Deep Freeze

Where does the in crowd go, anyway?

By Laura Tiffany

Oh, that elusive moniker of "cool." You thought after high school graduation you could stop striving for hipness. Surprise, surprise: As an entrepreneur, being cool is more important than ever. So we thought we'd head back to high school to find just what these characteristics of cool are.

How do teens determine what's cool? "The number-one [characteristic of cool] is quality," says Jill Kilcoyne, syndicated research manager for Teenage Research Unlimited, a Northbrook, Illinois, market research firm specializing in teens. "Teens also want a sense of ownership in a brand." Other factors include the brand's uniqueness and how it's advertised.

"If advertising can predict a certain lifestyle they aspire to, then those brands are what they're going to be attracted to," Kilcoyne explains.

Want more clues to coolness? Kilcoyne suggests flipping through a Teen People or Seventeen magazine, going to the mall or watching a few music videos on MTV.

The top 10 coolest brands, according to teens:

1. Nike

2. Tommy Hilfiger

3. Sony

4. Adidas

5. Nintendo

6. Gap

7. Levi's

8. Calvin Klein

9. Ralph Lauren/Polo

10. Coca-Cola

Source: Teenage Research Unlimited

This article was originally published in the September 1999 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Deep Freeze.