Kiss Insight

ALL I WANT FOR KISSMAS 17 May 2012

As we all know it’s been a pretty tough last 12 months for most people moneywise and things could get worse before they get better as we slip back into recession.

Here at Kiss we always try and help our listeners out as best we can with prizes that they actually want and need in their lives – not just the usual standard giveaways. Because of this, every year before Christmas we run our massive ‘All I want for Kissmas’ competition. The idea is that any listener can ask for whatever prize they want from Kiss (to the tune of upto £500). They are allowed to ask for anything - from an iPad to GHDs, from Uggs to Topshop vouchers, from meeting Usher to “wanting the world to become a saner place!” If they are lucky enough to be selected all they have to do is call in when their name is read out to claim their prize. 2011 was the third year we have run the competition and each year we have broken down what things our listeners request the most. Whilst there are loads of ways to get economic data and purchase behaviour it’s great, from a research point of view, to have real proprietary data that provides a fresh insight into what young consumers want. Just as the ONS’s mythical ‘shopping basket’ used to create the RPI is updated every year to reflect changing consumer purchases, so looking at what our listeners want for ‘Kissmas’ shows how consumer tastes change year to year. Below we analyse what the main changes have been over the last 3 years – what products are more desirable than ever and which are becoming less and less loved.

The most interesting finding from the 2011 competition was that the most requested prize wasn’t a product at all – it was ‘money’. Listeners have always been able to just ask for cash if that’s what they want and they can spend that money in any way they want – on bills, nights out, buying Christmas presents, however they see fit. In the first year of the competition, 2009, only 3% asked for money. In 2010 that more than doubled to 8%. Last year though that rose to a massive 27%. Whilst there were some very specific reasons why people wanted the cash (“£300 for a tattoo!”) for most people it was about having money to help them with the rising cost of living. Examples included “456.78 to pay off my car insurance”, “£500 to buy presents for my kids” and “£500 towards my student overdraft.”  It’s clear that whilst green shoots of economic recovery were hoped for in 2012 most people are still finding it tough out there. There were also signs to this from the sheer number of entries we had this year. The total number went from 22,000 in 2009, to 27,000 in 2010 to a massive 142,000 in 2011.

The second most requested item was an iPhone. This has remained consistently popular across the 3 years of Kissmas and has always been in the top two. 14% of listeners requested it in 2009, 10% in 2010 and 13% in 2011. Whilst we know that in actual sales terms on the streets the iPhone is being challenged by the likes of HTC and Samsung, in terms of desirability it is still the most sought after smart phone. What is also interesting is how the smart phone world that we live in now has a knock on effect elsewhere. This is particularly felt when it comes to people asking for iPods. In 2009 these were the 3rd most requested item with 8%. In 2010 this fell to 4% and in 2011 it has fallen again, to just 1%, and is now only the 14th most requested item. Who needs to carry two devices when your phone doubles up as your portable music carrier? The next phone requested after the iPhone was a BlackBerry on 5%. This was down on last year but up on 2009’s 3%.

In third place overall this year was the iPad, on 11%. Two years ago they didn’t exist whilst last year it was on 9%. It’s interesting to see the rise of the iPad vs. the decline of the laptop as a requested prize. Over the last 3 years people asking for laptops have dropped from 10% (and the second most requested prize of 2009), to 7% to just 4% in 2011. The desire for an iPad also seems to be overwhelming want for traditional gaming consoles. Demand for a PS3 has dropped from 7% to 4% to 2% over the period whilst demand for an Xbox has dropped from 4% to 3% over the last 2 years. Again, a device that can adequately do multiple things is seen as more desirable than something more single minded and specialist.

Other changes of note from this year’s competition were for people asking for things that could be viewed as treats for themselves rather than specific products. Again perhaps reflecting the poor financial circumstances most people find themselves in at the moment, the % of requests for ‘shopping sprees’ went from 2% to 4% year on year with those asking for ‘a holiday’ went from 2% to 3%. Take a look at the graph below to see all the changes in full amongst the top requested prizes over the last 3 years.

For any further enquiries about this article or its contents, please contact mark.crawford@bauermedia.co.uk