Although marketers try to identify target customers’ reference groups, the level of reference-group influence varies among products and brands. Manufacturers of products and brands with strong group influence must reach and influence the opinion leaders in these reference groups. An opinion leader is the person in informal product related communications who offers advice or information about a product or product category. Marketers try to reach opinion leaders by identifying demographic and psychographic characteristics associated with opinion leadership, identifying the preferred media of opinion leaders, and directing messages at the opinion leaders. For example, the hottest trends in teenage music and fashion start in America’s inner cities, then spread to youth in the suburbs. As a result, clothing companies that target teens carefully monitor the style and behavior of urban opinion leaders.