The Story Wave 42

1: 20 Brands Catching Baby Boomers’ Attention – AdAge-Harris Poll

Our quarterly Ad Age-Harris Poll Boomer brand tracker uses QuestBrand data to rank the top 20 brands by quarter-over-quarter brand equity growth among Baby Boomers. The top five growth brands from Q4 2023 to Q1 2024 are listed below. 

“TripAdvisor, Yelp, and Wikipedia are among the first places to start when planning any trip or experience, and it’s perhaps unsurprising that these three brands place within the top four surging brands among boomers in Q1—especially as many plan their escapist summertime travel during the heart of winter.” – Harris Poll co-CEO Will Johnson

Click here to check out all top 20 brands in our quarterly Baby Boomer brand tracker.

2: Home Appliance Marketing Strategies – AdAge-Harris Poll Op-Ed

In a recent op-ed for AdAge, Harris Poll co-CEO Will Johnson explores Americans’ thoughts on household appliances – just in time to hit the Memorial Day sales! Key findings include:

• Pragmatism reigns: Consumers are most drawn to pragmatic features, including energy optimization (47%), extended warranties (43%), and enhanced maintenance options (31%).
• Indulgent youth: Younger generations are more often interested in paying for “indulgent” upgrades, such as design personalization (32% Gen Z) than older consumers (5% Baby Boomers).
• Privacy concerns: Almost three-quarters (72%) of Americans said that adding digital or internet-enabled features that cannot be removed or deactivated would constitute an invasion of privacy.

Takeaway: “The bottom line is that in marketing your appliances, don’t overthink or overload them. Make sure they do the core work and everything else will take care of itself.” – Will Johnson

Want to read more about household appliance trends? Download our Home Care & Products: An Industry Snapshot report for additional insights.

3: What Happens When TikTokers Treat A World Cruise Like Reality TV? – Brand Story

On December 10, 2023, Royal Caribbean launched their first nine-month world cruise. Leading up to the ship’s departure, passengers began posting about the cruise on social media with the hashtag #RoyalCaribbeanUltimateWorldCruise. By February 13th, the hashtag had amassed almost 100 million views. The cruise had become a viral sensation.

• Largely viewing the cruise as a reality television show, social media spectators marveled over the possible crazy scenarios that could happen over the next 9 months. 
• Beyond social media, top-tier media outlets ran stories on the viral cruise.
• Looking at data from QuestBrand by The Harris Poll, we can see TikTok users’ interest in Royal Caribbean increase in the last quarter of 2023 as the hashtag took off.
• The graph below tracks consumers’ familiarity with the Royal Caribbean brand. TikTok users’ familiarity with the Royal Caribbean brand jumped from 60.6 in November to 73.3 in mid-December.

Read the brand story to discover the full impact of the Ultimate World Cruise on Royal Caribbean’s brand.