Valassis Survey Reveals the Importance of Traditional Media in Millennial Shopping Behaviors

LIVONIA, Mich., Dec. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Valassis (NYSE: VCI), one of the nation's leading media and marketing services companies, announced results from its recent Consumer Print Usage Survey on Facebook®. Results indicate that while digital is key with Millennial shoppers (ages 18-34), traditional print media also plays an important role in the group's shopping routines and are not only instrumental in decision-making, but often serve as a catalyst to online shopping.

Valassis' Consumer Print Usage Survey revealed 91% of Millennials who use newspaper inserts do so to save money, and 60% said they would shop less without newspaper inserts. Newspaper inserts guide Millennials prior to shopping in several ways: by alerting them to sales (68%); driving them to purchase (51%); reminding them of a need (46%); helping them decide where to buy (35%); and alerting them of a product or service (26%). Survey results also uncovered 30% of Millennial newspaper insert users go online after seeing a product or service in a newspaper insert.

"While Millennials are clearly heavy digital users, learnings from the survey reveal that they are still influenced by print, including newspaper inserts," said Larry Berg, Vice President and General Manager of Valassis Solutions. "These findings indicate the powerful way traditional print and digital media work together to drive consumers from awareness to action as well as how the traditional path to purchase has evolved and is no longer linear."

Findings from the survey speak to the power of print, specifically insert advertising, and how Millennial consumers are combining these advertisements with online searches along their path to purchase. The survey also provides insights into Millennial shopping behaviors and the role newspaper inserts play in the shopping routines of this deal-seeking generation.  The survey platform was selected based on its history of heavy Millennial use – 86% of Millennials visit Facebook every day.

In addition, the study also found that Millennial shoppers use newspaper inserts when choosing restaurants, apparel, telecom products and services and more:

• 87% of Millennials who use newspaper inserts utilize them regularly or occasionally when selecting a restaurant;
• 84% of Millennials use inserts to find coupons or discounts when shopping for apparel, and 71% use inserts to find the best price; and
• 64% of Millennials who use newspaper inserts look to them when making decisions on telecom products and services.

Valassis recently commissioned a whitepaper based on results from Valassis' Consumer Print Usage Survey and other recent Millennial data. The results presented in the whitepaper highlight how newspaper inserts impact Millennial decision-making and how they plan, shop, buy and share in order to achieve their savings goals, supporting the importance of including traditional media when crafting Millennial marketing strategies. For more information and to download the whitepaper, visit http://www.valassis.com/millennial-whitepaper-download.aspx.

About Valassis

Valassis is one of the nation's leading media and marketing services companies, offering unparalleled reach and scale to more than 15,000 advertisers. Its RedPlum® media portfolio delivers value on a weekly basis to over 100 million shoppers across a multi-media platform – in-home, in-store and in-motion. Through its digital offerings, including redplum.com and save.com, consumers can find compelling national and local deals. Headquartered in Livonia, Michigan with approximately 7,000 associates in 28 states and eight countries, Valassis is widely recognized for its associate and corporate citizenship programs, including its America's Looking for Its Missing Children® program. Valassis companies include Valassis Direct Mail, Inc., Valassis Canada, Promotion Watch, Valassis Relationship Marketing Systems, LLC, NCH Marketing Services, Inc. and Brand.net. For more information, visit www.valassis.com, www.redplum.com and www.save.com. To learn about advertising opportunities with RedPlum, please call 1-800-437-0479.

Valassis Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward-looking Statements

This document contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, the following: price competition from our existing competitors; new competitors in any of our businesses; a shift in client preferences for different promotional materials, strategies or coupon delivery methods, including, without limitation, as a result of declines in newspaper circulation and/or increased competition from new media formats including digital; an unforeseen increase in paper or postal costs; changes which affect the businesses of our clients and lead to reduced sales promotion spending, including, without limitation, a decrease of marketing budgets which are generally discretionary in nature and easier to reduce in the short-term than other expenses; our substantial indebtedness, and ability to refinance such indebtedness, if necessary, and our ability to incur additional indebtedness, may affect our financial health; the financial condition, including bankruptcies, of our clients, suppliers, senior secured credit facility lenders or other counterparties; certain covenants in our debt documents could adversely restrict our financial and operating flexibility; fluctuations in the amount, timing, pages, weight and kinds of advertising pieces from period to period, due to a change in our clients' promotional needs, inventories and other factors, including, without limitation, high levels of coupon redemption rates; our failure to attract and retain qualified personnel may affect our business and results of operations; a rise in interest rates could increase our borrowing costs; possible governmental regulation or litigation affecting aspects of our business; clients experiencing financial difficulties, or otherwise being unable to meet their obligations as they become due, could affect our results of operations and financial condition; uncertainty in the application and interpretation of applicable state sales tax laws may expose us to additional sales tax liability; and general economic conditions, whether nationally, internationally, or in the market areas in which we conduct our business, including the adverse impact of the ongoing economic downturn on the marketing expenditures and activities of our clients and prospective clients as well as our vendors, with whom we rely on to provide us with quality materials at the right prices and in a timely manner. These and other risks and uncertainties related to our business are described in greater detail in our filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, including our reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q and the foregoing information should be read in conjunction with these filings.  We disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE Valassis