NEW YORK, N.Y. - October 25, 2011 - With young Americans expected to spend $211 billion in 2012, knowing which brands they favor will help corporate America prepare for the upcoming holiday season. A key strategic planning tool at their disposal is the 2012 Harris Poll Youth EquiTrend® study, by Harris Interactive. This annual study benchmarks the brands that America's youth prefer and those that have the ability to dominate their industries' youth market share.

The 2012 Harris Poll Youth EquiTrend studymeasures brand equity as an outcome of familiarity, quality, and purchase consideration among Americans, ages eight to 24.

"Youth of today have spending power and they also have loyalty to brands. Some of this comes from their parents, but they also make their own decisions," said Regina A. Corso, Senior Vice President for Youth and Education Research at Harris Interactive. "Brands who tap into this loyalty when a consumer is a tween, and nurture it through the teen years, will have an extremely loyal customer by the time the customer is a young adult. Companies need to remember that consumers do not magically appear at age 18."

In this critical sales ramp-up for the holiday gift-giving season, when technology prevails and computers, tablets, and mobile phones are at the top of wish lists, Apple brands are ranked highest among Americans, ages 13-24, in their respective categories. Apple Computers, iPads, and iPhones are the highest ranked Computers, Tablets, and Mobile Phones brands, and are followed by Hewlett Packard, Motorola Xoom, and HTC, correspondingly.

Jeni Lee Chapman, Executive Vice President of Harris' Brand and Communication Consulting practice shares, "This is very good news for Apple and indicates that their masterbrand is very strong. To have this kind of significant edge among 13-24 year olds signifies that Apple has built a powerful equity base among their customers of today and their customers of tomorrow." She continues, "Brands often struggle to maintain relevancy among different generations. This data shows that this is not going to be an issue for Apple."

And, while eight to 24 year olds have varied interests, certain comfort foods, like cookies and candy, are timeless. For example: Oreo Cookies and Hershey's Milk Chocolate Candy Bars are each highest ranked in their respective categories, and sweet treat and cookie brands receive some of the highest equity scores among those surveyed.

Category Overview

Food & Beverage

• Sweet Treats: Hershey's Milk Chocolate Candy Bars is the highest ranked brand, followed by Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Hershey's Kisses.
• Cookies: Oreo Cookies is the highest ranked brand, followed by three Chips Ahoy cookies brands - Chips Ahoy, Chewy Chips Ahoy and Chunky Chips Ahoy.
• Sodas: Sprite is the highest ranked brand, followed by Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola.
• Fruit Juices: Minute Maid is the highest ranked brand, followed by Tropicana and Florida's Natural Refrigerated Orange Juice.
• Fruit Flavored Drinks: Capri Sun is the highest ranked brand, followed by KoolAid.

Media

• Social Media: YouTube.com is the highest ranked brand, followed by Facebook.com.

Gaming, Technology, & Telecom

Table 1

HARRIS POLL YOUTH EQUITREND® BRANDS OF THE YEAR

* Unless otherwise indicated, brands were rated among all youth, 8-24 years old.

Methodology

The Youth EquiTrend® study evaluates measures including: Equity, Emotional Connection, and Brand Advocacy. The keystone to the program is Equity, which provides an understanding of a brand's overall strength and is determined by a calculation of Familiarity, Quality, and Purchase Consideration.

This year's Harris Poll Youth EquiTrend® study was conducted online among 5,077 U.S. consumers ages 8-24 in August 2011. A total of 121 brands were rated among 8-12 year olds and 167 brands among 13-24 year olds. Each 8-12 year old respondent was asked to rate a total of 15 randomly selected brands and each 13-24 year old respondent was asked to rate a total of 22 randomly selected brands. Each brand received at least 130 ratings. Data were weighted to be representative of the entire U.S. population of consumers ages 8-24 on the basis of age sex, education, urbanicity (8-17 year olds), race/ethnicity, region, parental education (8-17 year olds), and income (18-24 year olds), and data from respondents ages 18 and over were also weighted for their propensity to be online.

These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

The Youth EquiTrend® study results disclosed in this release may not be used for advertising, marketing or promotional purposes without the prior written consent of Harris Interactive.

Product and brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

For a complete listing of all the brands covered in the study, contact Dagney Cassella at 212-539-9600 or dcassella@harrisinteractive.com.

About Harris Interactive

Harris Interactive is one of the world's leading custom market research firms, leveraging research, technology, and business acumen to transform relevant insight into actionable foresight. Known widely for the Harris Poll and for pioneering innovative research methodologies, Harris offers expertise in a wide range of industries including healthcare, technology, public affairs, energy, telecommunications, financial services, insurance, media, retail, restaurant, and consumer package goods. Serving clients in over 215 countries and territories through our North American and European offices and a network of independent market research firms, Harris specializes in delivering research solutions that help us - and our clients - stay ahead of what's next.www.harrisinteractive.com.