Habbo Global Youth Survey 2009 reveals the brands at the forefront of teens’ minds
Helsinki, June 3, 2009. The Global Habbo Youth Survey (GHYS) Brand Update 2009
conducted by
Habbo, the largest virtual world for teenagers,
has revealed the relationships teens around the world have with brands. The research reveals
teen attitudes to brands and highlights their preferences from a range of categories including
consumer electronics, clothes, sportswear and media consumption habits.
112,000 teens from over 30 countries took part in the survey, which is a follow-up to 2008’s
GHYS, published a year ago. These new results reveal deeper understanding of what teens think of
brands, along with the properties that are hitting the mark in 2009.
Brand values
The relationship that teenagers have with brands is complex; the survey indicates a number of
contradictions typical to teenagers. The majority of teenagers (63%) will nearly always buy
their favourite brand with just over a quarter disagreeing with this statement. However when
asked if brands influence their purchasing decisions, whilst over a third (35%) said brands do,
half agreed this wasn’t the case.
Teenagers do view brands in general positively: over half (52%) prefer the most popular
brands, 60% don’t dislike brands (42% strongly disagreed with this statement) with 45% staying
loyal to their favourite brands. The survey intimates that trust and familiarity is an
important factor when choosing brands as over half (53%) said they did not prefer less well-known
brands but, encouragingly for newcomers, a quarter said they do.
Brands and Self Expression
The importance of ensuring relevancy when targeting teenagers is highlighted by the majority
of respondents (61%) who prefer brands that are targeted at them. Status is the most
important attribute brands can offer teenagers. 42% cite that they prefer brands that make
them look well off and over a third (34%) claim it’s important that others see what brands they are
wearing. This was further reinforced by the number of teens (48%) who don’t prefer to buy
clothes where the branding is not visible.
Standing out from the crowd is the second most important attribute a brand can offer with 38%
of teens indicating that this is important. A third (30%) like to use the same brands as
their friends but half (51%) disagreed with this statement.
Across markets these brand attributes have different degrees of importance. In the US
and UK brands are used to express individuality and for standing out from the crowd. For many other
countries that participated, the opposite rings true: brands are used to showcase membership of a
certain group.
“The teenage years are developmentally very important when moving into adulthood,” said
Emmi Kuusikko, Director of User and Market Insight, Sulake. “Status is
important, being recognised for who you are and what you stand for. Brands provide means to show
which group you belong to and which you do not want to be associated with. For the youth, brands
play an important part of helping to build their identity and self image among their friends.”
“Targeting this young audience is often key to brands’ success, as teenagers are beginning to
take responsibility of their own consumption habits. Although teens are often seen as fickle, the
brands that they align themselves with stand to gain as they grow up,” Kuusikko comments.
Global brand rankings:
Some sportswear brands are doing well, Roxy, Billabong and DC, are rising up the ranks.
The brands’ associations with surfing, snowboarding and skateboarding mean they are linked to
sports that rely on the skill of the individual, which offers teens a way of building their status.
On the other hand, traditional team sports such as football (supported by brands such as Nike and
Puma) rely on the abilities of the team and are less linked to an individual’s style.
Elsewhere in apparel, girls tend to favour high-street buys, with H&M, Zara and Roxy
being their top three preferred brands; with Zara moving up the ladder. Sportswear brands, even
though slipping, do still resonate strongly amongst boys, Nike and Adidas remain in first and
second place respectively (although both have lost share), whilst Lacoste has moved up the rankings
in boys’ clothing.
About the research
The research was conducted within the virtual world, Habbo, and the total amount of
respondents (after data cleaning) was 112,000. The research was conducted during April 2009 and
results on favourite brands are based on answers written in open text fields. Over 30 countries
were surveyed and statistical weighting was employed to give all participating countries an equal
weight in the global results.
Research is available from the Sulake Web Store
http://webstore.sulake.com
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