Ad, marketing executives' competition aids productivity

Percentage who said the level of competition in their firm/agency enhances productivity: 87

Brands that work

Ranks of Coca-Cola, Sony, Toyota, Dell and Ford among the “best brands” of 2007, according to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Rank of Coca-Cola in 2006: 3

Rank of Sony in 2006: 1

Number of brands appearing in the 2007 top 10 that also appeared in the top 10 in 1997: 4

Clip those coupons

Percentage of the U.S. population that uses coupons, according to data from the Promotion Marketing Association Coupon Council: 86

Amount of money that shoppers saved in 2006 by using manufacturers’ coupons: $2.6 billion

Amount offered by manufacturers in coupon savings in 2006: $330 billion

Online marketplace

Percentage of Americans who spend six or more hours each day on the Internet, according to a survey conducted by IBM: 26

Percentage of Americans who spend one to four hours on the Internet: 54

Consumer feedback

Ranks of supermarkets (92 percent), online search engines (84 percent) and computer hardware companies (78 percent) as the industries that best serve consumers, according to a Harris Poll: 1, 2, 3

Ranks of tobacco companies (26 percent), oil companies (33 percent), and managed care companies-HMOs (37 percent) as the industries that serve consumers least well: 1, 2, 3

Public perceptions

Percentage of surveyed companies that report their business was impacted by the exposure of sensitive or embarrassing information in the last year, according to a study by e-mail security and data loss prevention company Proofpoint Inc.: 26.3

Percentage of companies that investigated a suspected e-mail leak of confidential or proprietary information: 33.8

Percentage of the largest enterprises (20,000 employees or more) that reported that employee e-mail was subpoenaed in the last 12 months: 29.1

Best ideas

Percentage of U.S. employees at big companies who say that the best ideas for making the company more successful come from “all levels” of employees: 57

Percentage who say that the best ideas come from the CEO or president: 8

Percentage of U.S. employees who say management fails to seek out employee input: 39

Percentage of U.S. employees at big companies who say they sometimes “ignore company rules because they’ve developed better ways of getting work done”: 37

Attracting workers

Percentage of working fathers who say the workplace benefit they appreciate the most is a flexible work schedule, according to a survey conducted by Monster.com: 53

Percentage who said paid paternity leave: 10

One for you, one for me

Percentage increase in the market for food gifts between 2004 and 2006, according to “Food Gifting in the United States,” a report from market research publisher Packaged Facts: 56

Percentage rise in self-gifting, or “one for you, one for me” shopping between the 2005 and 2006 holiday seasons: 8

Percentage of people who admitted to buying food gifts for themselves: 26

John MacIntyre is an author and former city magazine editor. His Figuratively Speaking column, launched in 1989, is published in more than 40 newspapers and magazines.