Three groups of internet users are mainly responsible for driving the growth of this activity: social network website users, those who connect to the internet via mobile devices and younger internet users (those under age 44).
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Consumers Brown Bagging, Drinking Tap Water, Saving Money 
Posted by Jack Loechner on Nov 5, 2:15 PM
A new Harris Poll finds that more than half of all adults are saving money by purchasing more generic brands, while over 40 % are brown bagging more often and cutting back on visits to hairdressers and barbers. Over 30% have switched to tap water and cancelled one or more magazine subscriptions. Smaller percentages, but many millions of people, have also cut down on dry cleaning, cut back or cancelled cable television service, cancelled a newspaper subscription, stopped buying their morning coffee, changed or cancelled their cell phone service, increased their use of carpooling or mass transit and cancelled their telephone landline service.
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Social Media Retail Ads Offer Online Holiday Shopping Incentives 
Posted by Jack Loechner on Nov 4, 5:55 PM
According to results of Shop.org's eHoliday Study, conducted by BIGresearch, 47.1% of retailers surveyed will be increasing their use of social media this holiday season. 60.3% of retailers said they have added or improved their Facebook page, and 58.7% their Twitter pages this year. 65.6% have added or enhanced blogs and RSS feeds. In addition, to provide consumers with an extra incentive to start shopping, 34.3% of retailers say they will offer holiday deals earlier this year.
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Consumers Need More Green Awareness 
Posted by Jack Loechner on Nov 3, 5:53 PM
According to the annual Ipsos Green Technology report, few technology purchasing consumers are aware of specific environmental policies and practices of technology firms, despite the efforts of companies and the accolades in the media. Though few are aware of specifics, environmentally friendly policies and programs are becoming more top of mind for U.S. consumers when making technology related purchase decisions.
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Small Business Not Into Social Networks For Leads 
Posted by Jack Loechner on Nov 2, 5:50 PM
According to a new Citibank / GfK Roper survey of 500 small business executives across the United States, 76% have not found social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to be helpful in generating business leads or for expanding their business during the last year, while 86% say they have not used social networking sites to get business advice or information.
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Direct Marketing Bigger Slice, Smaller Pie 
Posted by Jack Loechner on Nov 2, 8:15 PM
According to the Direct Marketing Association's 2009-2010 "Power of Direct Marketing" report, direct marketing's slice of the total ad spending pie got larger in 2009, increasing from 52.7% of all ad spending to 54.3%. However, since total ad spending dropped to $275 billion from $319 million, the value of DM's slice dropped from $168.1 billion to $149.3 billion. That's an 11.2% drop in spending from $1.95 trillion in 2008 to a forecast $1.74 trillion this year.
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Two-Thirds of US Adults See Digital Out-of-Home Screens 
Posted by Jack Loechner on Oct 29, 8:11 PM
According to a forecast and industry update report from Adcentricity, 42% of agency and brand marketers plan to increase their digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising spending through 2009 and the first half of 2010. Total DOOH spending is on target to hit $4.53 billion by 2013, up from $2.6 billion in 2009.
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Probing GenY'ers  
Posted by Jack Loechner on Oct 28, 8:00 PM
The J.D. Power and Associates 2009 Teens and Early Careerist report says that online conversation analysis of two subsets of Millenials finds that they are concerned about the current economic environment, and are becoming particularly value-conscious and focused on finding employers that offer stability and long term growth opportunities.

These two important subsets of Generation Y (born during the 1980s and early 1990s): teens ages 14 to 18, and early careerists ages 22 to 29, display markedly different views, opinions and behaviors from the other, and have the potential to attain the greatest spending power of any previous generation.
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Almost As Good As A Sandwich Board 
Posted by Jack Loechner on Oct 27, 7:57 PM
According to a new survey commissioned by 1020 Placecast and conducted by Harris Interactive, American consumers are receptive to opt-in mobile marketing messages from brick-and-mortar businesses. 42% of 18 to 34 year old cell phone owners and 33% of 35 to 44 year olds are at least somewhat interested in receiving alerts about sales on their cell phones from their favorite establishments.
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Travel Down For Turkey Day 
Posted by Jack Loechner on Oct 26, 7:55 PM
A new survey from American Express reports that 30% of U.S. consumers plan to adjust this year's travel plans for Thanksgiving, historically one of the busiest travel days of the year, but only 21% expect those expenses to decrease compared to last year.

Respondents whose plans are changing said they'll rely more on automobile travel, stay for a shorter time and cash-in rewards to help pay for holiday trips. The most significant changes are from the young professionals, 37% of whom said they've adjusted their plans versus the affluent and general population (both 30%).
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