Men Want Space of Their Own

Most American men aged 21-65 with at least $50,000 household income (59%) believe it is very important to have a "man cave" in their home. Some seven in 10 men say they would choose to build (or have already built) their own man cave, compared to 4% who would hire someone to build it.

Of those who have one, 67% go there to work on hobbies, while 37% watch movies and sports. The top five items men desire in their caves are a flat screen TV (78%), computer (70%), tool bench (69%), surround sound (66%) and a refrigerator (47%).

Top Learning Enrichment Websites

Based on its potential for learning enrichment, elementary school teachers say Planet Orange www.orangekids.com is the best website on the Internet. The chart below shows the five top rated websites.

Youth Participation in Presidential Elections

Participation in presidential elections among 18 to 29-year-old voters rose from 40% in 2000 to 49% in 2004. Among voters ages 18 to 24, participation was 11% higher in 2004. A study by Princeton University and University of Michigan students shows voter turnout in 2006 increased 4% when people received voting reminders via text messages. This increased to 5% when using short, straightforward messages. Using phone banks also gave a 4% to 5% increase in turnout, but was much more expensive ($20 per vote generated versus $1.56 per vote). Also, more than one-half of 18 to 24-year-olds did not have a land-line phone, and therefore couldn't be reached by a phone bank. Some 89% own a cell phone. Today, 63% of young people with a cell phone regularly use text messaging, compared to only 15% of Baby Boomers.

Twice as many young people say they are paying attention to the 2008 election as were doing so prior to the 2004 election.

Other Youth Voter Facts, Per the Brookings Institute

• Young voters largely identify as independent, at 40 percent.
• The overwhelming majority of young adults, 85%, say they are interested in following national affairs; this is up 14 points from 1999 and close to the interest reported by adults of all ages.
• Iraq, education, health care, and the environment rank as their most critical concerns
• Democrats have been the frontrunners in reaching the younger demographic. In the mid-term elections of 2006, the Democrats' largest marginal win was with the youth, who voted 60% to 38% in favor of Democratic congressional candidates.

Fictional Heroic Characters to the Rescue

The list of fictional heroic characters shows which ones Americans would most want to come to their rescue in an emergency

Young Americans' Positive Immigration Views

Young Americans have a more positive and open-minded attitude toward immigration issues than older adults. When surveyed, 67% of 18-29 year-olds said today's immigrants strengthen the country with their hard work and talents, while only 30% of adults over 61 shared this view. Only 30% of these younger adults said immigrants are a burden, compared to 50% of older adults.

Young people do worry about potential problems with government programs and resources, like education. Still, they are much more likely than older Americans to say the number of people allowed to immigrate to the United States should be increased or kept the same. These opinions likely relate to the current generation's diversity since many of them have grown up in a multiracial, multicultural society. For example, 95% of 18 to 29-year-olds approve of dating between blacks and whites, while only about 30% of their grandparents share that view.

Advertising Executives Rate Online Media

More than one-third of advertising executives (35%) give the highest ratings to entertainment, gaming and social networking sites, up from 19.2% in 2006. The chart below shows the ratings of online media companies on attributes such as responsiveness of sales reps; sales reps' knowledge of product, content, and competition; delivery on promises; availability of valuable non-traditional opportunities; and overall value of the business relationship.

Downloads to Cell Phones

During the second quarter of 2007, about 13 million mobile phone users downloaded one or more applications to their phone, spending $118 million for such things as sports, weather, chat, personal organization and location-based services (includes GPS, navigation and friend finding). The location-based services (LBS) accounted for 51% of that revenue while being used by only 5% of mobile subscribers. Other downloads that were more popular (7%-13%) but less costly include games, ringtones and premium messaging. The chart below shows prices paid for these mobile applications.

Watching TV Programs Online

A recent study shows that 60% of high-speed Internet users watch or download video content at least once a week, compared to 45% a year ago. The most-viewed types of content (in descending order) are news and user-generated content, movie previews, music videos, and segments of television shows. The study also found that 16% of high-speed online viewers watch TV online weekly, double the number that did so a year ago - even though the preferred viewing platform is traditional television. Some 70% of survey respondents said that they watch TV online to see a missed episode, while about 18% watch shows online in order to see them again.

Ad Age's Top Trends for 2008

1. MARKETERS HIT A ROUGH PATCH - The year will be about politics and the economy. Growth is slowing, fuel prices are high and credit is tight.
2. INNOVATION AND CREATIVITY RULE - Marketers' creativity will continue to expand as the competitive marketplace challenges brands to find new ways to reach their audiences online and through other "out-of-the-box" opportunities.
3. GET SERIOUS ABOUT ACCOUNTABILITY - Understanding the critical importance of accountability, companies will appoint a chief accountability officer to lead a disciplined and consistent approach to marketing measurements, metrics and productivity.
4. DIGITAL, DIGITAL, DIGITAL (AND PORTABLE TOO) - Digital offers richness in information management, communication delivery, metrics -- and portability. Marketers will need to be quick and skilled to take advantage of this rapidly changing landscape.
5. THE 'BRAND SWARM' - "Swarm theory" (the notion that people and their opinions coalesce to form critical forces that massively influence marketplace ideas and concepts) will lift social networking to new levels, confirming the enormous impact that consumers have on one another.
6. GETTING COMPENSATION RIGHT (PLEASE) - Agencies and clients will work together to create mutually fair value-based and incentive-based approaches to compensation. Marketers want to pay for great ideas and superb media management.
7. NEUROLOGICAL MARKET RESEARCH - Going beyond the traditional focus group and consumer survey, market research will start embracing scientific approaches that tap consumers' brains - to learn how they neurologically respond to marketing messages and make brand choices.
8. EMERGENCE OF THE 'RENAISSANCE MARKETER' - A new breed of marketing professional is emerging - individuals with a holistic view of the world and exceptional observational powers. These professionals will need to be socially responsible and embrace key marketing trends like green.
9. THE POWER OF STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT - In 2008, more CMOs will ensure that organizations are strategically aligned. Lead agencies will be appointed to make sure all supporting agencies carry out the same brand message.
10. PRIVACY, PRIVACY, PRIVACY - In 2008, marketers will become more sensitive to consumers' privacy issues. With "digital-intrusion" and identity-theft issues as top concerns, marketers must be careful to respect worries about access to private information.

Health Insurance

Some 89.6 million Americans under age 65 (approximately one-third of the US population) didn't have health insurance at some point in 2006-2007. This reflects a 24% increase since 1999-2000 when 72.5 million were uninsured.

More than one-third of adults age 25-44 (34.9%) do not have insurance, representing the largest portion of the uninsured population. Children up to age 17 are the next largest group (28.3%), followed by 18-24 year-olds (16.8%). Older Americans account for the smallest portion 12.3% are 45-54 years old and 7.8% are 55-64 year olds.

Those least likely to be insured are Hispanics (60.7%), while those likely to have insurance are White non-Hispanics (26.0%).

The rise in the number of uninsured is tied to the increasing cost of premiums. While the average worker's salary increased 11.6% between 2000 and 2006, job-based health insurance premiums rose 73.8%. Today only 60% of employers offer health benefits, down from 69% in 2000.

Plastic Surgery Among Men and Emerging Minorities

Between 2000 and 2006, the number of cosmetic surgical procedures (such as eye lifts and liposuction) rose 17%, and the number of reconstructive procedures grew 8%. For men, the number of surgical cosmetic procedures jumped 59% between 2005 and 2006, compared to a 44% increase for women.

The number of cosmetic surgery procedures done on emerging minorities rose 65% from 2000 and 2006. These emerging minorities accounted for 22% of all plastic surgery patients in 2006, up from 16% a year earlier. Increasing incomes and a wider choice of ethnic-specific procedures (such as surgery to give Asians an eyelid crease) have made these procedures more common.

Workers Are Bullied

About 19 million American adults (13%) say they are being bullied at work, per a Zogby survey. (Bullying is defined as verbal abuse, threatening conduct, intimidation, or sabotage that results in work not getting done and humiliation of the worker.) Another 24% of workers say they've been bullied in the past, and 12% were not a target but witnessed it.

More than one-half (54%) of bullying incidents are done publicly; and 68% of bullies act on their own. The majority of bullies are men (60%). When women do the bullying, 71% of the people they bully are women. When men bully, their targets are slightly more often men (53%) than women (47%).

Workplace Attitudes

Some 60% of executives and managers say working conditions will be better in 10 years than they are now, per a BusinessWeek survey. More than three-quarters of women (77%) and men (83%) believe it will be easier for women to get ahead in business. The majority of non-Whites (68%) and Whites (81%) say it will be easier for racial and ethnic minorities to get ahead.

More than one-half of people who work for companies with fewer than 50 employees (54%) like their jobs "a lot," compared to 44% of those work who for companies with more than 1,000 employees. Most employees say the work to live (84% of 25-34 year-olds and 72% of employees aged 55+) rather than live to work.

Bullets

• The average age of people who frequently buy videogames is 38. Adult gamers have been playing for an average of 13 years.
• America's 13.3 million college students have an estimated $48 billion in discretionary funds, up $15 billion from 2003.
• Some 54% of college students visit a social networking website at least once per day.
• Around the world, there are approximately 875 million registered guns for civilian, military and law enforcement use. The US accounts for 270 million of them, which translates into nine guns for every 10 Americans.
• Some 42% of parents aged 46-55 have saved towards their children's college education. Four in 10 (42%) of these have saved less than $5,000 per child and 25% haven't saved anything.
• Young knitters (middle and high school) make up 6 million of the 20 million knitters in the US, per the Craft Yarn Council of America. Some 4% of knitters are male.
• More than one-half of lawyers (58%) say more divorce cases were settled out of court in 2007 than were five years ago.
• Female homeowners (61%) are more willing than male homeowners (51%) to pay more for green products when building or renovating their homes.
• The US accounts for 75% of all cruise travel. The number of passengers grew 4.5% from 2005 to 2006, exceeding nine million for the first time. This equates to 24,658 people leaving on a cruise from the U.S. every day.
• More than four in 10 Americans (43%) have visited a social networking site, up from 33% in 2006.
• Some 50% of Americans visit blogs regularly, but only one in eight have their own blog. Of blog visitors, women (20%) are more likely than men (14%) to write their own.
• More than one-half of young adults aged 18-24 have been influenced by a coupon to buy something in a grocery store. Some 46% ate at a particular restaurant because of a coupon.
• About one in six people (16%) click on the sponsored links when searching online, compared to 84% who click on the organic results of their search.
• Some 44% of Americans own an MP3 player, 38% own a game console, 26% an ADTV, 16% a portable game player, 12% an Internet-enabled phone and 9% an Internet-ready TV.
• One-third of heads of households (34%) play games on wireless devices such as cell phones or PDAs up from 20% in 2002.
• More teenagers intentionally hurt themselves (7%) than vandalize objects (4%) or shoplift (2%).
• Almost one-third of teens (32%) say they snack 7-10 times a day outside of regular meals.
• Children's academic success at ages nine and 10 is directly connected to the amount of talk they heard up to age three. Kids need to hear at least 30,000 words a day to ensure optimal success - no matter what their race, ethnic or socioeconomic status.
• Most Americans (66%) say there is greater pressure on people to look good today than there was in their parents' generation. Some 72% of the global population agrees with that statement.
• Americans overwhelmingly (90%) blame parents for childhood obesity, with only 4% saying they are not responsible. Some 28% say restaurants are part of the problem.
• One in 10 teens aged 12-17 say they have been offered crystal meth, with 24% saying it is "very" or "somewhat" easy to get. One in 33 have tried it; the average first time user tries it at age 12. More than one-half (55%) have never spoken with their parents about this drug.
• About 62% of young adults (18-29) support a national healthcare plan, compared to 47% of the US population at large. About a third of young adults do not have health insurance; 75% of these support a national health care plan.
• One-quarter of adults (24%) do not have a fire safety plan for their home, and 43% have not tested their smoke alarms in the past six months.
• An estimated 13-14 billion condoms are produced worldwide each year.
• On average, 22% of American adults do not engage in any physical activity during the average month. Those in Mississippi (31.6%) are the most likely to be inactive, while adults in Minnesota (15.4%) are the least likely to be inactive.
• Some 41% of Hispanics trust the US healthcare system, compared to 29% of Blacks and 18% of non-Hispanic Whites. Among Hispanics, their trust wanes a they become more acculturated: 30% of bicultural Hispanics trust it and 16% of relatively assimilated Hispanics trust it.
• Some 39% of business executives now give employee performance reviews at least twice a year, up from 29% who did them twice per year in 2002. Only 2% of executives never do a formal review.
• More than two-thirds of workers (68%) and 82% of human resources professionals say an employee's wardrobe affects his or her chances for a promotion. Some 13% of workers have been reprimanded by a supervisor for their outfit at work.
• Three-quarters of workers (75%) say a company's responsibility extends beyond it's shareholders to the greater good of mankind. Those working in government (80%) are more likely than others (73%) to say so. When considering a job offer, 59% of workers say that a company's corporate social responsibility program is at least somewhat important.
• Two-thirds of finance and accounting professionals (65%) say that the average executive wouldn't choose to start his or her own business even if they had the startup capital, up from 57% in 1997.
• Black, Asian and Hispanic women own 2.1 million businesses in the US, up from about 950,000 in 1997.
• Just one-third of corporate fraud cases (35%) are found by auditors and regulatory commissions. Most are revealed by a variety of whistleblowers such as employees and the media.