Teens’ Brand Loyalty Forms at Tender Age
Just one year ago, when a research firm asked teen-agers who their favorite musical performer was, the bulk of them said Whitney Houston.
When the firm posed the same question to teen-agers last month, the response was Whitney who? Houston wasn’t even rated in the top 10. This time, pop star George Michael topped the list.
Four years ago, Michael Jackson received the highest popularity rating the research firm has ever recorded for a performer. But last month, Jackson barely squeaked into the list of the top 10-rated performers--as rated by teen-agers.
“Teen-agers are into anything that is hot,” said Peter Zollo, president of Teenage Research Unlimited, the Northbrook, Ill., research firm that surveys 2,000 teen-agers (12 to 19 years old) every six months. “As soon as someone isn’t hot--maybe because they don’t have a new album out or they’re not on tour--they’re all but forgotten.”
Indeed, even George Michael--who has been popular among teens for only about a year--is already starting to cool off, said Zollo. The next survey, planned for this fall, he said, will likely show that Michael--who recently signed a multimillion-dollar contract to promote Coke--has slipped several notches in popularity.
So, who is paying researchers many thousands of dollars to come up with information like this? Not just record companies, that’s for sure. More and more, it is advertisers--especially soft drink and fast-food makers--who are ferociously vying for their cut of the lucrative teen market. Teens spent more than $79 billion last year, up more than $5 billion from 1987.
Although the nation’s teen-age population has decreased slightly--down about 1% last year from the year before to 28 million--the spending power of teen-agers continues to rise. With allowances and the money that parents give them to buy items like clothing, the typical teen-ager spent $61.50 per week last year, said Zollo.
But executives say the real reason that Pepsi and Coke are spending millions of dollars trying to lure teens with rock stars such as Madonna and George Michael is this: Soft drinks are about the only food and drink category where teen-agers show brand loyalty.
Yet Pepsi and Coke are finding it increasingly difficult to appeal to teens as a single market. “A sweet 16-year-old will probably not like the same music that her 18-year-old sister likes,” said Steven Levitt, president of Marketing Evaluations Inc., a Port Washington, N.Y., research firm.
“In order to interest teen-agers,” pointed out Zollo of Teenage Research Unlimited, “you not only need to find singers that separate them from their parents, but also from their older brothers and sisters.”
That is why Pepsi, for example, not only signed Madonna, but also singers such as Robert Palmer. And beyond rock rage George Michael, Coke says it is searching for other hot singing stars to tout its brands.
Part of the problem is that no singer has universal appeal among teen-agers these days. “There simply is no one as ‘hot’ now among teens as Michael Jackson was earlier this decade,” said Zollo.
For their part, the big soft drink makers say that’s fine with them. “The star isn’t the star. The product is the star,” said Georgia Camp, a Coke spokeswoman. Concurs Tod MacKenzie, a Pepsi spokesman: “As big as Madonna’s and Michael Jackson’s names are, Pepsi’s is bigger.”
This has recently forced some advertisers to seek avenues beyond rock music to entice teens. Pepsi’s Slice brand, for example, recently began a promotional tie-in with the popular Nintendo video game. And Coke has invested more heavily into teen-age event marketing, such as Diet Coke’s promotional sponsorship of various activities in Daytona Beach, Fla., during spring break last month.
Still, the soft-drink makers continue to chase after the teen heartthrobs of rock. Executives from both Coke and Pepsi indicated that they could both be interested in Debbie Gibson, an 18-year-old singer and song writer whose recent concert tour was co-sponsored by Revlon. “She has widespread appeal,” said Camp. “That’s the kind of thing we’re always looking for.”
Many young teens--especially girls--are big fans of Debbie Gibson. In fact, Gibson rated second only to George Michael in the recent Teenage Research Unlimited survey of teens. “Not every teen-ager likes Debbie Gibson,” said Jay Coleman, president of the Rockbill, a New York promotional company that links up advertisers with performers. “But she has enough critical mass. Some teens will find her too wimpy or too wholesome, but her ads will get attention.”
And even though singer Tiffany is very popular with teen-agers right now, she is probably not a good bet for advertisers, executives say. “She mostly sings other people’s songs, so in the long run, teen-agers might feel distanced from her,” said Zollo. Likewise, popular heavy metal bands--such as Guns & Roses or Quiet Riot--are unlikely to soon be singing for Coca-Cola. “It’s too difficult,” said Rockbill’s Coleman, “for corporations to attach themselves to rock groups that seem rebellious.”
Recently, even Campbell Soup Co. got into the rock action. After research showed that teen-agers were gobbling up Campbell Chunky Style soups, Campbell began to advertise the brand to teens. “If you can convince a kid to be brand-loyal at 18,” explained Anthony J. Adams, vice president of marketing research at Campbell, “that’s maybe 50 years of product sales. That one customer can be worth $150 a year.”
To interest teens, Campbell went directly to the MTV network with the Chunky soup campaign. Unlike most Campbell ads with those lethargic tunes--like “Mmmmm, Mmmmm, Good” or “Soup Is Good Food”--this commercial featured a teen heating up Chunky soup to the rocking oldie “Soul Man.”
Nissan Changes Faces in U.S. Ad Division
Nissan, the Japanese auto maker that boasts its cars are “built for the human race,” has drastically changed the human face of its U.S advertising department.
With dissappointing sales as a spur, Nissan Motor Corp. USA this week replaced several senior advertising officials. Among them, Joe Opre, the company’s national advertising manager, has moved to operations from advertising. He has been replaced as national advertising manager by Tom Hushek, former national business planning manager. And Terry Foutz, national car advertising manager, has resigned and will not be replaced. John Rinek, national truck advertising manager, has been named to the new post of national creative manager. John Nystrom remains director of marketing.
For the time being, the company’s Venice advertising agency, Chiat/Day, does not appear to be in danger of losing the account. Chiat/Day has handled the $180-million account for more than a year.
Officials at Chiat/Day on Monday played down the changes at Nissan. “It’s pretty much of a non-event,” said Tom Patty, executive vice president and account director. Today, Patty said, Nissan executives are scheduled to meet with Chiat/Day officials to plan ad strategy for the remainder of the year.
Ogilvy’s Berry Shrugs at Takeover Rumors
What’s it like when your ad agency is the constant subject of takeover speculation?
“I give myself the same advice I give to my writers and art directors,” said Norman Berry, chairman, chief executive and creative head of the New York office of the ad firm Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide. “Forget it and get on with creating great advertising.”
On and off for nearly six months, industry rumors have persisted that the giant British marketing firm, WPP Group, is plotting a hostile takeover of Ogilvy. But in an interview last week, Berry said he has basically learned to ignore the rumors. “When the news first broke six months ago, we kept asking ourselves: ‘Good God, what’s happening?’ ” Now, every few weeks when a new rumor starts up, Berry said, “It’s become a non-event.”
Although Berry declined to specifically comment on WPP, he did state that he is generally no fan of agency mergers. “I have yet to see any benefit to any client that has come out of an acquisition or merger,” he said. “I can’t think of any agency whose work got better because of a merger, although I’ve certainly seen some that got worse.”
WHO’S HOT WITH TEENS: SPRING, 1989
1 George Michael
2 Debbie Gibson
3 Tiffany
4 Bangles
5 Steve Winwood
6 Duran Duran
7 Pink Floyd
8 Anita Baker
9 Michael Jackson
10 Ozzy Osbourne
Source: Teen-Age Research Unlimited
Los Angeles Times
