March 2007
In this issue:
Paid Placement
Spending
A Multi-Tasking
Audience
Marketing to a
Life Stage
The Male
Shopper
Paid Placement & Life Stage Marketing
Surge in Paid Placement Spending
New Media Order Paid product placement spending surged 42.2% to $2.21 billion globally in ‘05 with double-digit growth expected to continue in ’06. PQ Media’s Patrick Quinn says, “Product placement has evolved from a novel marketing tactic to a key marketing strategy on a global scale, as brand marketers seek more effective methods to make important emotional connections with consumers. There is a new media order emerging worldwide in which fear of ad-skipping technology, doubts about traditional advertising’s effectiveness, and declining government media subsidies have fueled a dramatic increase in the value of seamless brand integration.”
(Center for Media Research 8/24/06)
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Media Fragmentation
70% of web users watch TV while they surf. 65% of newspaper readers watch TV while they read, and 51% of radio listeners read the newspaper while listening. When you add New Media to the mix, such as satellite radio, blogging, and instant messaging, consumers have more media options than ever vying for their attention. Consumer tendency toward media multitasking makes effective marketing and advertising an entirely new challenge.
(Center for Media Research 9/14/06)
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Marketing to a Life Stage
Most boomers don’t use age as an indicator of where they are in life—it’s just a number. What connects one boomer with another is not so much that they are the same age, but that they are at the same place in life, or living the same lifestyle, or share the same attitudes. When it comes to those attitudes, there are boomers that are “old” at 53, for example, and others who are still quite young, maybe even still raising young children. The point is they are all over the life stage map, usually in several at the same time. A recent Boomer Project study found the following current life stage profile of U.S. boomers. Parent—50%, Empty Nester—73%, Grandparent—41%, Retired—26%, New Job—17%, Child in College—20%, Child at Home—27%.
(Boomer Project Vol. 1, Number 1)
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The Male Shopper
The Leo Burnett agency says 79% of American men can barely recognize themselves in ads today. Largely forgotten are the millions of boomer dads, who shop much more than their fathers. Also overlooked is the army of men in their 20s and 30s who care about their appearance but still like to have a good time and watch sports. The male teen is another big shopper; he commonly conducts the Web research on big family purchases. Notions of gender identity have blurred. Not only have women asserted themselves at work and at home since the ’60s, but bastions of male bonding—barbershops, golf clubs, the Army—have largely become unisex. Women are acting more like men and men are acting more like women. A recent GQ study found 84% of men purchase their own clothes, vs. just 65% in ’01. 52% of retailers say their typical male customer now shops at a store at least once a month vs. 10% in ‘01.
(Business Week 9/4/06)
