For Boing. I made the same statement to a P&W rep about most of the saving being made in the top few percent of thrust reduction, and he said that was true of the older engines but not for the current ones. The later engines have a straight line wear and tear reduction with thrust, thus every bit you can squeeze out will help, right down to minimum EPR.
I also believe that time is important; the less time you can spend at takeoff thrust the less the wear and tear. This means that (if I am right) an early thrust reduction to Climb Thrust (avoid Noise Abatement procedures unless they are required at the particular airport, or use Procedure B) and the use of minimum flap for the runway length available (within reason) will be of benefit. These two techniques will reduce the time spent at high EGT (which is the killer) and so baby the engines.
And since I brought up Noise: A full power takeoff will get you up faster and higher over the noise sensitive area and the noise footprint will be lower.