New 'Dead Q Study' Now Available - Assessing The Value Of Deceased Celebrities

by Henry Schafer

Using deceased celebrities for licensing, marketing and advertising campaigns has evolved into a big business.   Over the past 16 years, our "one-of-a-kind" syndicated Dead Q study has provided various industries with a unique research tool to evaluate and track the current consumer appeal of recently passed and long-time deceased personalities.  Depending on the celebrity, we find that the consumer appeal can actually strengthen or weaken after death and could even change over time.  So, every two years we conduct an update to find out which dead celebrities are the most and least appealing in a variety of categories (e.g., actors, comics, musicians, singers, etc.).  

The strength of the emotional connection consumers have with the deceased celebrity plays a key role in determining their licensing potential and value as an intellectual property. 

Our Dead Q study measures over 150 deceased personalities, each rated by a nationally representative sample of 1,400 adults (18+), and is fielded every two years in the fall. Our Dead Q database includes approximately 1,000 deceased personalities and has data trends from earlier studies, dating back to 1997.  Data may be purchased in a variety of ways, as described below.

Full Study - Demographic profiles and target consumer rankings are included in the full study subscription.

Demographic Profiles - Demographic data on one or more deceased personalities is profiled by: age, age within sex, income, geographic regions, Nielsen county size, education, occupation, race and Hispanic ethnicity.

Target Ranking Report - All personalities are ranked by their Q Scores among a standard demographic target (e.g. women 18-49) or by a custom definition of the target consumer (e.g. males 40+ with incomes of $75,000+).

Custom Tabulations - Beyond demographics, other information can be accessed from our database such as purchasers of pre-recorded classic movies, home ownership, cable households, computer users and dog or cat ownership. Thus, for example, a ranking of celebrity appeal can be tabulated among "past year buyers of classic movies on DVD or Blu-Ray”, “apartment dwelling cat owners" or “Netflix subscribers”.

Please contact us to discuss this study in more detail and see how it could benefit your organization. Call us at 516-365-7979 or by email:  henry.schafer@qscores.com

Paul McCartney More Appealing than John Lennon

by Steve Levitt

While on the surface it may seem like an “apples to oranges” comparison, the Q Scores methodology provides the basis for a fair evaluation of living vs. deceased performers. Since both Performer Q and Dead Q use the same methodology including our “Favorites” rating scale, a head-to-head comparison is clearly valid.

Paul McCartney achieved a positive Q Score of 36 in the Summer 2010 Performer Q study of 1,800 performers, while John Lennon’s positive Q Score was 30 in the Fall 2009 Dead Q study of 150 Performers of the Past. It should be noted that this comparison reflects the opinions of adults 50+ over and not the total adult population.

Interestingly, Ringo Starr (23) was much less appealing than McCartney (36), while George Harrison (26) scored only somewhat below Lennon (30). And, on the negative side, Ringo Starr displayed the highest negative Q Score of the four Beatles.

In a before-and-after scenario, George Harrison rated better in death than he did while alive. His positive Q Score rose from 14 to 26 while his negative Q Score dropped from 23 to 12. It can be noted that Michael Jackson also displayed substantially higher positives and much lower negatives after his death.