Until very recently, I had no idea what a favicon was. But, upon the recommendation of new media consultant Marshall Kirpatrick (who’s been meeting with the roster of Nemo bloggers as of late), I was told to get one.

A favicon (short for favorites icon) is a 16×16 pixel icon that is associated with a particular webpage. If your browser supports a favicon, it appears in the upper left corner of the URL bar next to the site’s address. The favicon originally got its name from the file favicon.ico that was placed in the root directory of a web server. This would then show up in your display of favorites (bookmarks).

WHY SHOULD YOU GET A FAVICON?

Usability: Favicons help a user quickly find a webpage among multiple browser tabs without having to read the page titles. Also, they make scanning a big list of bookmarks much faster.

Branding Awareness: Favicons assist in making a visual representation of your site to visitors. They also make your site look more professional.

MAKING AND SOURCING FAVICONS

I won’t bore you with the details on how to make and install a favicon. There are tons of really solid tutorials floating around the web including those by Photoshop Support and The Site Wizard.

If you want a fantastic favicon in a hurry or can’t decide on an image to use, don’t fret! There are many great favicon resources:

a. Free Favicon has a nice selection of favicons with great depth and web 2.0 detailing.

b. Genfavicon is a favicon generator that allows you to upload an image to the site, crop it and immediately view the results. Chami offers a similar solution.

d. Faviconize shows off the best favicons from around the internet. The inspiration is endless!

e. Bluejar.com is offering 20 free themed favicon sets.

IN CLOSING

Favicons are one more tool in your branding arsenal with the power to distinguish your website. While favicons alone won’t make your site a force to be reckoned with, they are free and easy to make. Every little bit of branding helps, even if it’s only 16 x 16 pixels of visibility.

My Online Marketing Presentation About Radiohead from iaintait on Vimeo.

Even with a barrage of endless new options, today’s teens are still partial to many of the ‘old school’ brands that were popular with past generations. Last winter, networking website Habbo conducted an online survey of teens ages 11 to 18 and asked them to name their favorite brands.

Many of the biggest brand names in their respective genres were rattled off as favorites including Coca-Cola (beverage), McDonald’s (fast food), MTV (TV channel), Seventeen (magazine) and Nike (shoes).

With a constant link to the internet and access to so much outside information, it seems surprising that teens would identify such mainstream brands as their favorites. This may partially be due to the constant exposure of their big budget advertising campaigns that span the globe.

Nike: Staying Ahead of the Curve

Nike stands tall amongst its fellow footwear competitors with 40% of the market share for shoes. The brand recognition among teens has surely benefitted from one of the most recognizable logos in the world (the swoosh) and the empowering “Just Do It” slogan that has managed to cross all race, economic and gender barriers since its 1988 inception. Nike has been especially aware of teen consumers’ changing preferences with two notable additions to their roster being the Nike 6.0 and Nike SB lines. By focusing on the hot action sports and skateboarding sectors, they have remained a viable competitor in the fickle teen market.

Nike has also smartly followed in the footsteps of Vans, adding a larger amount of ‘lifestyle footwear’ to their product mix. Both brands have realized that while not all teens participate in sports, they will still gobble up the stylish soft good offerings.

Market Saturation Equals Recognition?

Though some teens may not actually prefer McDonald’s over its #2 competitor Burger King, its market share is so broad and the convenience of its locations so unparalleled that the iconic golden arches immediately come to mind.

A Case of Impressionability

Habbo, the site responsible for the brands survey is a social networking site aimed at teenagers with chat rooms that are set up in the form of virtual hotel rooms. Each user creates an avatar representing themselves and purchases credits to buy virtual items like furniture for the hotel rooms. 90% of Habbo’s users are between the ages of 13 and 18 and for this reason, it receives sponsorship from large corporations as well as bands targeting teens.

The broadness in age of its survey respondents should be noted. Teens on the younger end of the spectrum may be more impressionable; perhaps they haven’t branched out from their mainstream brand preferences yet, many of which they’ve been exposed to over the years in their households.

As teens mature, it’s normal for them to broaden their scope to lesser-known brands, many of which have less visibility (and smaller advertising budgets). This can be part of their allure since the need for individuality and the push towards the customization of products is an integral part of growing up.

While many of the top brands of our past will remain viable for future generations of teens, they should keep an eye on the smaller up-and-comers, many of which are playing by their own sets of rules.