There are a few things I have yet to accurately predict with Internet data, namely political races and sporting events. Politics is tricky given the existence of confounding variables in visits to political sites. Sporting events, as skill based competition, have little relationship to search volume or Internet visits. That being said, there’s no reason why we can’t have a little fun with the data.

On our Experian Marketing Forward Blog we have some great posts comparing the two geographic markets of Green Bay and Pittsburgh (here and here). With Experian Hitwise, using the official team sites for the Packers and Steelers (assuming visitors to each site is a good proxy for a team fan) we can analyze the difference between the two.

At Experian Hitwise, we have the ability to report, in aggregate on the VantageScore bins for visitors to sites and categories (VantageScore is a grade-based credit scoring system, A = best credit, F= worst credit).

Here’s the comparison of visitors to the Steelers’ and Packers’ websites over the last four weeks:

While the latest Vegas odds are still showing Green Bay favored by three. The spread in VantageScore for visitors to the two sites shows a much stronger gap. While this might not help predict Sunday’s winner, I’m guessing that Packer fans have been able to finance better last-minute LCD TV purchases for the game.

I love this time of year. Anticipation builds around the match-up, Green Bay vs. Pittsburgh, Danica Patrick plus Jillian Michaels on the eagerly anticipated Go Daddy commercial, and whether the Super Bowl could cause a heart attack mid-game.

But beyond Packers vs. Steelers (I’ll leave the Patrick vs. Michaels match-up for a post game analysis) there’s another interesting match-up for my online data peeps; is social gaining on search as a navigational tool. First lets look at a chart of “Super Bowl” searches over the last three years.

First, we should note that over the last three years, U.S. searchers have realized that the Super Bowl is spelled as two words, not “superbowl.” Also by looking at this chart you might guess that, by search volume, there is less interest for online Super Bowl content. A separate analysis of visits to the official Super Bowl site however, indicate that we’re seeing a greater pregame surge in visits than in previous years. So why is traffic share on the term “Super Bowl” declining this year?

The chart above compares upstream traffic to Superbowl.com for this week versus the week before Super Bowl last year, you can see that traffic from all three search engines to the official game site have dropped, while traffic from Facebook has more than doubled.

Is this a sign that, as a navigational tool, social is gaining on search?

On a separate note, one of the reasons that I love working at Experian Marketing Services is the sheer volume of data that we have at our disposal, both online and offline. Check out these posts here and here from my esteemed colleague Bill Schneider on the depth of our market data comparing Pittsburgh to Green Bay.

To provide those insights, we conducted a detailed market analysis using a wide variety of data sources including research information from Experian Simmons, Hitwise, and the Mosaic Consumer Lifestyle segmentation solution, which defines the predominant household types for each area (as featured in yesterday’s post: Cheeseheads vs. Terrible Towels). Today, we delve further into the hearts and houses of Green Bay and Pittsburgh area residents.

GREEN BAY FANS PACK THEM IN FOR TAILGATING
Green Bay area residents are more passionate about tailgating compared to their rivals in Pittsburgh. Among those who identify themselves as NFL football fans, Green Bay fans are 1.45 times more likely than Pittsburgh fans to have participated in a tailgate party within the past 12 months. They are also better equipped to tailgate due to a higher ownership rate for midsize SUVs, and both light duty and full size pickups (Road & Track magazine top-rated picks for tailgating), compared to Pittsburgh fans.

STELLA AND STEELERS GO TOGETHER

With every tailgate comes a beverage of choice, and in today’s analysis we’ve found that Bud Light and Budweiser are the light/low calorie and regular domestic brands of beer favored the most by both Green Bay and Pittsburgh fans. However, Pittsburgh fans are 1.56 times more likely than Green Bay fans to down a few of premium brand, Stella Artois. Notably, along with its best selling brands, Anheuser-Busch plans to devote a portion of its multi-million dollar ad spend to this Belgian import.    

FANTASIZING ABOUT FOOTBALL

While all that tailgating is going on, Green Bay fans might also be boasting about their latest fantasy sports selections. They are 1.34 times more likely to say that they participate in a fantasy sports league compared to Pittsburgh fans. That’s not to say that Pittsburgh fans don’t enjoy their fantasy sports, indexing above the national average for visiting fantasy sports and football websites.

PLAYING IN THE GREAT OUTDOORS

Packers and Steelers fans enjoy being out in the elements, so chances are you’ll probably never see a dome over either Lambeau or Heinz Field. The most popular Green Bay football fan activities, with a higher participation rate compared to Pittsburgh fans, are: golfing, camping, state fairs, hunting, power boating and motorcycling. In the Pittsburgh area, with its impressive network of recreational trails, residents are 1.23 times more likely to in-line/roller skate and are 1.36 times more likely to play hockey, compared to Green Bay. Off land analysis shows that despite Green Bay residents’ close proximity to Lake Michigan and a multitude of water sport opportunities, Pittsburgh fans are more likely to spend time on the water, namely: canoeing, kayaking, sailing, and fly fishing.

THROWING DEEP VERSUS HANDING OFF

Each year Super Bowl advertisers try to reach their audiences across broadly defined demographics with little ability to measure the direct impact of their super-sized investments. It’s the equivalent of throwing a “Hail Mary” and hoping the receiver will leap above the clutter of defenders and catch the ball. Direct marketers, however, are using the behavioral and attitudinal data we’ve shared here to deliver their messages to a precisely targeted sub-audience. For marketers who want to be relevant and target accurately, this capability is the playmaker that scores a game winning touchdown every time.  

Click here for the full article

Blog post author: Bill Schneider, VP, Experian Marketing Services.

We’d love to hear your stories and how you’ve used lifestyle data. Please leave your comments or feedback below.

An enlightening glimpse into the lifestyles of Packers and Steelers’ supporters living in Green Bay and Pittsburgh, and surrounding communities, creates exciting targeting opportunities for marketers. Using Mosaic segments from Experian to dissect these two markets, marketers can identify the “Small-town Contentment” of Green Bay – these are middle-aged, upper-middle-class families living in small towns and surrounding satellite cities, versus the “Blue-collar Backbone” of Pittsburgh – these are budget-conscious, young and old blue-collar households living in older towns.

MEET THE PREDOMINATE HOUSEHOLD TYPES IN PACKERS AND STEELERS COUNTRY

In Green Bay you will find over twice the concentration of households from the Small-town Success and Family Convenience segments compared to Pittsburgh. Successful Suburbia (these are upscale, middle-age, married couples with children), the fifth most populated segment in Green Bay, is also the most over-represented segment with five times the concentration of households compared to the national average.

In Pittsburgh you will find a larger share of neighborhoods consisting of households from the Urban Commuter Families and Steadfast Conservative segments compared to Green Bay. Lower-income Essentials (these are lower income, empty-nesting couples and aging seniors) is the third most populated segment in Pittsburgh. With over eight times the concentration of households compared to the national average, this is also the most over-represented segment in Pittsburgh.

SUPER-SIZED MARKETING IS NOT FOR EVERYONE

Not all marketers can afford to spend millions of dollars placing Super Bowl ads to reach massive audiences. A more efficient approach is to target various market segments with relevant messages, using the power of segmentation solutions. A retailer developing a marketing campaign for its new line of children’s apparel should target growing families in the Small-town Success and Family Convenience segments, rather than including populations with older couples and seniors in households that are much less likely to contain children. Time and time again precision targeting based on consumer lifestyles delivers greater return on marketing spend.

While an examination of the differences in the predominate lifestyles and demographics of Green Bay and Pittsburgh may not lead us to a prediction concerning the outcome of the big game, we know one thing for certain - We’ll see lots of Cheeseheads wearing Packer gear trying to out-cheer their Terrible Towel twirling counter parts on Sunday.

What marketing are you doing in honor of Super Bowl Sunday? Does the research and segment information shared here surprise you?  Share your comments below.

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Blog post author: Bill Schneider, Vice President, Experian Marketing Services at bill.schneider@experian.com

NOTES:

Pittsburgh is the 29^th largest media market (based on DMA).  The Pittsburgh, PA CBSA includes the seven counties of Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland.

Green Bay is the 72^nd largest media market.  The Green Bay, WI CBSA includes the three counties of Brown, Kewaunee and Oconto.