US Coolest Brands revealed

14th August 2024, New York: YouTube is number one in the 100 Coolest Brands for US Kids & Teens according to a study of 31,000 7-14-year-olds, unveiled today by Beano Brain, the specialist kids and family insights agency.

YouTube retained the top spot as America’s Coolest Brand in the second US edition of the Beano Brain 100 Coolest Brands for kids and teens report. The top three remained unchanged from last year with Netflix as runner-up and Amazon coming third.

Fast food and drink brands dominate the list, taking up 50% of the top 20 with Sour Patch Kids (6), Kit Kat (7), Oreo (9), M&Ms (10), Chick-fil-A (14), Skittles (15), McDonald’s (17), Jolly Ranchers (18), Starbucks (19) and Hershey’s (20), driven largely by the creation of a sense of fun, a sense of belonging, and the creation of family rituals from multi-generational bonding to seasonal theming.

Nike (4) dominates the playing field as the world’s coolest sportswear brand rising 13 places as it becomes the cultural uniform for Gen Alpha through its continuous new product design, hot drops and cool collabs leaving Adidas (46) in the dust.

US brands dominate the list, with Harry Potter (49) ranking as the highest non-US brand.

KitKat (7) charges into the top 10 as the highest ranking new entrant, followed by Doritos (27), UNO (33), Nutella (34), Cheez-it (37), Dr Pepper (47), Dollar Tree (51), NFL (64), Samsung (71), Sephora (76), Lululemon (82), Messenger Kids (86), Rocket League (87), Meta Quest (89), Trader Joe’s (92), The North Face (94), Bubble Skincare (96), Kidz Bop (97) and Temu (99).

XBOX (43) is this year’s biggest faller, dropping 19 places. Animal Crossing, Arby’s, American Girl, Champion, Chipotle, Costco, EA Sport, FitBit, Five Guys, Go Fish, Hot Topic, IHOP, Kinder, Oculus VR, Panda Express, Popeye’s, Shake Shack, and FIFA drop out of the top 100.

Legacy brands including Disney (10), LEGO (8) and Nintendo (5) rank highly, but challenger brand Squishmallows (28) maintains its spot in the top 30. Squishmallows has successfully tapped into collectibility and cuteness with a range of price points from pocket money upwards and demonstrates the potential for challenger brands to experience rapid growth in niche markets.

Skincare brands break into the top 100 with Sephora (76) and Bubble Skincare (96), signalling the increasing importance of this sector to the younger age groups.

Thanks to successful brand extensions and partnerships with key IPs such as Minecraft, Harry Potter, Jurassic World and most notably, Fortnite, LEGO (8) trumps Mattel, appearing a solid 75 places above Barbie (84). Collaboration and brand extensions are a major theme throughout the top performing brands this year.

YouTube is Beano Brain Coolest Brand for 2024

The Beano Brain team spent a year talking to kids and teens aged 7 – 14 (Generation Alpha) about their likes and dislikes and observing the brands kids are wearing, chatting about and coveting, before testing their findings with the Beano Brain omnibus panel.

According to Beano Brain, YouTube has cemented its number one status against the likes of TikTok through its sheer breadth of content and its successful mixture of long and short-form that allow kids to dip in and out for as long as they like.

Helenor Gilmour, Director of Strategy Beano Brain, said: “The secret to YouTube’s popularity with kids lies in its breadth and adaptability: there is quite literally something for everyone. YouTube successfully mixes long and short-form content; the latter strengthening and cementing the channel’s position against the onslaught of TikTok. Having successfully positioned music and TV within its proposition, YouTube has ensured it’s the one-stop-shop for this generation.

“Most importantly, YouTube has established itself as a safe platform in the minds of US parents and their kids, where kids can easily seek experts and learn about almost any subject imaginable, including jelly art! ”

Gilmour added: “US parents are some of the most hands-on parents we meet, super-conscious of their child’s safety and keen for their kids to enjoy a carefree childhood.

“But they are also brand literate and I never cease to be amazed at how sophisticated their kids and teens are in their brand consumption and our 2024 list of the Coolest Brands is a perfect example.

“Often more discerning and intelligent than adults when it comes to the brands they use, kids have a clear sense of the practical advantages of a brand but also how it affects them on an emotional level.

“Brands are anchored in kids’ lives from an early age marking key moments and milestones, but only a few classic children’s brands feature in our top 100 – only five out of the top 25 could be regarded as children’s properties.

“Brands that upped the funny this year, notably Sour Patch Kids and Chick-fil-A have acquired cool points with kids. Humour is playground currency for kids and welcomes them into the brand’s world.

“Create the LOLs and you capture coolness!”

Pete Maginn, Managing Director. Commercial Insight, Beano Brain, said: “Once again being a cool brand is simply not the preserve of one particular category – it’s not all about entertainment brands or gaming brands. Within the Top 20 we have 12 different categories represented – ranging from confectionery to physical play, from lifestyle to retailers.

“Brands that have responded to the cost of living crisis, from saver menus to free access to content and that have leaned into family sharing opportunities have done well.

“McDonalds, a 50-year-old familiar, tried and tested brand and Squishmallows a relatively new, all- year round play brand, both showed an intelligent understanding of kids’ worlds and the attributes which make them cool in their eyes. Inter-generational enjoyment and appeal should be a top priority for brands.”

Beano Brain 100 Coolest Brands 2024 US Top 10