Office Supply Stores Target Traditional Writers with Up-​to-​Date Pens

BY Rachel Cagle
Featured image for “Office Supply Stores Target Traditional Writers with Up-​to-​Date Pens”

In celebration of International Correspondence Writing Month (InCoWriMo), Pilot Corporation of America (Pilot Pen) is sharing new and surprising insights about the ongoing importance of writing by hand and connecting via the written word. Their recent survey revealed that although digital devices continue to play an ever-​increasing role in our everyday lives, more than 80% of respondents still hand write every day.

Now, that's not saying that writers spurn technology. On the contrary, according to AudienceSCAN, Writers own Window OS computers (68%), Android phones (43.6%), iPhones (42.2%), iPads (34.1%), Android tablets (28.4%) and Mac OS X computers (26.1%). In the past month, 61.4% of Writers have used a search engine to research a product or service they were considering for purchase and, within the last six months, Writers have used mobile devices to watch online or streamed videos (69.1%), purchase products (52.9%) and search for nearby retailers (34.5%).

Americans seem to understand the benefits of writing by hand, with over 90% of those surveyed stating that writing things down helps them better retain information. Although more than 80% of survey respondents agree that writing down goals aids in achieving them, only 25% of those surveyed committed their New Year's resolutions to paper.

According to a US News and World Report study, more than 80% of people abandon their New Year's resolutions by the second week of February. This indicates that taking the time to write down those 2019 resolutions could help people get back on track.

"The benefits of handwriting have been scientifically proven and continue to be highly relevant, even in this digital age," said Ariann Langsam, Vice President of Consumer Marketing for Pilot Pen. "We want to help people understand and embrace these benefits and put them into action."

Writing by hand can also aid in emotional well-​being. The American Psychological Association stated that three out of four Americans reported experiencing at least one stress symptom in the last month. More than 36% reported feeling nervous or anxious due to stressful factors in their lives. Many individuals are actively seeking out calming activities to build into their daily routines. Pilot's survey revealed that 43% of participants reported noticeably lower stress levels when engaging in writing-​related activities such as journaling, letter-​writing and list-​making. Celebrate InCoWriMo this month by picking up a pen and embracing the wide range of tangible and emotional benefits that can result from connecting pen to paper.

Office supply retailers can promote the benefits of the paper products and writing utensils they carry to Writers a number of ways. For example, last year, 58.8% of Writers took action after receiving an email ad and 48.1% took action after either receiving an ad via text or seeing an ad on their mobile smartphone apps, according to AudienceSCAN. They're also 30% more likely than other adults to click on text link ads on websites. In that same amount of time, writers also took action after seeing TV commercials (66%) and receiving direct mail ads (61.6%).

AudienceSCAN data is available for your applications and dashboards through the SalesFuel API. Media companies and agencies can access AudienceSCAN data through the AudienceSCAN Reports in AdMall.


Share: