The big winner of the Sunday Times’ Generation Next youth awards was sports brand, Nike, which won the coveted Coolest Brand Overall, Coolest Clothing Brand, Coolest Footwear Brand and Coolest Brand Slogan awards.
“This year’s crop of winners shows us, again, that youth are and aren’t fickle. Coke, Dorito’s, Vodacom, Spur, Trevor Noah and Minnie Dlamini are all still on the podium. But BMW surprisingly was toppled, and there are some other fresh new faces on the winners’ list too. But more importantly, every year has been amazing to see the awards platform and the event itself really springboard to the next level,” said Jason Levin, managing director at HDI Youth Marketeers, the company that conducted the research.
The first part of the research, the brand preference component of the study, polls the opinions of young people (ages 8-23) to establish which brands they think are the coolest across 72 different categories. This year’s poll exceeded 5 400 respondents, representing age groups 8-23, seven provinces, balanced between coastal and inland, males and females and inclusive of all race groups.
The second part, conducted simultaneously (with a similar demographic sample) asks respondents to reflect their attitudes as young consumers and is aimed at getting a grip on youth habits and behaviour. It was split over two questionnaires to avoid respondent fatigue, and to ensure that researchers could probe deeply into many facets that give an in-depth perspective into the psyche of this dynamic market segment. The approach yielded approximately 2 150 responses in each of the two parallel studies, and allows HDI to increase the sample size on critical information such as spending patterns, which was included in both questionnaires, to just over 4 300 observations.
The Sunday Times Generation Next Survey Awards, in partnership with HDI Youth Marketeers and sponsored by Waltons, is now in its eleventh year. It held at the Sandton Convention Centre this year to accommodate the enormously growing platform that the awards have become for marketers, brands and celebrities. Riaad Moosa hosted the event with a live performance from local rapper, Cassper Nyovest, who pulled out all the stops. Nyovest was voted both Coolest Local Music Star and Coolest Local Celebrity of 2015.
“The Awards have received a massive response each year and highlights the relevance that these insights hold for both marketers and brands. We’ve seen some impressive shifts in position amongst some brands, especially those that have come out on top this year challenging their competitors to stay on top of their game,” said Trevor Ormerod, general manager of group sales at Times Media.
New winners this year include Mercedes Benz who won the Coolest Motor Vehicle award, Cape Town was voted Coolest Holiday Destination and KFC claimed Coolest Fast Food Place. Samsung took this year’s Coolest Cellphone category from the Apple iPhone and DStv was voted Coolest Company to work for beating last year’s winner, Google. Xbox moved into first place for Coolest Hi-Tech Gadget taking over from the Samsung Galaxy Tablet.
Skeem Saam on SABC 1 was voted the Coolest Current TV Programme and Coolest TV Soap, out- doing Generations’ in both categories.
The Protea’s Cricket Captain, AB de Villiers, was voted Coolest Local Sportsperson. TV personality, Minnie Dlamini scooped the Coolest Local Female TV Star for the third consecutive year while DJ Black Coffee once again dominated the Coolest Local DJ category. South African comedian and new Daily Show presenter, Trevor Noah, won the Coolest Male TV Star and Coolest Local Celebrity titles.
Nestle Milo won the Coolest Breakfast Cereal category and Pin Pop moved into number one in the Coolest Sweets category. Soul City won the Coolest Community Programme category while Soulbuddyz shifted into second place and Save the Rhino into third.
WhatsApp remained the leading Coolest Social Media Platform and Coolest Cellphone Application amongst the youth. Monster Energy won Coolest Energy Product/Drink for the second year running.
Brand winners who retained their number one position in the survey include: Metro FM (Coolest Radio Station); SAA (Coolest Domestic Airlines), FNB (Coolest Bank), Protea Hotels (Coolest Hotel Group),Vodacom (Coolest Telecomms Provider), Engen (Coolest Petrol Station), Spur (Coolest Eat- Out Place), Pick ‘n Pay (Coolest Grocery Store), Doritos (Coolest Snack) and Coca Cola (Coolest Cold Drink).
For full results, visit TMAdRoom.
To see how results were reached, check out the Generation Next Methodology 2015
