African-Americans Show More 'Love' to Brands Than Caucasians

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - Aug 15, 2012) - African-Americans are among the most brand-loyal consumer segments in the country, especially when compared to Caucasian consumers, according to the findings of NewMediaMetrics's first 360 cross-platform analysis of the two consumer segments.

NewMediaMetrics, a strategic marketing optimization company, quantified the Emotional Attachment™ to brands and media and found that African-Americans were more attached to most brands than Caucasians.

This is critically important for marketers looking to increase their ROI from both marketing and media investments because:

• Emotional Attachment™ (EA) can boost revenue (those highly attached to a brand contribute 43.7 percent more revenue to a brand)
• EA affects levels of media engagement (40 percent more viewing and intensity of viewing)
• EA affects ad-message receptivity (those highly attached to a brand are 2.5 times more likely to pay attention to an ad from that brand)
• EA sparks positive social chatter (highly attached consumers are 43 percent more likely to talk about products and services to friends and family via social channels)
• EA finds and quantifies media properties with "buying pockets" (consumers who are receptive to ads and engaged makes them three times more likely to buy the brands)

The data shows that African-Americans are significantly more attached than Caucasians to the following consumer brands and services: Lexus, General Motors, Google, Fidelity, Slim Fast, UPS, Tide, Pampers, Jell-O, Doritos, Dawn, Oreos, Ragu, Campbell Soups, Yoplait, Dentyne, Charmin, Bounty, Betty Crocker, Walmart, the Gap, Lowe's, Macy's and Levi's.

Overall, both consumer segments, aged 18-54, were surveyed about 350 brands, and 73 percent of the brands studied garnered higher attachment among African-Americans compared to Caucasians.

"Clearly, the African-American consumer is more passionate about brands than the Caucasian consumer," said Gary Reisman, co-founder of NewMediaMetrics. "We also see stronger attachment to media properties, so if marketers cross reference the brand data to the media data, they'll make more effective use of their media spends in reaching both consumer segments."

When it comes to media properties, NewMediaMetrics study highlights:

• On average, African-American adults are attached to 60 broadcast and cable networks at a level of 24 percent compared to Caucasian adults, whose average attachment levels are at 17 percent. This measurement is significant because stronger attachment translates into 40 percent more viewership and intensity of viewing
• African-Americans also are 18 percent more attached to web site/digital properties compared to 13 percent for Caucasians
• In terms of new media alternatives and technologies, African-Americans' attachment is substantially greater than that of the Caucasian market (see chart below)

		A-A Adults 18-54 9/10 to:		Caucasian Adults 18-54 9/10 to:
Social Networking Sites (such as Facebook/My Space)		26.9%		17.8%
Videos and text on your cell phone or small mobile device		26.0%		15.3%
Videos and text on a larger device such as an iPad		23.7%		13.1%
Netflix		28.8%		27.3%
Hulu		21.9%		18.5%
Twitter		23.5%		14.8%
YouTube		49.2%		43.1%

• The top 10 most attaching category brands for African-Americans are luxury cars/technology/one sports brand (Nike)/and a feminine necessity

Rank		AA		9/10's to:
1		Lexus		64%
2		Google Search		62%
3		Mercedes Benz		61%
4		Google		60%
5		i-Pod		59%
6		iPhone		59%
7		Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, etc.)		59%
8		Always		58%
9		Nike		57%
10		Microsoft Windows		57%

• The top ten most attaching brands among Caucasians also consist of tech brands, but there is only one luxury car (Cadillac) and a travel destination (Disney):

Rank		Brand		9/10 to:
1		iPhone		59%
2		Disney Parks		58%
3		Google Search		55%
4		iPod		54%
5		iPad		54%
6		Google		53%
7		Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, etc.)		53%
8		Apple		52%
9		Cadillac		50%
10		Microsoft Windows		50%

• The least attaching brands for both AA and Caucasians include banks and two Pepsi beverages (Sierra Mist and Sobe):

Rank		Caucasian		9/10 to:		Rank		AA		9/10 to:
1		Sobe Life Water		20%		1		Sierra Mist		26%
2		HSBC		19%		2		Tropicana 50		26%
3		GAP		19%		3		Sweet-N-Low		26%
4		Pier 1		19%		4		CitiBank		25%
5		Sierra Mist		19%		5		Sears		25%
6		Denny's		19%		6		Propel		25%
7		Dick's Sporting Goods		18%		7		Rockstar Energy		25%
8		CitiBank		17%		8		Coke Zero		25%
9		Dentyne		17%		9		Sobe Life Water		24%
10		Office Depot		17%		10		HSBC		23%

NewMediaMetrics co-founder Denise Larson added, "Perhaps the overall passion that African-Americans have for brands will be a 'wake up call' for marketers to strategically think of their brands from the perspective of consumer diversity, especially when it comes to budget and spending priorities."

About New Media Metrics
NewMediaMetrics (NMM) is a strategic marketing optimization company. The company helps marketers increase revenues by redeploying resources toward marketing efforts most valuable to their core customers. NewMediaMetrics helps marketers and media companies improve their ROI by "LEAP-ing" -- Leveraging Emotional Attachment for Profit. NewMediaMetrics proprietary, predictive LEAP™ Platform identifies and targets high-value, revenue producing targets with the marketing efforts, messages and media predicted to perform best -- re-allocating resources and investments toward initiatives that will optimize results.