SAN DIEGO, July 1, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- As the Fourth of July approaches, Claritas Inc. wanted to exert its independence as the nation's leading market research firm with a little burst of data surrounding behaviors, consumer or otherwise, associated with the holiday.
Claritas' crack crew of data experts put together a series of market potential reports ranking metropolitan areas (MA's) by index on consumption of food stuffs such as hot dogs and potato chips and the likelihood to participate in recreational activities like barbequing, water skiing, playing softball and volleyball and going to the beach. The index is a measure of how common the behaviors are relative to the nation as a whole. A score of 100 means the behavior is equally as common as it is in the total U.S. For a complete listing of the top 10 lists by category visit www.claritas.com and refer to the "What's New" link.
-- For example, the MA showing the highest market potential to
consume hot dogs is of all places Anchorage, AK, but just barely.
Anchorage had an index ranking of 118, meaning that people there
were 18 percent more likely to eat hot dogs than the average
American, but that index was only four points higher than number
10 Boulder-Longmont, CO at 114. There was no dominant MA in this
category, but on a regional basis the east coast stood out. New
York had two MA's in the top 10 -- Glens Falls at number two and
Dutchess County came in at number six. New London, CT placed at
number seven and, NJ was next in line at number eight.
-- Middlesex-Somerset-Hunterdon, NJ moved to the top of the top 10
list in the category of going to the beach in the last year with
an index of 120. Another New Jersey MA also made the top 10 in
this category -- Bergen-Passaic -- at number eight with an index
of 115. Middlesex-Somerset-Hunterdon also captured the number one
spot for barbequing in the last year with a 115 index. As you
might expect, 40 per cent of the beach list were California
MA's -- San Jose at number two, San Francisco and Orange County at
six and seven and Santa Cruz at number 10. And, interestingly, the
Washington DC MA ranked higher (albeit by percentage points) than
San Francisco.
-- As for where you'll find the most market potential for potato chip
lovers, North Carolina leads the top 10 with three MA's -- number
one Goldsboro, number three Jacksonville and Rocky Mount at number
six. However, the index difference between number one and number
10 was fractional, with indexes rounded to 106 for the top five
and 105 for the bottom five.
-- Residents of Jacksonville, NC are also more likely on average to
be involved in the water sports of sailing and power boating. This
MA came in number one in both those categories with indexes of 202
and 179 respectively. The number two MA in these categories was
also the same -- Killeen-Temple, TX -- with index rankings of 191
and 166. Fayetteville, NC ranked number three for sailing with
a 160 index and number four for power boating with an index of
133.
-- Bryan-College Station, TX also ranked number one in two separate
categories with an index of 147 for playing softball and 146 for
water skiing in the last year. Interestingly, with the exception
of the Bloomington, IN MA (No. 9) in the playing softball category
and the Columbia, MO MA (No. 7) in the water skiing category, the
rest of MA's are the same in each category, two of which also
ranked in the same spots -- Iowa City, IA at number four and
Tallahassee, FL at number 10.
-- Finally, in the category of playing volleyball within the last
year, the San Luis Obispo-Antascadro-Paso Robles, CA MA led the
way with an index of 118. California was the only state with more
than one MA in the top 10, that being number five Yolo, CA, which
registered an index of 115. Looking eastward, New London, CT and
Dutchess, NY (numbers seven and six in the hot dog top 10) ranked
two and three in this category with indexes of 117 and 116
respectively.
About Claritas
San Diego-based Claritas Inc. is regarded as the leading provider of intelligent marketing information and target marketing services aimed at reducing the cost of customer acquisition and growing customer value. Claritas offers over 60 marketing databases, industry leading consumer segmentation systems, consulting services and software applications for site analysis, advertising sales and customer targeting. Since 1971, Claritas has been the pre-eminent source of accurate, up-to-date information about people, households and businesses within any geographic area in the United States. Claritas is a division of VNU, a world-leading information and media company that includes ACNielsen, Nielsen Media Research, Spectra Marketing Systems, and Scarborough Research, among others. To learn more about Claritas and VNU products and services visit their web sites at www.claritas.com and www.VNU.com.
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