Moosylvania has advocated that the most effective marketing for millennial consumer acceptance must “make millennials, look good, feel good and keep them entertained.”

This year’s list, as a five-year average, underscores that top advertisers don’t necessarily rank.  And as millennial consumers are getting older – they’re now 17-37, the almost 40 crowd leads in digital connectivity more often than not.

“One of the insights that we worked on this year was separating millennials into two ten year segments,” says Norty Cohen, CEO of Moosylvania.  Once we split it at 17-27 and 28-37 – we could pick apart the myth that only young people thrive on connectivity.  In many cases, the older demographic showed more loyalty and more connectivity.”

The top brands report highlights the release, with Apple, Nike, Samsung, Target, Amazon, Sony, Wal-Mart, Microsoft, Coke and Google leading the top 10.

Next were Adidas, Nintendo, Pepsi, Starbucks, Victoria’s Secret, Ford, Forever 21, Jordan, American Eagle and Disney.

By the time the list gets a little deeper, retailers start taking over.  In fact, nearly 1/3 of the top 100 are retail or clothing brands.  And it’s not all about big advertisers.  Brands with very small budgets can dominate the list – for example Vans comes in at number 34, while Super Bowl advertiser Anheuser Busch came in at 94.

“It’s all about what you do for them,” and making them look good is a key,” Cohen says. 

Once a consumer wrote in each of their three brand favorites in the mobile enabled survey, they were asked additional questions about how they are connecting this year.  That data compared the two decades of millennial age segments.

Overall key findings included that the influence of peers and other conversation are much more likely to induce trial than advertising.  “We found that pretty much anyone talking about a brand produces a 2.5 times greater chance of new brand adoption than TV, Facebook and You Tube advertising combined.”

Ultimately, it’s not about targeting consumers, Cohen says.  “It’s about your target’s target.”  When consumers were asked if they would be willing to share and repost brand info from their favorite brands, over 70% indicated they agreed or strongly agreed.

The survey and reports were conducted by Moosylvania with the supervision and execution from Great Questions, LLC.

With the top brands list in hand, Moosylvania evaluated case studies from each and determined ways they have earned their place onto the top 100 list. 

Those findings highlight the book, by CEO, Norty Cohen and publisher Idea Press, The Participation Game, which releases on September 19^th.  After five years of evaluation, Cohen concludes that ultimately, millennials aren’t consuming advertising, they’re participating in brands.