European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 13, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Typical Tulsa is Haven for test marketer by Steve Lohr the new York times blame it on Oklahoma the grapes of Wrath and the Oil business. The nations image of Tulsa okla., complains Rusty Linker of the metropolitan Tulsa chamber of Commerce remains one of amiable cowpokes Oil rigs and parched Plains. It scarcely seems fair. Tulsa with a population of 367,000, is a tree lined City with twice the average rainfall of san Francisco. The local Economy is More dependent on High technology services like the computer Center that handles reservations for american airlines than on Oil. The Only cowboys in town Are the dress up Urban variety. And according to an analysis of 1990 census data Tulsa is the most typical town in America. That May not appear to be much of a distinction. Yet corporate America thinks otherwise. Business looks to the country s most Middle of the Road cities As Ideal test markets for new consumer products. It can be argued that typical has been devalued because the growing ethnic and racial diversity of american society Means no single City is truly a microcosm of the National Market anymore. With America now More a mosaic than a melting pot the mass Market is dead some say. And to a degree that is undoubtedly True. Still for All manner of mainstream consumer items a soft drinks Beer snack foods detergents Over the counter drugs and others a the product proving grounds of representative communities remain a vital tool of modern marketing these Days sophisticated computer models have been developed to predict How shoppers will react to new products. Quot but whenever possible i want to test a product on the shelf Quot said Dwight Riskey vice president of new products for frito Lay inc., which tested a new cheetos cheese Flavoured snack in Tulsa before distributing it nationally a year ago. The big consumer product companies carry out their test marketing with a grim seriousness big promotional budgets the utmost secrecy and even Shady tricks like buying a competitor s new product by the careful just to spoil the Tost Market results. Quot it s High stakes poker Par excellence Quot said Tom Pirko president of be Mark inc., a los Angeles based consultant to the food and beverage industries. Tulsa came closest of All cities with More than 50,000 people to Matching the National averages for age distribution racial mix and housing prices in a recent study by Donnelley marketing information services for american demographics Magazine. Seventy nine percent of Tulsa s population is White 14 percent Black nearly equal to the National figures of 80 percent White and 12 percent Black. Quot it s very significant that Tulsa keeps popping to the top of the list a it s moving with the nation Quot said Judith Waldrop the research editor of american demographics who noted that Tulsa was also most representative in an readers action line adjustments made for sports line it a Why is it when you Call the an sports line you no longer hear sports results and the latest information from sport world but the likes of Garth Brooks and George Strait. I know dial Brooks album room the Wing is on the lop of the billboard pop charts but that s not the reason the an sports line was created we sports fans want to know tire latest scores and other sports information the above a pedestrian malt in downtown Tulsa okla., a City popular As a site for test marketing new products. Analysis of 1980 census data. Quot and struggling to keep up economically As Tulsa has done is representative of  the City a american Indian population is higher than the National percentages and the hispanic share somewhat lower. Its median Home value at $60,500, is less than the National median of $79,100. Yet Tulsa a blend of children Young adults baby Boomers Middle aged adults and elderly and its age distribution which is a crucial variable in consumer buying patterns is almost identical to the nations. After Tulsa the most typical american cities Are Charleston w. A. Midland Texas and Springfield  to Donnelley s calculations. But some of corporate America s traditional test markets a Peoria Iii. Fort Wayne ind. Green Bay wis. And Syracuse , a Are no longer As representative As they once were. Throughout the postwar years companies have scouted for typical towns As proving grounds. The traditional technique was to get the National census data each decade and select places that seemed typical a often medium size cities in the Midwest. Then if local polling data pretty much matched the most recent National averages the City was decreed representative and companies began assaulting local residents with new products. For clues on promising test markets the american demographics Donnelley study is apparently the most comprehensive ranking of places Ever done. For comparison american demographics also published a list of typical cities in 1985, using less exacting criteria and working from 1980 census data. Most of the top 20 from that ranking have dropped off the list reflecting population migrations or economic swings or have stayed the same while the nation became More diverse. That Tulsa ranked no. 1 in both surveys is a Surprise Given the wrenching economic adjustment it went through in the 1980s. Tulsa lost half its employment in the Oil Industry during the decade but adapted by investing in education and economic development. It eventually More than made up for the lost Oil jobs by attracting companies in the Fields of transportation communications and services. And in the last decade Tulsa has become More diverse racially and ethnically but not at the rapid Pace seen in major coastal cities like Miami los Angeles or new York. An sports line is an excellent Way to receive next Day sports news. Robert a. Shahan Raf Ben Watere England la Gary Carruthers Public affairs officer american forces network Europe replies the an sports line is Back in action. The problem you pointed out occurred when the arts broadcast Center in los Angeles changed the circuit configurations of audio channels on its satellite feed to overseas arts networks an has made the necessary internal adjustment and can bal up Santa by  l i 3 329 -1300 Sas Rick Bahlinger president of Golden Eagle distributing which markets the Beers of the Anheuser Busch cos. In the Tulsa area noted that the Brewer had just finished a two year test of Busch cold filtered draft Here. However he acknowledged that Tulsa was not one of the company a favorite test markets. Quot Tulsa is Middle America to the Max Quot he said. Quot but people Haven to really discovered it  but that is starting to change said Roberta Cunningham president of Cunningham Field service ltd., a Tulsa company that does the legwork for consumer goods companies surveying How buyers react to test marketed products. The family company has six offices nationally but its Tulsa office has doubled its business in the last year doubling its staff to 36 employees. Once marketers get beyond the cow town and tumbleweeds image of Tulsa Cunningham said they find a representative Market where shoppers Are willing Guinea pigs. The refusal rate people declining to cooperate with Telephone or face to face surveys in Tulsa is far below the National averages and scheduled 15-minute surveys tend to go on longer As tul sans digress to talk about their children gardens cars or whatever. Walking through Tulsa Smalls shopping strips and downtown the faces the styles and the goods for Sale May vary. Most people under 50 seem to be dressed in the moderately priced generically stylish garb pioneered by the Gap and mimicked by mass Market department stores like . Penney and Sears. Every discount store seems to be trying to copy the Wal Mart formula of clean Well stocked outlets with a scattering of service people trying to act Friendly Doug White general manager of the big . Penney store in the Woodland Hills mall says he is stocking fewer $350 men s suits and $300 women s suits the High priced Range at Penney than he did a few years ago. Quot we be moved with the Market to sell More of the lower Price Points now Quot White said. A that s what Middle America wants  Mark Hunter general manager of the Woodland Hills mall the largest in Oklahoma where 15 million customers spend More than $200 million a year agrees a customers Aren t As driven by names and brands As they were a couple of years ago. They Are still spending but they Are doing it More  write us readers action line is the readers a court of last resort Quot striving to answer some of the questions about life overseas in a military environment or questions about policies and guidelines when other avenues for answers Are not readily available. If you have a question and Don t know where to turn for the answer write to readers action line co the stars and stripes unit 29480, Apoate 09211. All letters must be signed and preference will be Given to those Seei. No information of general interest to our loaders Page 16 a the stars and stripes saturday june 13, 1992