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19 Shevat 5767 - February 7, 2007 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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NEWS
Advertisers Overlook Chareidi Buying Power

By R. Gil

Chareidi buying power is growing by 7 percent annually, yet advertisers are not increasing their budgets targeted at the chareidi community at the same rate. The chareidi population doubles every 20 years and currently represents 10 percent of the total population, but the major advertisers prefer to keep to their home court, expecting the chareidi sector to make do with a few crumbs from the cake. Some have yet to recognize the enormous potential the sector has to offer as the leader in the consumption of various products. Others find it hard to step out of the marketing rut and start saving the fat slices of the cake for the right places. Many don't even realize what they stand to gain.

Based on figures provided by the Planning Department at Afikim Advertising, only the chareidi sector posts constant population growth. Every year it has 7 percent in nominal growth, compared to just 1.4 percent in the general population. Growth related to aliyoh or teshuvoh further increases its mass. According to estimates, of the seven million people living in Israel, 700,000 are chareidi. You don't have to be a statistician or a seasoned researcher to realize the enormous buying power lying here. And certainly El Al could share with us some of its recent impressions of chareidi consumer power.

Various consumerism assessments provide a glimpse of the public's buying or boycotting power, which is becoming a more and more dominant force in the local marketplace. With 50 percent under the age of 14, the chareidi sector is the youngest in the State of Israel. According to population forecasts, less than 20 years from now one in every four children in Israel will be chareidi and according to all of the studies, 2025 will be the year of the chareidi consumer, when no advertiser will be able to ignore them any longer.

"It's really bad," says Benny Gal, CEO of Gal Advertising, adding that the chareidi sector accounts for approximately 15 percent of the market in terms of economic value of goods consumed. Thus the share of targeted advertising should have been 10 percent, and sometimes even 17 percent — depending on the advertisers' aim — whereas in practice they barely reach half this rate.

The year 2006 clearly illustrated the gaps. The advertising budget in the chareidi sector ranged from $40 million to $50 million of the billion dollars spent on advertising each year — i.e. just 4-5 percent.

The large advertisers place most ads in the general sector. According to Ifat Advertising Monitoring, in 2005 the ten leading advertisers spent $123 million in the general sector compared to just $3.8 million in the religious-chareidi sector.

 

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