As consumers continue to shift their attention to new media and as more outlets become available, marketers have expressed concern about dilution of ad effectiveness. After all, how much media can a consumer engage with on a daily basis? Studies that measure effectiveness and dilution often neglect to account for a key fact: Today’s consumers are more likely to multi-task than ever before. As they multi-task, their overall exposure to marketing campaigns increases. L.E.K. Consulting just released a study that outlines key opportunities to consider in the new media market as advertisers try to grab attention.

• Online video – Over 1/3 of consumers indicated a willingness to pay an extra fee to access cable content either online or via mobile phones.
• E-readers – Nearly half of consumers who own e-readers say they are reading more books and magazines because they have these devices.
• Multi-tasking while online – About 1/3 of consumer time spent in front of the TV is also spent online. In addition, 19% of online time is spent listening to music from other devices and 11% is spent on the phone.
• Internet radio – This medium continues to grow. Of people who listen to the radio, about 1 in 3 listen to Internet radio and the time spent on a weekly basis averages out to 5.8 hours per user.

The study also confirmed that consumers are spending less time reading newspapers. However, consumers are not giving up all of their flat-fee subscription-based entertainment. Despite the recession, more consumers spent time watching cable TV and going online. As L.E.K. analysts point out, both of these activities require subscriptions.

In general, consumers are spending more time with media overall. The most important message from this study seems to be that marketers must tap into media streams where consumers are beginning to shift their attention. For the immediate future, the media forms growing in popularity seem to be e-readers and Internet radio. In addition, spreading a marketing message among several types of media increases the likelihood that consumers will see the ad in one format or another.

[Source: Hidden opportunities in New Media: Opportunities Uncovered and Myths Debunked, L.E.K. release, January 2010]

According to a new study for Glassesshop from EnjoyVisionLife, wearing a pair of glasses not only can make young people more stylish, it can make them look smarter. On average, two thirds of the participating children said they thought that kids wearing glasses looked smarter than kids do not wear glasses. 57% of the participants said they thought kids with glasses appeared to be more honest. Both kids with and without glasses thought kids who wear glasses looked smarter.

For the study, Walline and his colleagues assembled a series of 24 pairs of pictures of children for comparison. The children in each pair differed by gender and ethnicity, and each pair included one child with glasses and one child without glasses.

The questionnaire featured six questions, many based on similar studies in adults. When presented with each pair of photos, the participants were asked which of the two children pictured would you rather play with; looks smarter or looks better at playing sports; do you think which is better looking, looks more shy or looks more honest?

Children between the ages of 6 and 10 who were surveyed for the study think that kids wearing glasses look more honest than children who don’t wear glasses. Otherwise, the survey suggests that children don’t tend to judge the attractiveness of their peers who wear glasses when ask about their appearance, potential as a playmate or likely athletic abilities.

Walline says the findings suggest that media portrayals associating spectacles with intelligence may be reinforcing a stereotype that even young children accept. The fact that the question of attractiveness yielded no significantly different answers for children with or without glasses suggests that kids don’t automatically consider kids with glasses to be unattractive, Walline says.

Eighty young children, 42 girls and 38 boys, were surveyed. Of those, 38% wore glasses, 34 had at least one sibling with glasses and almost two-thirds had at least one parent who wore glasses.

“The concern about attractiveness with glasses seems to be more internal to a particular child rather than an indicator of how they’ll feel about other people who wear glasses,” Walline says.

“Kids Think Eyelgasses Make Them Look Smart,” study conducted by Glassesshop, January 4, 2010.  Website: www.enjoyvisionlife.org.

Approximately 69% of all American adults – fully 88% of internet users – have gone online to get help with personal economic issues that have arisen in the recession and to gather information about the origins and solutions to national economic problems.

The internet ranks high among sources of information and advice that people are seeking during hard times, especially when it comes to their personal finances and jobs. Among broadband users, the internet is the top source for material on personal coping strategies during the recession. At the same time, broadcast media outpace the internet as sources of news about national economic affairs.

Those hard hit by the recession are among the most avid and wide-ranging internet users for advice and understanding. Some 52% of American adults have either lost their jobs, seen their investments fall by more than half their value, suffered a pay cut, watched their house lose half its value, or lost their job outright during the downturn in the past year.

Much of the report deals with a subpopulation the Project calls “online economic users.” They are the 88% of online Americans who have used the internet for financial or recession-related purposes. Overall, 34% of online economic users have created content and commentary about the recession in places like blogs, social network sites and Twitter.

“Internet users are on a dual quest in this recession” said Lee Rainie, Director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project, and co-author of a new report based on a nationwide phone survey about internet use during the recession. “They are seeking highly practical advice about how to survive. And they are going online to gain understanding of what went wrong, and what policies might fix the economy. In many cases, the internet is also a pathway to contributing ideas – and rants – about hard times and a source of expert commentary.”

The Pew Internet report, “The Internet and the Recession,” comes from a national phone survey of 2,253 adults (those 18 and older), including 561 cell-phone interviews. The overall sample has a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points.

Here are the main recession-related activities of online economic users in the past year:

• Price comparisons: 67% of online economic users have used the internet to find the lowest price available for something they need to buy.
• General understanding: 52% of online economic users have used the internet to help them comprehend the nation’s economic problems.
• New jobs: 41% of online economic users have sought information in the past year about jobs that might be available.
• Seeking online coupons for savings: 40% of online economic users searched on the internet for cost-saving coupons.
• Help in spending less on everyday items: 27% of online economic users have used the internet to get material on the cost of everyday purchases.
• Earning more money and second jobs: 27% of online economic users have been online hunting for tips about ways to earn more money or exploring the prospects for getting a second job.
• Advice about protecting personal finances: 25% of online economic users have gone online seeking information about ways to protect their finances in a difficult economy.
• Improving skills for a better job: 25% of online economic users have used the internet to seek material about how to improve their skills to qualify for better jobs.
• Sell personal items online: 23% of online economic users have used auction sites or classified ad sites to sell personal items to raise money.
• Unemployment benefits: 22% of online economic users sought material online about unemployment and other government benefits.
• The value of my house: 18% of online economic users have used the internet to check up on the value of their house.
• Rankings or reviews of financial companies and professionals: 17% of online economic users went online to check reviews of financial firms and professionals.
• Information about getting a loan: 13% of online economic users went online to check out ways to get loans.
• Filing for bankruptcy: 3% of online economic users used the internet to look for information about filing for bankruptcy.

While online channels play an important role, Americans frequently turn to multiple sources to understand the economic environment and how it relates to their own personal financial situation. Indeed, the most internet-savvy individuals rely heavily on their own personal networks of friends and family to help navigate the recession and contextualize the material they find online.

“The best way to understand these online Americans is that they are networked individuals using networked information,” agued Aaron Smith, Research Specialist at Pew Internet and co-author of the report. “Theirs is not an ‘either-or’ world of single information sources. Many aggressively forage among a variety of sources and communicate with a range of people as they try to navigate some rough seas.”

Source: “The Internet and the Recession,” conducted by Pew Internet, July 18, 2009.  Website: www.pewinternet.org.