Pay Attention Investors: Millennials Just Blew Past Boomers

Now that millennials have surpassed Baby Boomers as America’s “largest living generation,” investors should probably pay more attention to the wants and needs of the 20-35 crowd, especially with regard to their favorite brands. (And the stocks they represent.)

Based on recent studies and surveys, the brands millennials most prefer likely won’t come as a surprise. The degree to which these brands recognize and respond to the preferences millennials have will determine whether brand loyalty continues as this generation grows in wealth and stature.

Given all that, here are 5 of the top brands millennials have said they prefer most.

Apple Inc. AAPL
In almost any brand preference survey of 20 or 30 somethings, Apple comes in near the top. As far as MacNews is concerned, this comes as no surprise since the Apple brand personifies that which millennials hold near and dear to their hearts.

This includes things like the importance of design in workplace satisfaction, a willingness to pay more for a product they find appealing and a consensus that good design improves a product’s functionality.

Nike Inc. NKE
With millennials accounting for more than $500 billion in indirect purchasing power, and still nowhere near potential, there’s plenty of reason for companies like Nike to care.

Caring, it turns out, is part of the mix for millennials as well. Millennials like the fact they see Nike as transparent, socially responsible, authentic and honest in communications.

The net result has been a brand (Nike) that outperforms others in the market and delivers exceptional profits.

Sony Corp. SNE
At the ripe old ages of 20 to 35, millennials (many of them at least) have children of their own and as those children grow up they are entertainment savvy – just like their parents. Enter Sony, a favorite brand for millennials when they were growing up. And the beat goes on.

Although Sony has much more to offer millennials (and their children) than PS4, videos games alone are enough in many instances to keep that generation excited about the Sony brand.

Alphabet Inc. GOOG
Aside from the sheer attraction of all that Google has to offer millennials, one other thing stands out – employment. Millennials want to work at Google. It fits their style. It fits their sense of fun and adventure. And it’s cool.

Almost 20% of millennials named Google as an ideal employer. That’s a huge segment of a large part of the population. (Apple got just 13% of the vote – Facebook Inc. FB about 9%.)

Coca-Cola Co. KO
Coca-Cola, which targeted boomers 45 years ago is changing its focus to aim for millennials. And the message is working according to Ace Metrix. Among the most successful ads, and a likely reason the Coca-Cola brand is in the top 10 of just about any survey of millennial brand favorites, is one called “Under Pressure” that utilizes the song of the same name.

Performed by Queen and David Bowie, the ad showcases pressures experienced by young people including everything from schoolwork to art, athletics and more. In a nutshell, the ad (and resulting brand loyalty on the part of millennials) hits home.

Millennial Disruption
Meanwhile, a study by Scratch determined that the industry most likely to be transformed by the influence of millennials is banking. That industry ranked well ahead of others including online, personal computing, mobile, discount retail and household goods.

One of the most important study findings was the fact that millennials would welcome financial services from Google, Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, Apple, PayPal Holdings Inc. PYPL or Square Inc. over those provided by traditional banks.