YouGov: Survey shows Apple is most popular among users aged 35 and above

YouGov, a British brand awareness research company, released a report on Friday saying that Apple's largest fan base now comes from middle-aged and elderly users aged 35 and above. The change in the age of the user group shows that Apple's appeal to the younger, technology-loving user group has declined. YouGov's report also analyzed Apple's recently launched and widely criticized "Genius" series of TV commercials. This series of commercials features Mac Geniuses - technical support staff in retail stores - as the protagonists, showing their ability to help consumers in high-pressure working environments.

The 30-second ads were aired on NBC in the United States before the 2012 Olympic Games. They were suspended by Apple just days after they aired, with reports suggesting that Apple was following previous plans.

In all three ads, the Mac genius was played by 24-year-old Josh Rabinowitz, and the ads were met with widespread dislike from Apple's loyal fans.

"I can't think of any Apple ad that has ever been more poorly received," said Ken Segall, a former creative director at the ad agency Chiat/Day who worked on Apple's "Think Different" campaign from 1997 to 2002. "These ads have been widely panned, and rightly so," Segall wrote on his blog last week.

However, according to YouGov, the ad series may not be the flop that Siegel and others suspect.

According to YouGov's Brand Index, Apple's biggest supporters have been people aged 35 and over since mid-July 2011. At the same time, the proportion of people aged 18 to 34, who once dominated the majority of Apple fans, has been declining.

"Since people aged 35 and over make up a larger proportion of Apple users, it may make sense for the Mac Genius ad to air during the Olympics, as prime-time TV viewers are mostly 35 and over," YouGoc said in a blog post. "Apple users aged 35 and over, including baby boomers aged 50 and over, may need more hands-on product guidance than younger users, so they are the target group for the Mac Genius ad."

According to YouGov's calculations, the biggest drop in Apple's brand popularity came in the summer of 2010, when it was affected by the "antennagate" incident.

YouGov randomly surveys American adults and asks them if they have ever heard anything about a brand, and if so, whether it is positive or negative. YouGov's brand index ranges from -100 to 100, and the number is calculated by subtracting the proportion of negative feedback from the positive feedback. In other words, a score of zero means that the brand has equal positive feedback to negative feedback.

Prior to July 2011, the Apple brand index was higher among people aged 18 to 34 than among those aged 35 and over. But by November 2011, the Apple brand index among those aged 35 and over soared to a record high of 48, while the Apple brand index among younger groups dropped 13 points to 35.

As of now, Apple's brand index is 31 among people aged 35 and above, 15% higher than the score of 27 among people aged 18 to 34.

"Apple's brand score is still very high," said Ted Marzilli, global executive director of YouGov's Brand Index. "Apple's brand performance among young consumers is not bad, but the score of young consumers for Apple's brand has declined recently."

According to YouGov, Apple’s Brand Index score is far ahead of the more than 1,100 brands monitored by Mazri’s team: the average brand has a Brand Index of only 4 among people aged 18 to 34 (while Apple’s score is 27), and the average brand has an index of only 5 among people aged 35 and above (compared to Apple’s score of 31).

"It's natural," Mazri said, explaining Apple's decline among younger consumers since January 2008. "The iPhone and iPad now have more competitors. These competitors are appealing to the same users, so there may be some early iPhone users switching to other brands. Some of them may switch to Samsung or Kindle devices."

Apple's rising brand index among middle-aged and older users shows that Apple has become a mainstream brand, Mazri said. "There's nothing wrong with being a mainstream brand, in fact it's a clear advantage," Mazri said. "Microsoft has been a mainstream brand for 30 years. The key is to remain mainstream while still creating an image of coolness and innovation, which is the ideal situation."