A Harris Research / AdWeek poll (via Marketing Charts) in the US puts some data onto a growing trend – the graying print newspaper market.

Among all Americans 43% still read a paper every day, a figure that is higher than I thought it would be.

However once you break it down into age groups a different picture emerges.   Among the over 55s, 2/3 still read their morning (or afternoon) paper.   For 35-44 year olds that’s down to just over a third (36%) while for 18-34 year olds it’s not even a quarter (23%).

I tried to find similar stats for the UK, and even two years ago according to a Parliamentary committee, 45% (so less than half) of the UK population read one of the national papers every day, with readership among 25-34 year olds falling by more compared to 18-24 year olds (40% to 37%).  Meanwhile the decline among the over 65s was only 3%.

In other words both the US and UK stats show that among seniors the daily paper is a habit.   The question obviously is, will it die out with them?

On the RAAK blog, Wessel van Rensburg has put the long term decline of the UK newspaper market into perspective.  In 1951, 48 million people lived in the UK while today there are 60+ million, an increase of 25%.   Yet, even while the population has increased, newspaper circulations have gone down by 30%.

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If you see one person scapegoating someone else – even without reason – the chances are you will do so too.

The research, by USC Marshall School of Business and Stanford University, show that the work blamestorm after something goes wrong is something that quickly catches on.   On a more sinister note I think, it demonstrates how marginalisation and finger pointing at certain groups (for example immigrants) spreads and finds a willing audience.

According to Science Daily, two academics conducted four different experiements, “and found that publicly blaming others dramatically increases the likelihood that the practice will become viral.”

In one example, participants read about California Governor Schwarzenegger blaming special interest groups for the failure of a special election that cost $250.   The ones who did so were more likely to blame others for their own unrelated short-comings.   In other words an aura of negativity spreads, even if it’s about something completely different.

The reason?  “It triggers the perception that one’s self-image is under assault and must be protected.”   So, “not me, guv!”

Looking at the workplace, one of the academics Nathaneal J Fast, says that a blame culture creates a ‘culture of fear‘ and advises companies to embrace failures and mistakes as something to move on from, like Intuit, which has a ‘When learning hurts’ session.

Also touch-feely ‘self affirmation’ seems to help.   In one of the experiments, people who affirmed their ‘self-worth’, were less likely to point fingers.

That makes a lot of sense really.  Foster a positive environment in your organisation and it will spread, or there’s a constant tendency to shift responsibility, that will take hold too and have unintended, wider consequences when it comes to productivity, the day to day atmosphere and so on.

Image – !anaughty!

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A study from the Journal of Consumer Research, first impressions really do count. Over time anyway.

Academics Nicole Votolato Montgomery (College of William and Mary) and H. Rao Unnava (Ohio State University) gave test subjects two holiday scenarios.   One started well but ended badly, and the other started badly but ended well.

They were then asked which one they’d most likely pay money for.   You’d imagine most people would say the holiday that ended well, and consumers who were asked about the experience immediately afterwards agreed.

However after a period of time consumers chose the scenario that started well as they couldn’t remember the final events as well.

“Consumers exhibit a preference for experiences that improve over time versus worsen over time when evaluations are assessed immediately, and they prefer the reverse when evaluations are assessed following a delay,” write the authors.

“Our findings suggest that marketers may engineer experiences to maximize customer enjoyment by improving the most memorable events. For long-term customer enjoyment, marketers should attempt to make consumers’ initial experiences with a service or product very positive.”

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