" 'I've been a fragmentor,' Mr. Kellner told the audience at the Association of National of Advertisers's national conference in the Ritz-Carlton Naples ballroom this morning. 'I'm starting to get nervous we're too fragmented.... All things good for consumers are not necessarily good for the economy....'
'I'm not against PVRs,' he was quick to note. 'I've used it myself.' But, he warned, 'the business cannot exist as its current model is today unless consumers are willing to give time for you [marketers]. I believe advertising has driven this country. Without advertising, we will damage this country....'
Because most marketers have been slow to divert their media dollars from network TV to cable -- Mr. Kellner said 75% of media dollars are directed at broadcast networks, which control only 45% of viewers -- Turner funded a massive study of Generation X consumers and their younger Gen Y, or 'millennial,' counterparts to show they are far removed from the channel-surfing, ad-averse slackers conventional wisdom has long held them to be.
'We now know that isn't true,' said Dr. Jack Wakshlag, chief research officer for Turner, who divulged little detail but offered his e-mail address for marketers to request a full presentation when the study is complete.
Conducted by Copernicus Research, the study will be released by the end of November. It tracks the customer lifetime value of Gen X and millennial consumers across 12 product categories, along with attitudes about advertising....
'They [under-40 consumers] rival or exceed the baby boom generation [in size and spending], and every year will become more and more important,' he said. He then used his 30-year-old daughter's spending habits as an example." [AdAge.com, via MediaSavvy]
Now, more than ever, I want an answer to my question: does Kellner pay full attention to each and every commercial when he's watching TV? New question: does his 30-year old daughter?
Wednesday, October 16, 2002
