The Mendelsohn Affluent Survey

The release of the 2007 Mendelsohn Affluent Survey in August, 2007 marks the 31st consecutive year that the company has provided advertisers, agencies, and the media with this valued and innovative, syndicated, communications planning and marketing survey. Since 1977, the year the 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 accumulated expertise in this area, Mendelsohn’s 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 Mendelsohn Affluent Survey is the only ongoing syndicated study that concentrates on this select marketplace of purchasers of many affluent and luxury goods and services and also provides sufficiently large samples to allow for a thorough examination of the affluent and very high income households, many of whom are also millionaires.

The 2007 Mendelsohn Affluent Survey focuses solely on the top quarter of U.S. households (currently 24%) based on current household incomes ($85,000 or higher in 2006). This select and vital group of households (approximately 28 million U.S. households in total) account for more than 50% of the total U.S. household incomes and are counted among the target markets for many affluent and luxury brand's marketing and advertising campaigns throughout the year. The survey’s widely dispersed sample, plus its substantial rate of completions and its population projections (which closely reflect the Current Population Surveys of the Bureau of the Census) make Mendelsohn’s measurement of the affluent and very high income households more representative of changing media and market habits.

The 2007 survey was fielded in all 50 states and in Washington, D.C. As in prior years, the survey was fielded in the highest quality manner using a rigorous mail methodology. More than 13,000 affluent households are included in the 2007 release and the overall response rate again approached 50%. The 2007 database allows subscribers to produce comprehensive demographic and marketing profiles of an extensive list of magazines, national newspapers and cable television networks. In addition, subscribers will be using the 2007 and prior years’ data to undertake substantive demographic, marketing, and strategic planning analyses in regard to more than 50 marketing and product categories (for example, airline travel, alcoholic beverages, apparel, automotive, credit cards, cruising, Internet usage, investments, leisure and sports/athletic activities, real estate, travel destinations, wine, etc.). Additionally, the 2006 survey obtained detailed expenditure data from affluent and very high income consumers regarding more than 80 different expenditures of interest to affluent and luxury brand advertisers, agencies and the media.

A copy of the 2007 Mendelsohn Affluent Survey questionnaire is available for downloading by clicking here

Examples of the valuable data that the Mendelsohn Affluent Survey provides are illustrated in the following extracts from recent Mendelsohn Affluent Surveys.

Publication pocket-pieces from 2007, 2006 and 2005

Cable TV pocket-pieces from 2007, 2006 and 2005

 A copy of The Summary Report of Selected Findings for 2007 (The Brochure) is available for downloading by clicking the title. A recent white paper released by The American Association of Advertising Agencies (the 4A's) that highlights significant findings relating to the affluent and luxury marketplaces is available for downloading by clicking here.

For further information about being measured by the Mendelsohn Affluent Survey or to discuss the fees for subscribing to this extensive database, please contact either or