- Target Market Analysis

- Brand Awareness / Attitude Analysis

- Concept Testing

- Brand Strategy Consulting

* Want to know what teens think of your brand?

Brink does not provide creative services. Think of us as a library full of otherwise impossible to find information except instead of books‚ we provide you with unique access to teens. We’ll give you the information you need to craft a message that will effectively resonate with youth.

Case Study One:

Mission Impossible: Brink Delivers for Diabetes Focus Group

We received a phone call from a Portland market research firm on a Friday in June. A major client of the firm’s was expecting it to facilitate a focus group of 10 to 12 young people with Type 1 diabetes the following Saturday. Participants had to represent an age range from 13 to 20. Half had to be men, half women. They couldn’t know each other.

“We need help,” we were told. “We’ve been recruiting for a month, and we don’t have a single participant yet.” Brink revved up its recruiting team and swung into action. With those parameters, we knew, there wasn’t a moment to lose.

Our team worked all weekend getting the word out through our network. We had a good incentive for participants: the client was paying $150 per participant. But we at Brink know that money isn’t always enough when you are recruiting teenagers. Some will go for the money. Others simply want to be heard. You have to find both groups in a situation like this.

We started with our key influencers, who reached out through their social media channels to their networks. We mined our existing data base of families with teens, and reached out to nonprofits and churches that serve families. It was a full-court press, but by Thursday we not only had the right participants for the youth diabetes focus group, but a half dozen candidates in their early 20s who were willing to participate in a second focus group with adults.

We didn’t stop working when we filled in the spreadsheet. We stayed in touch with the teens and their families all day Friday, making sure they knew how to get to the site (an 8 a.m. meeting on Saturday can be tough on people with diabetes). And we were at the site bright and early Saturday morning to guide them in by cell phone and welcome them to the facility.

In our follow-up interviews with the participants we recruited, we learned that they were thrilled to at last be able to talk openly about their disease—and to hear the stories that other teens had to tell.

Said one young man: “I actually found the discussion group rather interesting and I learned a lot about the subject, more than I expected to. And I would be delighted to assist you in any kind of future projects you may need assistance with.” One young woman’s mother reported: “My daughter really appreciated the opportunity to be heard, and to be with other teenagers who understand what she is going through. Thank you so much for the chance to participate!”

Mission Impossible? Not when you choose Brink as your research partner.

 

Case Study 2:

Eliminating the R-word, one teen at a time.

Since 2007, Special Olympics Oregon and Nike have partnered to present Nike Youth Games on the spacious Nike corporate headquarters campus in Beaverton, OR. The success of the first two Youth Games convinced the partners they could build on it to include a Youth Summit. This day-long conference, held the same day at the Youth Games, would bring teens with and without intellectual disabilities to the campus to discuss ways to make high schools more inclusive of students with disabilities. The Summit also emphasizes elimination of the word “retard” among young people, because the word is especially hurtful to individuals with intellectual disabilities.

In mid-September 2010, Special Olympics Oregon contacted Brink. With the Youth Games and Youth Summit two weeks away, registration for the Summit was not meeting expectations. Could Brink help? The assignment was specific: We need at least 50 teens from at least 10 different high schools to attend the Summit.

Brink hit the ground running. We sent our key influencers the information on the Summit. First feedback: Dudes, this is an all-day Saturday event that starts at 8 a.m. on the same day that most of the area high schools have their homecomings. Are you kidding us? We said: Just do it. And they did.

Text messages, emails and Facebook messages were flying back and forth. Kids were lobbying other kids in the school hallways and at lunch time. Excitement started to build. There was no financial incentive to dangle, but plenty of students are required to do up to 15 hours of community service a semester. This would take care of half of that in one day—and they’d come away with T-shirts, water bottles, other swag, and have two free meals while they were there. Plus something to put on their resumes for college.

By the Wednesday before the event, registration had nearly tripled from what it was when we got the assignment. In fact, Special Olympics asked us to shut down our recruiting effort because they were afraid they wouldn’t be able to accommodate everyone who wanted to attend.

The day of the event, we were on site to welcome our students, make sure they had what they needed and knew where they were going, and helped them get settled in for the conference. We stayed all day, and watched with pleasure as our students took leadership roles in the conference. Fundraising initiatives that high schools could host were discussed, including the popular “Polar Plunge.” Strategies for eliminating the “R-word” were central to the discussions.

Afterwards, our two key recruiters, Jordyn and Lilly, were chomping at the bit to get back to their high schools and take action. Jordyn shot us an email saying: “I got an e-mail about the Polar Plunge; and I really want to get involved. I want to learn more about it so I could possibly go to other schools in the metro school district and talk to their schools about it (along with the R-word awareness). I think we could get the schools involved, having a competition between the them and see which school could get the most people to buy R-awareness shirts along with taking the pledge to try and help eliminate the R-word. I feel the need to get more involved with this and to try and get other schools more involved with it as well."

This is the energy and passion you tap into when you bring Brink on board. Brink knows teens, and we know how to get them working for you.

 

Case Study three:

Central Willamette Community Credit Union: Attracting your future customers

Credit unions are very different from commercial banks. They play by different rules, they offer a distinct mix of products and services—and they are frequently not well understood, even by their own customers.

Brink was asked to help Central Willamette figure out why it wasn’t able to retain teens who were members of the credit union once they transitioned out of high school. We surveyed hundreds of teens in Central Willamette’s market, held focus groups with parents and teens, did follow up one-on-one interviews. Our findings were that teens transitioning away from home thought they needed a “Big Bank” account with a national ATM and branch system in order to take care of their banking. Even their families felt the credit union couldn’t continue to serve them if they left the area.

Of course, that’s not true. In fact, many teens said the Big Banks treated them coldly, charging huge fees and penalties for transactions and overdrafts. Credit unions belong to a national ATM system and can serve members anywhere—and on their phones as well. Their fees and penalties are much lower too.

But how to get the word out? Brink devised a year-long campaign to connect Central Willamette and teens and families in its market area so that the credit union could educate teens in transition about its services. Our first project: the Central Willamette Scholastic Activities Grants Program. The credit union established a fund to support high school activities, and invited area high schools to apply for the grants. The “mini-grant” program is now underway, the first step in Central Willamette’s proactive campaign to win over the young people of today who will be its core customers tomorrow.

 

Red Bull

Challenge

Red Bull wanted to increase its brand-appeal by tapping into a younger market. Brink was recruited to help identify a unique‚ memorable and lasting technique for building brand preference among teen consumers‚ and to align Red Bull with teen culture.

Objective

Brand Red Bull as underground and anti-authority.

Approach

Brink developed a holistic approach that utilized two complimentary strategies. The first tapped into teens’ self-organized social events - enabling Red Bull to connect with teens on their own terms. Brink helped Red Bull develop a network of teen contacts who could send texts to a “Red Bull Wings Team” during a social event. The Team would then show up - in a Red Bull branded Mini Cooper - at the social gathering‚ and drop off free cases of Red Bull to the “texter” attending the event. This helped create an association between Red Bull and fun‚ underground teen happenings.

The second strategy identified a highly influential teen - whose interests and culture aligned with the Red Bull brand - to receive Red Bull VIP treatment. As an aspiring D.J.‚ the carefully selected teen‚ Levi‚ was invited to perform at a Red Bull party at an upscale nightclub as the opening talent for three world-class acts. By designing a tailored experience around Levi’s main interest‚ Red Bull successfully cultivated a lifelong brand fanatic. Instead of telling teens what to do or think‚ Red Bull created an authentic brand ambassador who hundreds of teens already trust‚ admire and strive to emulate.

Rationale

Brink’s dual approach to building brand preference for Red Bull among teens centers around two vital principles: 1) Make the brand relevant to teens by seamlessly fitting into their lifestyle 2) Deliver an authentic message through a targeted‚ trusted and influential channel - rather than telling teens what to think - to create lasting bonds with brand fanatics.

Result

Sales of Red Bull increased dramatically as teens began to view Red Bull as being unconventional and anti-authority. Tapping into one key influencer has translated into a network of thousands of brand fanatics.

“The first thing I tell people about Red Bull is my Flight Club experience. The fact that I got to open at a big club in Portland for three world-famous DJ’s when I was only 17 was awesome. It was an experience I’ll remember for the rest of my life. It’s also made me want to become a better DJ so that someday I could be one of those famous DJ’s spinning for Red Bull.”

- Levi Mohorich
Brand Ambassador‚ Red Bull

Special Olympics

Challenge

The Special Olympics needed to effectively market its annual Trail Blazer Street Jam fundraiser event‚ which features three-on-three basketball tournaments for all ages and skill levels‚ to a teen audience.

Objective

Develop a strategy to mobilize and connect with potential players using a variety of social media outlets - ultimately to raise event awareness‚ attendance‚ and funds to support the Special Olympic Games of Oregon.

Approach

Brink bridged the gap between the offline and online identity and recruiting techniques of the Street Jam by having the event promotions staff - who was out working in the community - lead the viral campaign. Brink provided training and tips to staff members so they could learn how to carry their initial‚ face-to-face contact into the online community Facebook‚ Myspace and Blackboard Music.

Rationale

Promoting the Street Jam became much more successful and personal with familiar faces at the forefront of the event marketing. By initiating relationships in person - and by cultivating those bonds on the web - the Street Jam engaged their target audience in a personal‚ genuine and memorable way. Building lasting friendships enabled the street team to tap into existing networks in an organic way‚ ultimately transforming newly recruited participants into advocates for the event.

Result

With the help of Brink‚ the Special Olympics created a street team of more than twenty connected Street Jam advocates who attracted more than 1‚500 friends and followers on three social-networking platforms - all in less than one month. This translated into access to more than 28‚000 contacts. Needless to say‚ the Trail Blazer Street Jam was a success.

“Brink did a tremendous job creating a buzz and building a following of people who were genuinely interested and got involved with our event by using social media tools like Myspace and Facebook. In a new marketing world where tools like this are the buzz‚ I personally had skepticism about whether utilizing them could create some sort of ROI‚ but I can honestly say that Brink knows how to use them so that they make an impact.”

- Ryan Watt
Director of Development‚ Special Olympics Oregon

Kris Martin‚ Youth Branding Specialist

823 SW Naito Parkway

Portland, OR 97204

Email Kris

866-795-9971

Do I have to be a big company to work with Brink?

Absolutely not. Although we work with very large companies and institutions‚ Brink is extremely flexible and cost-effective. If you are a small company looking to attract teens to your products or services‚ we can help you do it.

How much time does it take to get a target market analysis?

Brink can provide preliminary feedback directly from teens within 48 hours to give you an idea of what teens think of your brand. A full target market analysis typically takes 4-6 weeks‚ but varies depending on your needs‚ goals‚ and scope of your project.

What if I just want help with focus groups?

Brink can be used in any application where information about or access to teens is desired from recruiting teens for focus groups or surveys to conducting full service market research.