Ypulse has found a new friend in Tina Wells who founded Buzz Marketing, which defines itself as "a full service marketing company dedicated to helping clients better connect with youth." The really cool thing about Tina is that she got started in the business at age 16 writing product reviews and went on to launch Buzz. The really really cool thing about Tina now is that she is sending me press releases full of interesting research.

For example -- they recently asked teens the question "What advertising, promotions and messages have you been offended by?" The response:

Seventy Two (72) percent of teens said "None", Eight (8) percent said "Condom promotions", Five (5) percent said "Violent toys", Five (5) percent said "Gay clothing & promotions", Five (5) percent said "Cigarette companies", and Five (5) percent said "Political campaign commercials."

When asked, "What advertising, promotions and messages have positively affected you?"

Twenty Seven (27) percent of teens said "Truth commercials", Twenty Six (26) percent said "Anti-drug commercials", Eighteen (18) percent said "Toy & game", Five (5) percent said "Clothing", Five (5) percent said "Bodily care", Five (5) percent said "Word of mouth" and Fourteen (14) percent said "Don't know."

To me this says The Truth anti-smoking campaign folks are doing a bang-up job, not so sure about the drug ads (they may be affecting teens positively but more teens are now smoking pot than cigs according to the CDC), teens are still a bit homophobic and politically turned off, and that a lot of other marketing towards teens is not so memorable.

Posted by anastasia