A Frank Magid Associates Millennial study conducted on behalf of ABC Family shows unequivocal validation in favor of word-of-mouth above all forms of paid media when it comes to finding out about “cool, hot and latest” products, services, etc.

Combining the top 2 boxes (i.e. important and very important) reveals a landslide of support behind conversational word-of-mouth:

• My Friends: 71%
• My Kids: 54%

The next tier of influence comes from content itself (which I guess justifies the ABC Family investment) - for example, programs on cable TV: 35%. TV commercials weigh in at just 29%.

Three interesting insights here are:

1. No mention of “online ads”; just “websites” at 38%. Not sure what to make of that.
2. Social networking sites (such as MySpace, YouTube, and FaceBook) come in at 28% (in line with TV advertising). I’m wondering how this differs from the “my friends” category..I suspect that the difference is derived from the methodology.
3. Blogs prop up the list at pretty much the same level as billboards. Personally, I think that’s pretty remarkable, given both category’s tenures.

I wonder what would happen if businesses invested their dollars relative to these findings. Hmmm?