Promotional Products Association International (PPAI; ppai.org) the not-for-profit association for more than 8,000 members of the $16 billion promotional products industry, has published studies revealing electronic/digital lagging far behind print calendars in consumer preferences both at work and home.
Despite a heavy reliance on computers and cell phones, nearly 80 percent of survey respondents said they prefer printed calendars for scheduling and record-keeping and more than 60 percent said they have at least one advertising calendar in their home or office—a promotional product which accounted for $1.12 billion in revenue in 2009.
Additionally, 82 percent said they enjoyed receiving advertising calendars, which further substantiates the advertising calendars’ place alongside other mainstream promotional items.
“In an ever-increasing technological age, it’s important to know that the printed calendar—specifically the advertising calendar—is still very relevant, very wanted. Our survey of consumer usage will help professionals in the promotional products industry make sense of this evolving, yet stalwart marketplace by providing hard data on the impact of habits and preferences,” said Saritha Kuruvilla, PPAI's research manager. The results are quite surprising as they come out at the same time as smartphones and electronic calendars are growing exponentially.
Home vs. Work
In 1981, the Calendar Advertising Council conducted a study of calendar usage in households and the workplace, demonstrating widespread popularity for the printed piece. Fast forward three decades and PPAI’s new study affirms that the printed calendar is still very much a part of everyday life.
The average number of printed calendars in households today is 3.12 versus 3.98 in 1981. The kitchen remained the prime location with 75 percent of respondents reporting they had a printed calendar there, followed by the home office as the most popular location for 55 percent of respondents.
The average number of printed calendars per business was 2.10. In 1981, the average was 2.56. Thirty-seven percent of respondents had at least one calendar at work, 63 percent had between two and nine printed calendars at work and one percent had more than 10. And, despite the wide variety of calendars available in today’s market, the wall calendar still remains the preferred choice as 67 percent of respondents prefer it over others, including computer and cell phone calendars.
The study also found that the advertising calendar is an effective, profitable advertising vehicle. When measuring recall of the advertiser among consumers, more than 70 percent recalled the advertiser and message on their calendars and 70 percent will be doing business with the company again. 48 percent had a more favorable impression of the company and 41 percent reported referring others to the advertiser.
The findings from Calendar Usage In The Workplace and Calendar Usage In U.S. Households come from a two-part online survey of consumers, drawn from a nationally representative panel of home and business users, more than 1,000 respondents each. To ensure the survey questions explored the appropriate trends and issues, they were developed in partnership with the Calendar Advertising Council working in the calendar-publishing marketplace.</p
