Teens, Products, and Brands

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, July 1, 1999

The stereotype of today's teen is that of a brand-obsessed, label-driven, mall-congregating, free-spending, compulsive shoppers. There is often some truth to stereotypes.

Teens love to shop. It is an experience rather than an errand, an event rather than a chore. What teens buy reflects what they think of themselves and how they wish others to perceive them. The act of buying can be one of independence or conformity, self-expression or socialization. Understanding the wants and needs behind teen buying is important for marketers of all kinds of consumer products.

Today's teens have the means to move brand sales in a big way Although most adults earn more money than teens, a larger share of teen income is discretionary. Teens aren't saddled with mortgage or utility bills. They can spend their funds freely, This fact, coupled with their rising incomes, makes teens an increasingly attractive consumer segment. If you sell traditional teen products, you already know this. Marketers of adult brands are lust beginning to realize it.

Teens are unique consumers. Unlike children, they have the financial resources to make big-ticket purchases such as cars, computers, or jewelry. But unlike adults, they often need the permission of a parent before they can make such a purchase. Adults play an important role in the teen buying experience, a role that needs to be recognized and addressed.

Teens are more brand conscious today than ever before. By understanding what teens look for in a brand, and by knowing when brand choice is important, you can begin to assess your opportunities and get a better picture of what and why teens buy.

WHAT MAKES A BRAND COOL?

Years ago, we began conducting regular, exploratory focus groups with teens to uncover how they differentiate between brands. We learned that teens don't categorize products the way marketers do. A candy marketer might think that its competitive set (i.e., the alternatives to its candy bar) is other chocolate candy bars, for example, or even something more specific such as "enrobed" chocolate candy bars with peanuts. To teens, the competitive set might include salty snacks, cookies, ice cream, or even pizza.

We discovered that teens have a unique way of evaluating brands and products. Brand research that works with adults may not be relevant in researching teen brand preferences. This finding helped us develop several quantitative measures for assessing teen brand perceptions.

When we began to explore the process of brand evaluation among teens, we discovered that the quality of "coolness' is of paramount importance. Teens can quickly label a brand as either cool or uncool. One of the wonderful things about qualitative research is the ability to probe as deeply as possible-which is exactly what we did, exploring the meaning behind the word cool as it applies to branding. In doing so across a variety of product categories, we uncovered the factors that mark a brand as cool. By understanding what makes a brand cool to teens, you can develop and communicate the important cues that create a relevant, desirable image for your brands among teens.

In our syndicated study we asked, "Thinking about brands of products, what makes a brand a cool brand?" The one attribute most teens associate with a cool brand is quality: two-thirds of teens associate quality with being cool. Among 18- and 19-year-olds the figure is an even higher 81?) percent. That teens select quality as the number-one criterion of coolness says much about their level of consumer sophistication. Some marketers think that if they package their products in hot teen colors, use a popular celebrity, or shoot an MTV-style commercial, teens will buy They are mistaken. Teens appreciate and seek quality. This does not mean that quality in and of itself will sell a product, but It is the fundamental criterion of a cool brand. The brands teens consider to be the coolest-such as Nike, Sony, adidas, and Tommy Hilfiger-all carry the perception of high quality among teens.

Quality means different things in different product categories. For athletic shoes, quality can mean durability or ankle support. For chewing gum, quality can mean taste or long-lasting flavor. These very different attributes have one thing in common: they separate brands within a category based on perceived product superiority-or quality.

After quality, the most common description of what makes a brand cool to teens is that it is "for people my age." Teens prefer things that are specifically for them, whether it's language, fashion, advertising, or brands.

Advertising performs strongly on this measure, cited by 23 percent of teens. The fact that so many teens name advertising as something that makes a brand cool reveals just how involved teens are with advertising and the importance it has in their lives.

Interestingly, the attributes of being a new brand and being an established brand are equally important in teens' minds. Nearly 10 percent of teens associate newness with making a brand cool, underscoring the fact that the teen market is a fertile ground for new products.