Marketing communications deemed most effective by consumers in getting them to *consider* going to or ordering from a restaurant:

• Again, coupon books are the most popular, with 85% of adults (and 90% of women) saying they make them consider choosing a restaurant.
• Tied for the next most popular methods encouraging consumers to consider going to a restaurant are emails from the restaurant and brochures/menus in the mail, both at 80% of all adults and both more popular with women than men. Both are also most popular with the 55 to 64 age group.

• Energy
• Warmth
• Fun, playfulness
• Radiance, vibrance
• Summer or fall depending on the shade
• Sun, solar
• Inviting
• Happiness, joy, cheer
• Aggressiveness, brassiness, boldness
• Healthiness, fruitiness, vitamin C
• Halloween
• Caution, safety
• Prison uniforms (U.S.)
• Flamboyance

• Orange avoids many of the color red's negative associations while sharing many of the more positive ones.

• Adults often either love or hate the color.

• Orange is a favorite color of children.

• Nothing rhymes with the word orange.

• Tangerine Tango is the 2012 color of the year according to PANTONE.

• Orange is the most sacred color of Hinduism.

• In Ireland, orange is associated with Northern Ireland Protestants.

• Stimulates the appetite.

• Stimulates emotions.

• Encourages people to linger.

• Increases oxygen's flow to the brain.

• Improves mental clarity.

• Low-priced items

• Fast food

• Bargains

• Candy

• Impulse buys

• Outlet stores

• Clearance sales

• Calls to action

• Toys

• Like red, orange appears bigger and closer, especially compared to cool colors.

• Orange works well with blue or in a triad with green and purple.

• Action, excitement, energy

• Aggressiveness, dominance, power, strength

• Heart, blood

• Bravery

• Stop, danger

• Love, desire, passion, romance, sexuality

• Devil

• Drama

• Fire, heat, warmth

• Hate, violence, anger

• Negative cash flow (accounting)

• Spontaneous

• Vibrant, vigor, vitality

• It's the first color babies can see.

• It's the number five most popular car color in the United States and globally for 2011 (according to DuPont Automotive).

• Up to 10% of the population is classified as color blind, mostly men and Caucasians, and that can impact their ability to notice the color red.

• People tend to gamble more in rooms painted red.

• Red is used in the majority of flags.

• Red symbolizes good luck in Asia.

• Athletes/teams wearing red have been found statistically to win more often.

• Red clothes make people look heavier.

• Increases breathing

• Increases pulse rate

• Stimulates appetite

• Motor industry

• Beauty products

• Food industry

• Impulse buys

• Red tag/dot or clearance sales

• Red works best when used sparingly as an attention grabber.

• Red can visually appear to be bigger in size or closer/more forward in relation to the viewer, especially when compared to cooler colors like blue or black.

• 44% of those reading the printed newspaper say it has useful advertising and 41% say they usually notice the ads.

• Circulars and coupons are regularly read on weekdays by 76% of print readers, 19% of computer users, 13% of tablet users and 11% for smartphone users.

• On Sundays, circulars and coupons are read by more print readers at 87% and slightly more for digital readers in each category.

• Daily deals are regularly read on weekdays by 28% of print readers, 44% of computer users, 40% of tablet users and 42% of smartphone users.

• On Sundays, daily deals are read by more print readers and fewer computer users, but both are minimal changes.

• Classified ads are regularly read on weekdays by 38% of print readers, 21% of computer users, 22% of tablet users and 16% of smartphone users.

• On Sundays, classified ads are ready slightly less in all categories except smartphones, which goes up 1%.

• In general, print newspaper advertising circulars are popular, with 82% of the people who've read a newspaper in the last seven days saying they have read or looked into them. 

• For those who've seen both online and print circulars, 48% overall prefer the print, 25% prefer the online version and 28% say there's no difference. 

• When it comes to making comparisons using circulars, 45% find the online circulars easier to use vs. only 27% who prefer print for this usage.  This is the area that got the largest online preference and the only category where online was preferred by more people than print.

• 66% of digital newspaper users (computer, tablet and smartphone) acted on an ad they saw at least once in the past 30 days. 

• Males are more likely than females to use the computer (64% vs. 56%) and smartphones (29% vs. 23%).
• The 18 to 34 age group is more likely (41%) to access newspaper content on a smartphone than the 35 to 44 age group (28%) and the 45 to 64 age group (13%).
• The 65+ age group, on the other hand, is more likely to use the print edition (93%) than the general average (80%).

• Visual appearance and color far outweigh other factors in consumer influence, with 85% saying color is a primary reason why they buy a particular product and 93% citing visual appearance as an important factor.

• Color increases brand recognition by 80%.

• Color improves memory compared to black and white images.

• Ads with color are read 42% more than the same ads in black and white.

• Color improves learning and comprehension.

• Color images hold attention for two or more seconds on average, compared to black and white images that only capture attention for less than two-thirds of a second.

• Color use on an insurance company's invoices resulted in payments coming in on average 14 days earlier.

• Many people think it's specifically cartoon style illustrations.

• Some people think along these lines: "Clipart tends to look a bit tacky on websites. We recommend photos."

• Others think it's just what comes with word processing programs such as Microsoft Word and that it got the name because "Clipart may be moved between programs and documents using the clipboard functions."

• They also commonly expect it to be part of a collection on a CD.

• Most agree that it involves "drawings" or illustrations.

• Overall 34% surveyed expected a budget decrease (was 29% last year), while 17% expect an increase (was 22% last year).

• 84% feel pressure to find ways to save or reduce costs (was 77% last year).

• B2B companies are more likely than average to expect a budget decrease at 40%.

• 42% of B2B companies expect their budget to remain unchanged.

• B2C companies are less likely than average to expect a decrease at 32%.

• On par with the average, 17% of B2C companies expect a budget increase.

• Reductions are expected to be 10% or less for most (84%) of the respondents facing a decrease.

• Most common reductions include: travel and expense restrictions (68%), challenging their agency to reduce costs (52%), ad campaign media budget (49%) and switching to lower cost channels (40%).

• Using freelancers to fill open positions (21%) and reducing professional development (28%) are two other ways of reducing budgets that are more popular this year than last.

• While at first glance, the report can seem gloomy with an increasing number of companies expecting a budget decrease, it's only the minority, with about half expecting no budget change.

• Companies should remember that these statistics are meant for benchmarking purposes only and each business should evaluate many facets of what is happening inside and outside their business in determining their ad budget. 

• It's been proven time and time again that the companies that continue to fund effective advertising and marketing campaigns, especially when others are cutting back, end up with a strategic advantage and a more successful company than their competition.

• Emails sent in the morning have a slightly higher average open rate of 39.2% than other time slots including midday at 33.9%, late afternoon at 32.1% and night at 32%.

• Morning emails, on the other hand, don't generate many clicks; in fact, they have the lowest average click rate of 16.5%. 

• Late afternoon emails have the highest average click rate at 21%, followed by midday emails at 19.7% and night time emails at 18.6%.

• As for day of the week, the range is minimal with Tuesdays having the lowest average open rate of 32.77% and Fridays having the highest average of 35.19%.

• Click rates by day of the week range from an average of 18.5% on Mondays, the lowest, to 19.85% on Wednesdays, the highest.

• Overall average metrics include a 34.33% open rate and a click rate of 19.49%.

• Survey-related emails had the highest click rate at 33.39%, and appeal-focused emails had the lowest open rate at 14.63%.

• Open and click rates are also influenced by how the recipients read the emails, with those using desktop computers having higher open rates (51% vs. 46%) and click rates (15% vs. 5%) compared to those reading email on a mobile device.