REPORT 2014 THE UK’S TOP BRANDS ACCORDING TO 18 24s Youth Communications Partner Sponsored by 6 INTRODUCTION 7 METHODOLOGY 8 FINDINGS 10 MEET THE CONTRIBUTORS 16 YOUTH 100 RESULTS 18 ALCOHOLIC DRINKS 20 APPS 22 BEAUTY & PERSONAL CARE SHOW US YOUR BRIEFS 24 CHARITIES & CAMPAIGNS 26 EDUCATION 28 FASHION 30 FAST FOOD & RESTAURANTS 34 GRADUATE EMPLOYERS 36 GROCERY 38 HAIRCARE 40 HOME & STATIONERY 42 INTERNET 44 LIFESTYLE & ENTERTAINMENT 46 LUXURY 48 MEDIA 50 MOBILE & ISPS 52 MONEY & FINANCE 54 ONLINE SHOPPING 56 RETAIL 58 SNACKS & CONFECTIONERY 60 SOFT DRINKS 62 SUPERMARKETS 64 TECHNOLOGY THE YOUTH COMMUNICATIONS AGENCY 66 TRAVEL T: WWW.THINKHOUSE.CO.UK TWITTER.COMTHINKHOUSEUK FACEBOOK.COMLOVETHINKHOUSE 3 Youth 100 A5.indd 1 09/10/2014 11:48 you want to reach The digital student card of young helping hundreds of people each month? retailers drive sales There are endless campaigns we can build together... Talk to us about increasing your student If you want to become a friend of Do Something, conversion by up to 50% say hello @DoSomethingUK or pay us a visit at uk.dosomething.org email [email protected] or phone 020 3095 1492 vInspired registered charity no. 1113255 Introduction This is the third year of the Youth 100: The UK’s Top Brands According To 18-24s. Already in its short life this research has Talking about the appeal of the Youth 100 grown to become a must-read among recently, one marketer said: “All brands marketers interested in the youth audience. are self-obsessed! They’re desperate to INTRODUCTIONIt has brought insight and raised eyebrows. see how they rank against others.” But With almost 300 extra brands thrown into before getting too excited or dispirited at the mix this year and nine new categories, a ranking change, there’s a lot for brands there’s plenty to ponder again. to remember when reading the results – including the fact we added so many We’ve learned a lot about young people more brands to the survey this year. from this research. We’ve discovered that they have more mainstream ways than Some categories are very hard to compete we are often led to believe by ‘yoof’ gurus, against. How can an internet service uninspired creative directors and hurried provider ever hope to be more popular journalists. The young person presented than a chocolate maker? so often through media is rarely the moderate, aspirational 18-24 that speaks to Really, the most important fi gures here are Methodology us in this research. not the overall rankings, but the sentiment scores: is your brand loved or hated...or The Youth 100 is an extensive piece of research that takes We’ve seen that to be a successful youth does it arouse no feeling whatsoever? brand it appears you must be able to place each summer. It begins with a long list of brands. answer yes to one or more of these That’s what the 550-odd brands here questions: should be refl ecting on and responding to. We compile all the brands that impact credibility – we want to include the big the daily lives of young people, from the brands that young people obviously use Do you make young people’s lives easier? moment they wake up, wash, eat breakfast along with everyone else (from the high Do you make young people’s lives more fun? and buy co ee, to the time before they street stores to cereal favourites and Do you save young people money? switch o and sleep. technology giants) as well as the cult and rising brands that have niche appeal. Scan down the Youth 100 list and marvel We look at the brands that actively market The fi nal shortlist is ultimately decided at how many are ticking these criteria. to young people and those discussed in by a committee of youth marketing social media by 18-24s. We speak to young professionals and 18-24s. people themselves about the brands that matter to them. With the shortlist decided, we create an online survey that allows users to choose With a long list of hundreds of brands their feeling towards each brand. They we then work to edit this down to a are presented with the brand name, its shortlist of around 550. This is a practical category, and a choice of: ‘love’, ‘like’, shortlist that we can e ectively present ‘no feeling’, ‘dislike’ and ‘hate’. Each user to over 3000 young people and discover rates their sentiment towards around 50 their sentiment. It’s a size that provides randomised brands. the chance for diversity as well as INTRODUCTION6 Our survey respondents are sourced under 10,000 students. We then presented from two places: 60% weighting is given the question to respondents: “Thinking to a nationally representative sample of of these universities as ‘brands’, which UK 18-24s registered on the research do you think has the strongest identity?” database of Cint, a globally-recognised The same sample group of young people panel, while 40% weighting is given to from across the UK stated their sentiment UK 18-24s on the research database of towards all 20 universities. Student Beans. This mix is to provide a balanced sample of UK youth. Top For ‘Graduate Employers’ we looked at brands are those that achieve the highest The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers, combined score of loves and likes. presented the top twenty names and asked student-only respondents: It’s important to note that two new “Thinking of these brands as employers, categories in this year’s Youth 100 have a which is most appealing to you?” di erent shortlist criteria. That’s not how young people see them. Looking at those that have lost sentiment This di erent methodology recognises Only 5% have negative sentiment and the this year, Superdry has dropped ten ‘Universities’ were shortlisted based on the unique nature of these two categories brand has topped its category above cool points to 29% positive sentiment. Always the results of the National Student Survey. and aims to provide a more useful brand kids Apple and Beats. In separate Youth a ‘Marmite’ brand (either loved or hated) We looked at the top twenty universities sentiment context than would be achieved 100 focus groups Microsoft’s Surface it seems to be losing its fans in the fi ckle as rated by their students, but discounted as part of the overall Youth 100 survey. tablet was cited often as an “awesome” world of fashion. Focus group participants small universities from this list with product. pointed to the ubiquitous use of their logo on their clothes as o -putting: “They have Boots is a brand young people fi nd hundreds of di erent coloured t-shirts but hard not to like, lowering its negative they all say Superdry across them”. Findings sentiment score from 4% to 1% this year and jumping to 84% positive sentiment Last year’s favourite high street bank, Within this report you’ll fi nd out what dozens of experts say from 70%. British heritage brands that NatWest, has fallen below all of its big about the results category-by-category, so there is no need to young people nostalgically associate with rivals. Is there a correlation with its nine their upbringing have often scored well. point fall and the seven point rise of steal their thunder here. Santander, who wrestled ownership of the New Look has had a strong year this dealbreaking student account incentive – But refl ecting on some of the overall wider youth and win the Alcohol category, time, up to 81% positive sentiment from the free railcard – from them last year? fi ndings this year, we’ve realised that achieving a record positive sentiment of 65%. Ikea, Netfl ix, Lidl, Dove and Zara are ‘hot’ brands – those that appear to be 75%, the highest ever for an alcohol brand other eye-catching improvers. Other noteworthy drops came from Lynx having their moment, the focus of media in the Youth 100. (51% to 37% positive sentiment), Red Bull attention and watercooler chat – often It was reassuring that the vast majority (53% to 41%) and Dell (55% to 42%). take a while to impact among wider Also last summer we heard that Snapchat of our new entries for this year ended youth. It’s a reversal of the idea that young was blowing up among young people: up in the bottom half of the results. I hope you enjoy this report and people are always ahead of trends; in fact, a new, intimate and disposable way to Why? Because these were the additional encourage you to get in touch with like other demographics, there are early share photos among select friends. Its under-the-radar brands we identifi ed questions and comments. You can reach adopters and laggards among 18-24s. performance in the Youth 100 however as deserving a chance, not the ‘must me on [email protected] It shouldn’t be assumed that all young did not refl ect the apparent hype. But includes’ that fi rst leapt out to us when people are trend leaders. this year it has jetted from 41% positive we shortlisted in 2012 and 2013. So a sentiment to 72%, a remarkable rise. low score suggested no oversight had An example is Kopparberg. For many been made. But among the new entries Luke Mitchell watchers it was the big drinks brand of Among other notable risers, Microsoft has that do give us a slap on the hand for Head of Insight last year, and for some even earlier, but leaped up to 87% positive sentiment – an forgetting them are Tropicana (straight Voxburner.com it’s taken the Swedish cider until this astonishing score for a brand lampooned in at number 11 – wow), Kinder, Magnum @voxburner summer to really make its mark among elsewhere as a geeky, corporate dinosaur.