Ipsos Mendelsohn Affluent Survey

The Ipsos Mendelsohn Affluent Survey Program is the definitive research source covering the media habits, lifestyles, behaviors, and attitudes of the affluent and luxury marketplaces in the United States. For the past 35 years, its syndicated results have provided the media planning metrics and consumer insights that advertisers, media brands, and agencies require for marketing and business decisions.

Starting with enhancements to the 2008 annual survey release, The Ipsos Mendelsohn Affluent Survey has evolved into a continuous, multi-platform program covering televisual, print, and web-based media with a total of 13 survey releases every year. Our baseline, The Ipsos Mendelsohn Affluent Survey, is released annually in September while its companion, The Ipsos Mendelsohn Affluent Barometer, is released monthly.

The Mendelsohn Affluent Survey

The 2011 Ipsos Mendelsohn Affluent Survey, released on September 13, 2011, and based on responses from more than 14,400 affluent adults, marks the 35th consecutive year that the company has provided advertisers, agencies, and the media with innovative planning and marketing insights.

Following requests from many of our hundreds of subscribers around the globe, The 2011 Ipsos Mendelsohn Affluent Survey built upon the 2010 Survey with enhancements that provided unique insights into the future plans, passions, and behaviors of the affluent. Every page of the 2011 questionnaire was changed in some way to keep the survey forward-looking and relevant.

Based on the involvement of our Mendelsohn Advisory Council and direct feedback from many subscribers representing advertisers, agencies, publications, TV networks, and digital brands, the following list describes some of the enhancements in the 2011 Ipsos Mendelsohn Affluent Survey now being used by our subscribers.

Plans for the next 12 months: expanded from 39 to 47
Club memberships reinstated
Publications: 4 newly measured
TV networks: 8 newly measured
Radio networks: 1 newly measured
Internet activities and purchases newly measured for tablets
Hotel/resort and restaurant brands added as brand categories
Education expenses, prescription drugs/OTC medications, 3D/smart televisions, and lighting fixtures added to expenditure categories
Six Items added to advertising touchpoints
Social media: how communicate and for how long per week
List of psychographic statements rationalized and expanded from 131 to 137
A family generation profiling question added to allow for in-depth examination of the affluent family
Language spoken at home
LGBT self identification
Sports fan question now includes: Attend in person

Additionally, following requests from subscribers in the television, cable, and ad agency communities, The 2011 Ipsos Mendelsohn Affluent Survey is fused with the Nielsen People Meter TV Ratings, allowing subscribers to the fused data set to use Nielsen program-specific ratings to target viewers based on Mendelsohn's unique affluent marketplace questions.

The 2011 Ipsos Mendelsohn Affluent Survey focuses solely on the top fifth of U.S. households based on current household incomes ($100,000 or higher). According to U.S. Government statistics, this select group of households accounts for approximately 60% of household income and about 70% of all net worth. Additionally, on average they are 2.0 times more likely to buy Mendelsohn-measured goods and services than the mass market and, when they buy, they spend 3.2 times more than the mass market.

Since 1977, the year The Ipsos Mendelsohn Affluent Survey was launched, the company has accumulated a unique history in regard to the demographic composition of affluent adults and households and how this upscale group impacts media and various product and market services. Because of its expertise in this area, The Ipsos Mendelsohn Affluent Survey is now recognized globally as the definitive audience-based research source of the media habits and lifestyles of the affluent population in the United States.

The Ipsos Mendelsohn Affluent Survey is the only ongoing syndicated study that concentrates on this select marketplace — purchasers of affluent and luxury goods and services — and also provides sufficiently large samples to allow for a thorough examination of affluent and very high-income households, many of whom are also millionaires.

The survey's widely dispersed sample, plus its substantial rate of completions (33% in 2011) and its population projections (which closely reflect the Current Population Surveys of the Bureau of the Census) make Mendelsohn's measurement of affluent and high-income households representative of the changing media landscape and current market habits.

The 2011 survey was fielded in all 50 states and in Washington, D.C. As in prior years, the survey was conducted in the highest quality manner using a rigorous mail methodology. The 2011 database allows subscribers to produce comprehensive demographic, psychographic, and marketing profiles of an extensive list of media brands — magazines, national newspapers, cable television networks, search engines, and more than 300 websites. In addition, subscribers are able to use the survey data to undertake substantive demographic, marketing, and strategic planning analyses in regard to more than 1,100 brands in 31 brand categories (for example, apparel, auto makes, brokerage/investment firms, home electronics, and retail stores). The 2011 survey also details expenditure data from affluent and high-income consumers regarding more than 150 categories of interest to affluent and luxury brand advertisers, agencies, and the media.

Some subscribers to The 2011 Ipsos Mendelsohn Affluent Survey have also been recontacting all or selected respondents to this annual survey through propretary questions in the Mendelsohn Affluent Omnibus Survey or through focused recontact surveys to selected respondents. Responses from these surveys may be linked to the annual syndicated database.

For a copy of the 2011 Annual Report or the 2011 questionnaire, please contact:
mark.kostelec@ipsos.com