Teens talk brands, a lot

If you listen in on teenage conversations you may hear a whole lot of brand names. That's the upshot of a survey from The Keller Fay Group that surveyed over 2,000 teens and found that members of Generation Y have 145 conversations a week about brands. That's  twice the rate of adults. Word-of-mouth brands for teens include youth-friendly labels such as  iPod, American Eagle and Nintendo, along with brands you might not think of as teen-friendly such as Dr. Pepper and Chevrolet. Media and entertainment is the top category for brand naming, with three-quarters of teens surveyed sharing information about their favorite movies and music.

Teens are also talking about marketing, often because they encounter marketing messages through social networking sites. They are more likely to discuss brands online through texting, e-mails, chats and blogs than adults are. Most of the brand talk happens face to face but 19% of teen word-of-mouth mentions happen online as opposed to just 7% for adults.

For parents, all this brand chatter might not be welcome news, as brand talk leads to requests for specific products. While teens referencing brands isn't really new, what is new is the fact that advertising is coming at them from more sources than ever and is often more fluidly integrated into their entertainment. With the increasing proliferation of viral marketing, it seems that teen exposure to and discussion of brands can only increase.