More than other demographics, teens are all too ready to give marketers the brush-off. So how do brands and marketers avoid falling victim to this dismissal from such a powerful target group? Here are three tips.

Perhaps the most shocking thing for me in conducting this research is to hear consumers talk about interacting with companies as being fun. Hearing how consumers get barraged with 3,000 marketing messages a day can jade us, but social networks are changing some of that by bringing consumers together to engage with brands in a way that's entertaining.

They are the holy grail of youth marketing; the 5-million-plus American high school students who will be leaving home for the first time this fall, building brand loyalties and buying habits that will last a lifetime.