Belgian brands leave young unmoved

11 Feburary 2005

BRUSSELS – Out of Belgian youths’ top 10 favourite consumer brands, only one Belgian name appears on the list, according to a survey released by the Brussels office of international advertising agency think/BBDO.

The survey of 600 Belgian youths was part of a broader survey of some 2,200 people age 18-30 in Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, the United Kingdom, Spain and Sweden.

Belgian respondents said Google, the Internet search engine, was their top brand of choice, followed by MSN and Nokia.

Coca-Cola came in fourth place, followed by Microsoft.

Food discount retailer Colruyt came in seventh place, ahead of Swedish furniture retailer Ikea, French retailer Carrefour and German cosmetics maker Nivea.

On the whole, the survey found that the respondents – whom it has dubbed the “new pragmatists” – are hardworking, pragmatic and family-oriented, with four out of five saying they would like to raise children.

At the same time, many also said they were open, tolerant and sexually permissive.

The survey also found that respondents are individualistic but not egotistic.

Respondents said they work in order to get the maximum amount of free time, and that they would like to make enough money to be able to retire as early as possibly and have confidence in the future.

In addition, there appeared to be equal enthusiasm for staying home and packing one’s suitcases to discover the world.

For more on the survey, see www.think.bbdo.be.

Subject : Belgian news