“A recent survey conducted by Outlaw Consulting, a San Francisco research firm, concluded that Generation Y trendsetters are more drawn to brands that speak to them in a “straightforward and stripped-down way, use plain packaging, and avoid excess,” says Holly Brickley, an Outlaw strategic analyst,” Kevin Ransom reports for MediaPost.
“Outlaw surveyed 100 of what it calls its ‘most forward trendsetter panelists’ in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Miami, asking them which companies they most respected, and why,” Ransom reports. “The sample mostly targeted the first wave of Gen Y consumers, aged 21-27. The goal was to compile a ‘Trust Index’ of brands that evoke ‘deeply positively feelings’ among the trendsetters.”
The Most Trusted 15 brands named by the trendsetters in the survey were:
1. Apple
2. Trader Joe’s
3. Jet Blue
4. In-N-Out Burger
5. Ben & Jerry’s
6. Whole Foods
7. Adidas
8. American Apparel
9. Target
10. H & M clothing stores
11. Levi’s
12. Volkswagen
13. Converse
14. Vitamin Water
15. Red Stripe Jamaican beer
“The survey was conducted in late 2006, before Jet Blue got a load of bad publicity when one of its planes sat on the tarmac for several hours and wouldn’t allow passengers to leave the plane,” Ransom reports. “The bottom line, concluded the survey, is that any company that is inconvenient or confusing, or that used over-designed imagery, is seen as out of touch and too ‘corporate.'”
Full article here.
Apple seems to be quite well-positioned for the future. Some other companies that are absent from the list, not so much.
We are in the midst of an Apple Renaissance.
Attention crap builders of the world. We don’t trust you and we’re not giving you our money.
I wish someone would take an opinion poll of ‘reliable survey companies’.
“I wish someone would take an opinion poll of ‘reliable survey companies’.”
Who would conduct this survey?
I didnt RTFA, but I suspect this survey is left coast biased. I (east coaster) dont even know what In-N-Out is.
(i know burger joint, but i have never seen one, let alone ate at one)
My point is what does east coast Gen Y trust??
You gotta love Adidas Superstar trainers. The best trainers ever made IMO.
Volkswagon?
They make some of he worst cars on he road. I’ve owned two of them (brand new) in the past 5 years, and they are so problematic you’d have to pay me big bucks to ever drive one again.
The payoff comes when products, such as the iPhone, hit the market. Those who trust that Apple has made another insanely great product just plunk down their money. The analysts fail to take this effect into account.
What. No Microsoft? Not stripped down enough I guess…
Apple is going to be a major force in the 21st century if it carries on like this.
I concur on the VW comment. . . . And please stop using the word tarmac for ramp. It isn’t call tarmac radio or tarmac weight (ramp radio and ramp weight are the industry terms) for a reason. Tarmac is a term used by journalist wannabes.
Remember, . . . this ain’t WWll, and you ain’t Edward R. Murrow!
For the “greater” good. MMW
…concluded that Generation Y trendsetters are more drawn to brands that speak to them in a “straightforward and stripped-down way, use plain packaging, and avoid excess
Duh of course, it’s because they don’t have the time to think things through anymore.
They just want the right answer, right now. It comes from using the internet and having access to instant answers, spell checkers and the like.
They look for the same in products and services.
Apple does a better job of providing that than Microsoft with Mac OS X, and the iPhone will go a long ways to providing what us new trendsetters need.
Apple is going to sh*t on Microsoft’s parade by providing a Office file compatable iPhone “widget”. If they don’t, someone else certainly will very very shortly.
Haha
I don’t believe this list.
With all the negative press poor old Jet Blue has received, I can’t see them being #3.
Brian Allen,
Learn how to read:
The survey was conducted in late 2006, before Jet Blue got a load of bad publicity when one of its planes sat on the tarmac for several hours and wouldn’t allow passengers to leave the plane.
How the hell does beer instill a sense of trust. I could understand how it would evoke ‘deeply positively feelings’
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But trust? This goes for others on the list as well.
Hooray, beer!!!
@ John
My ’03 Jetta TDI now has 105k on it. 80 mile daily round trip. Not a single problem. Runs like a champ. And I drive like a bat outa’ hell all the time.
For some reason, when I think of Jamaica, I don’t think of beer…….
Happy 4:20
(and yes, I know, it IS good beer)
ChrissyOne,
Jetta TDI kicks A$$. My brother has one. 50mpg all day!
“He was a wise man who invented beer.”
– Plato
“Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”
– Benjamin Franklin
“People who drink light ‘beer’ don’t like the taste of beer; they just like to pee a lot.”
– Capital Brewery, Middleton, WI
P.S. Yes, happy 4:20 to all.
Miami?
Not Boston?
But Miami YES?
You are kidding right?
Red Stripe – with so little formaldehyde, you’ll hardly even notice!
@ TowerOne
I agree dude. Light em up.
IN-N-OUT Burger is a chain in the LA area. Started near the surf line, of course. They have a good product, with several unique marketing angles. I finally visited my sister in Huntington Beach, and my first trip to IN-N-OUT was a must. Get a 3×3….
What are we going to do in a couple of generations when we’ve run out of alphabet to pigeon-hole them. The fact is that the current “Gen Ys” are not much diffferent than all other previous generations of that same age bracket. Hey surveyors and journalists: quite creating these artificial divisions among us. Hell, I would have picked most of those same brands, and I am firmly in the Baby Boomer gen (man i feel sorry for the upcoming “Gen Z”; what a lame name to get stuck with).