It’s now confirmed that another print promotional tool has survived the electronic technology revolution. I’m talking about calendars. Whether it’s a wall calendar, wallet or magnetic cards or even desk or pocket planners, people still use print calendars. Undoubtedly, as an advertising tool, calendars still help you get the job done…every day of the year.
In a study just published by Promotional Products Association International (PPAI), Calendar Usage In The Workplace, and a companion study, Calendar Usage In U.S. Households, the surprising news is that 79% of homes and 78% of businesses still have at least one printed calendar. In similar research done in 1981, the percentage was 98%. But considering the technological strides we’ve made in the past 30 years, calendar usage in homes and business is amazingly popular.
Of the businesses surveyed (62% of which had less than $500,000 per year in sales), the office wall (64%) and common areas (32%) are the prime locations for the calendar. The office desk calendar is mentioned by 38% of respondents and the day planner by 24%. The average home has 3.12 wall calendars and the average office has 2.10 wall calendars. By contrast, in 1981 the numbers were 3.98 and 2.56, not much higher.
Okay, so people still put calendars on their walls, but to what extent are PDAs, cell-phone calendars, Outlook calendars, the Google calendar and other electronic gadgets replacing printed calendars? The answer is somewhat surprising.
For 67% of businesses, the primary calendar people use is print, with the wall calendar the most popular, followed by the desk calendar.
Yes, people do use calendars on their computers, but not as much as you might expect. Here’s the full breakdown on how people in the study use calendars. (They could choose more than one method.)
- 48% wall calendar
- 40% computer calendar
- 34% desk calendar
- 29% day planner
- 34% cell-phone calendar (but 46% never use their cell-phone calendar and only 23% use it daily)
- 5% magnetic calendar
- 4% “other” calendars
Still, how effective are calendars as an advertising medium? Just because people use them, do they want to see an insurance agent’s name on the one they use? What are the benefits you might get from handing out a free calendar? I’ll report in my next blog post.
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