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Young consumers are not out to be tricked by advertisers, in fact they are more likely to be found pulling the wool over the eyes of marketers. Subverting advertising messages is now a common idiom among the young. And for many brands, the only way to break into this heavily peer-focused culture is with a nod and a wink, hinting to a select group that they’re in the know.

This can be a frightening realisation for some brands. Trends among this clandestine group are next to impossible to predict. Who would have thought BMW cars would become such status symbols among the young? It makes it difficult to target typical BMW drivers. Are they, say, young wheeler-dealers caught up in short-term ambitions, or fiercely competitive marketers with rigorous codes of conduct and clear, career-oriented ambitions? From WCRS’s point of view, the latter are easier to “talk to” both in terms of the style of ads and the routes of communication chosen (that is, the media).

There can be reasons for the appropriation of brands by the young. It can be through advertising, but is equally likely to be linked to club culture, pop stardom or indeed the movies. Noel Gallagher of Oasis or film director Quentin Tarantino communicate strong brand messages. Whether it’s the preppy mod look or the casual flick of a Marlboro soft pack, these images speak volumes to the young. Brands in this context are communicating an authentic message, something that many traditional forms of marketing find hard to achieve.

ROAR (Right of Admission Reserved) – a consortium of seven companies, BMP DDB, EMAP, Channel 4, The Guardian, Mills & Allen, Cinema Media and Kiss FM – has researched how relationships with brands are born. Many areas have been highlighted. For example, young men prefer brand names to create instantly recognisable uniforms; girls use brands to create repertoire from which to source ideas; and within certain markets, such as trainers, as the young reach their twenties, the importance of the brand diminishes.