs.
• About 10% of cosmetic surgery patients have experienced medical problems that required follow-up as a result of their treatment. This is up from 7% in 2004.
• One in five newspaper articles about common neurological conditions contains medical errors or exaggerations.
• More than one-half of high school students (51%) and 37% of adults have at least one symptom of hearing loss.
• Since 2000, the number of adults age 20-44 using prescription medication to treat ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) jumped 139%. Other age groups seeing increases include 45-64-year-olds (79%), 0-9-year-olds (65%), 10-19-year-olds (55%) and 65+ (18%).
• Manufacturing employment dropped 3 million jobs (a 17% decline) from 2000 to 2004, reaching its lowest level since 1950, which was 14.3 million jobs.
• The number of notebook computers sold in 2005 increased 45%, with the dollar volume growing 21%.
• The US white-collar workforce burns more than 583.3 million gallons of gasoline while commuting to and from work each week.
• Three-quarters (76%) of Americans had signed up for the telemarketing do-not-call registry by the end of 2005, up from 57% in 2003.
• Some 84% of small business owners enjoy running their businesses, with 83% saying they would start their business again, given the choice. Fewer (73%) would encourage others to start their own businesses.
• Some 85% of US business executives use search engines to find information on the Internet.
• The Direct Marketing Association found recently that 38% of US retailers believe their Web sites produce the best return on investment, ahead of all other online marketing tactics, including e-mail (33%).