Developing a Brand Model for the New Consumer 43 The research base: 5,000 brand stories can't be wrong Because listening to Gen Y's own creation of brand meaning is the only way to learn what it takes to sustain a successful brand, we invited more than 5,000 14- to 29-year-olds across different regions of Europe ­ the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands and Belgium ­ to participate in our brand research. We asked them to share their most and least favourite brands with us in three different product categories: clothing; mobile phone devices; sweet snacks (chocolate bars or sweets). Then we randomly showed them their most desired brand in one of the three categories and invited them to write a short story of at least 750 characters about that brand. They could write whatever they wanted about their preferred brand. Results for clothing brands Gen Yers came up with no less than 646 different beloved clothing brands. This illustrates how fragmented Gen Y's world is today. As more and more competitors are each taking their chunk of the pie, many brands have to expand into new and growing segments or markets as the only option to grow. Nike, for instance, needs to launch products for new sport disciplines. Table 2.1 shows the top- mentioned brands in this category. Of course, every country or region has its own local hero brands. TopShop is conquering H&M in the UK, Zara triumphs in Spain and G-Star in the Netherlands. But H&M overall achieves the biggest international success in the Y market. In an interview with Jörgen Andersson, former global brand direc- tor of H&M, the main reason for this success in his opinion is H&M's diversity of styles. `Other brands like Diesel, Esprit or Jack & Jones have a more specific style. Or certain competitors have a specific heritage. For instance, Zara has a Spanish style, which makes the retailer successful in the south of Europe, but at the same time it's a barrier to conquer the Nordics. H&M, as a global brand, offers a