Spirits miss out on top 100 youth brands list

Spirits failed to place in the third annual Voxburner’s Youth 100 list of top brands as voted by young people aged 18 to 24-years-old.

Smirnoff was voted into the top five Alcoholic Beverages of the 2014 Voxburner Youth 100

While the likes of Sourz, Smirnoff and Jägermeister comprised the top five in the alcohol category the top spot was scooped by cider brand Kopparberg – the only alcoholic product to make it into the top 100 overall.

“These results show once again that the brands which have harnessed experiential marketing techniques (think music festivals) and social media can do well,” said Andrew Wardlaw, insights director at MMR Research Worldwide.

“Kopparberg is riding high again this year, commanding the most love with the younger drinker.

“Its investment in music festivals such as Urban Forest and Ja Ja Ja have given the brand the edge.”

For the second year running, Youth 100 teamed up with youth communications agency Thinkhouse to analyse why specific brands are “more relevant” to today’s youth than others.

Value for money

The research revealed that value is still the most appealing factor of a brand, with more than two thirds (65%) of young people claiming “it’s the best value” that makes a brand most appealing – 10% more than in 2013.

How relatable a brand can be was cited as the second most appealing thing (35%), followed by brand ethics (32%) and product quality (30%).

In addition, it showed young consumers want content they can connect with with 39% admitting they want marketing activity to be entertaining, and 50% who want it to be informative.

However, celebrity appeal continues to dwindle with more than half (56%) of young people confessing to being cynical about celebrities endorsing products.

“We’ve seen that to be a successful youth brand you must be able to do at least one of three things: make young people’s life easier, more fun or save them money,” said Simon Eder, founder of Voxburner.

Despite a decline from 2013, Facebook continues to be the dominant platform used by 54% of 18-24s to connect to brands.

Twitter and Instagram are still growing but Snapchat has become “the real player” this year.

Almost a third (31%) of young people would like brands to “be more transparent”, and nearly half (48%) unsure about whether companies can be trusted.