Don’t worry about another ‘long read’ like the one I threw at everyone last week. I’ve been knee-deep in studying the retail banking industry all week and I won’t bore you with all of that.
Still, here are a few interesting (non-bank-related) things we’re seeing:
After a dreadful first quarter, Verizon seemed to enjoy a slight rebound in April subscriber growth. In our tracking data, it’s the first up-and-to-the-right month for Verizon in over a year, likely owed to its aggressive unlimited data promotion. The bad news for Verizon is that numbers began to trend downward again this week. It’s hard to stay on top when companies like T-Mobile are rocking it and consumers are looking to save money anywhere they can.
United Airlines has some serious clean-up work to do. Our initial numbers are a couple weeks old but have remained steady – 61% of U.S. consumers are less likely to fly United after their, um, poor customer service a few weeks ago. That number is huge. We haven’t surveyed any PR reps, but I would be willing to bet that 100% of them would tell you it’s a terrible idea to assault one of your customers while being filmed.
The ‘athleisure’ trend in the U.S has peaked. Even as fashion blogs tell you the phenomenon is “more popular than ever,” the numbers tell a different story. First, our data show that fewer people are wearing athletic apparel when they’re not working out. Second, the number of people who work out regularly is going DOWN – despite our supposedly health-conscious society (see below). All of this bodes poorly for companies like Lululemon and Under Armour, who benefited from the trend more than anyone else.
Market research is so easy, a 10-year-old can do it. At Take Your Child to Work Day, we actually put the kids to work – letting them design their own poll questions and write up the analysis over the course of a day. My daughter, who is obsessed with the Food Network (especially Cake Wars), ran the question below and wrote the following report. Her reaction: “Ah, so that’s why Triple D and Chopped are on all the time.”
Yep. That’s right. A 4th-grader can do my job.
Hoping you’re well,
JD