An anatomy of a passionista

The brand advocates of the Internet are being dubbed “passionistas”. Their advocacy of a product or service comes from its association with their passion, whether it be sport, health or food.

Passionistas use the Internet to share their passion for a product or service and are more likely to create their own content for that purpose and join in with communities that have similar passions. The word-of-mouth potential from passionistas is huge.

"Brands that stimulate conversation among passionate consumers will be rewarded through the credibility that comes from trusted word of mouth," said Jim Kite, President of Connections Research and Analytics at MediaVest.

Some interesting findings from Yahoo/MediaVest’s study, titled "Passionistas: The New Empowered Consumers” are:-

- Nearly half of passionistas, 49 percent, said their opinion of a brand would be more favorable if associated with their passion, compared with 34 percent of typical users.

- Over half, 53 percent, would try a new brand if it was associated with their passion, compared with 41 percent of typical users.

- Great credibility was afforded to brands who shared a user's passion – 46 percent compared with 34 percent of typical users.

- Passionistas spend 6 minutes on a website associated with their passion, compared with 1 minute for typical users, and visit that website 3 times more.

Tags: brand advocate, MediaVest, passionista, Yahoo