What brands are teens talking about?

New research is showing teens talk about brands than the rest of the American people--twice as many each week. In a word of mouth (WOM) survey of 2,046 teens (ages 13-17) conducted January through May 2007, the five brands with the largest number of "net positive" mentions were iPod, American Eagle, Dr Pepper, Chevrolet and Nintendo. In contrast, the top five WOM brand all-stars among the general public (15,287 respondents, ages 13-69) are Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Wal-Mart, Sony and Toyota. This is the latest research from TalkTrack, the Keller Fay Group's measurement program for WOM marketing that monitors the word of mouth conversations of thousands of Americans weekly. Highlights from the study include:

    -- Teens have 145 WOM conversations per week-more than twice as many as the general public (71).

    -- Although most of these WOM conversations (63%) are face-to-face, and 13% by phone, they are three times more likely to occur online (e.g., through text message/IM, e-mail, or chats/blogs) than similar conversations among the adult population.  19% of teen conversations occur online, versus 7% of the total public.

    -- More than 50% of teen WOM cites marketing or media efforts that support the brand or specific products.

    -- American Eagle is the only fashion apparel brand to make the list of "All Star" word of mouth brands; interestingly, no apparel retailer appears on the top 10 list for adults.

    -- Teens are far more likely than the total public to have conversations on a typical day about technology products, sports/recreation/hobbies, and telecom.  Large differences are also found for shopping and apparel and personal care/beauty.

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