Grown Up Thinking

Almost since its inception Pepsi has marketed itself as a youth oriented brand.  The constant “choice of a new generation”, the “other” cola has always been endorsed by the hottest celebrities of the moment and integrated into the lifestyles of young people through sports, music and pop culture.  Yet, the choices made by the “new generation” of 2008 are far different from those of past “new generations” so Pepsi is addressing the issue with a multi-tiered revamping of all beverages in the Pepsi Co. family, most notably streamlining and modernizing the names and logos of some of their most iconic products.   

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A study just released today by Viacom Brand Solutions International reinforced what we at Mr. Youth have been saying for years, that:

“youth” is no longer applicable in today’s society, and marketers should target consumers based upon their engagement and participation in youth culture rather than by chronological age’

As we have been immersed in youth culture over the past 6 years, we have seen this new digitally enabled consumer graduate college and move into the workforce, yet their behavior and interests remains largely the same. As Viacom puts it:

“Even in these financially challenging times, people are trying to stay younger for longer,” said Kevin Razvi, EVP and managing director of VBSI. “ 25-to-34 year-olds are continuing to consume music, gaming and the internet and are enjoying the pursuits of their younger years while benefiting from a greater level of personal and financial freedom. We therefore need to rethink what ’youth’ actually means and how we and our partners can approach this constantly evolving group of people.”

Likewise, we have seen our experience gain increasingly more relevance as marketers struggle to reconnect with their consumers, a consumer many no longer fully grasp due to the rapid changes that have occurred over this time. If you need a quick cheat sheet to this new consumer, check out our white paper Consumer 2.0.

Concerned parents of teenage drivers can now breath a little easier as Ford gets ready to launch their new MyKey Technology which will allow Mom and Dad to limit the speed and audio volume of their kids car as well as encourage teens to drive safer and improve fuel efficiency. Parents will be able to program a MyKey through the vehicles message center which will help to curb some of the reckless behavior associated with teen drivers. It’s a ground-breaking step for Ford who has made its’ Sync Technology standard in all new models and plans on doing the same with MyKey in the next couple years.

Though the main trend of the automotive industry in recent times has been to “go green” (and for good reason) it’s good to see that Ford is also addressing the justified worries that parents of teenage drivers have had since the birth of the Model-T. Until now, they have had to rely on simply trusting their kids to obey the rules of the road and we all know how that can turn out.

No word yet on the development of GrandMyKey, an innovation I just thought of, that would increase the speed limit and Talk Radio bandwidth for older drivers along with removing the moth ball smell that has haunted my Grandmothers 1978 Lincoln Continental since she got it.

So, much has been said about Joe Six-Pack and the newly famous Joe the Plumber but convenient store chain 7-11 actually conceived of an ingenious promotion to use Joe to predict the election. In this case, a cup of joe. The idea is quite simple, 7-11 created red coffee cups with McCain’s name on them and blue cups with Obama’s. They then track the cups that their customers are selecting on a nationwide map on their 7-Election.com web site, which even allows consumers to view results by state. Even more remarkable, the results of this poll were within 1% of actual results in 2000 and identical to final results of the 2004 election. Guess Joe really does play a big role in this year’s election.

Before you ask, a meme is defined as “any idea or behavior that can pass from one person to another by learning or imitation.”  Simply put, a meme is anything that is spread virally–used and passed on–and makes its way into the mainstream.  The 2.0 world has vastly accelerated the transference of these little nuggets, and you are probably familiar with way more memes than you think.

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Hotel 626 is a spectacular site for Doritos made by Goodby & B-Reel. Certainly not for the faint of heart. Terrifying and extremely well-made. Yet another example of how great brands can create a fully personalized, rich, interactive experience for Consumer 2.0 to make things memorable.

Note: best experienced with a web cam & microphone enabled. The site is only accessible from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., but you can override by changing the time on your computer.

Thanks to the guys at The Digital Stew for pointing me in the right direction. Yummy.

A 21st century (healthy, robust, and OFF LINE) romance has become an increasingly difficult feat of balance and skill accomplished only by the most adept. Now, I’m an old-fashioned lass. Doesn’t  take much more than a few adventurous meals and whispered punchlines stolen from The Big Lebowski to get my heart a’flutter, but even I turned to the teeming cesspool of online dating when I first moved to New York. I (without guidance) found almost immediate success, and have hence quelled my misgivings about meeting a mate in cyberspace, but finding (and keeping) love in the new millennium has now gone just a few steps further.

From crowdsourcing your lovers’ spats to tasking the inhabitants of a metropolis to help you find your dream companion, apparently relying on luck in the meatspace just isn’t enough to navigate the tricky waters of love. What’s more, young Japanese women are turning to the web to quell their loneliness via a new dating simulation/ social network called WebKare (or WebBoyfriend) to communicate with one of four anime digital crushes to win his heart through gameplay. 

Now, I’m all for gushy moments of overzealous, cheesy romance, but tracking your process of proposing to an unwitting fiancee is, as the great Walter Sobchek would say, over the line. Right, dude?