Grown Up Thinking

YouTube has recently announced it will be revamping its site by focusing on ad-supported premium programming (a la Hulu) and completely separating the user-generated content that has long accounted for most of the site’s traffic. The redesign will now include four tabs for browsing: Movies, Music, Shows (all ad supported) and Videos (user-generated content.) I assume this change will definitely ruffle some feathers as the very content that built YouTube up to its current status as the #1 destination for video is largely being relegated to a digital ‘back shelf.’ One could argue that the site’s unique and personal feel will be lost in addition to  bombarding end users with more and more commercials. On the other hand, promoting premium content and features (including the truly nifty “pop-out” and “dim the light” features of Hulu) could potentially add more quality and value to the site.

I’m anxiously waiting to see how YouTube will ultimately pull it off. I’m admittedly a fan of both sites for their very different approaches. But I would worry that taking the You out of YouTube would take some serious value out of the equation for the masses. The balance between the two will definitely need to be maintained to ensure that quality, content and utility end up benefiting consumers. Then it can truly be an advantageous relationship between people and advertising.

Drop the Tough

Thanks to the death of the retail music experience, the advent of totally self-published works by major artists, and the all pervasive presence of iTunes, it’s no surprise that bands have been challenged to rethink the way they release albums. But brand sponsorship? This is a new beast altogether.

Big beat Brits Groove Armada have teamed up with Bacardi Live to release an EP completely funded by the brand (and 100% free). What do you think- solution or sell out?

Thanks to Creative Review for inspiration. 

EDIT: Drummer Josh Freese takes freemium to eleven, baby. My favorite purchase perk? For $500, 15 lucky fans will float with Freese in a sensory-deprivation tank and get dinner at Sizzler along with the album.

When @jimmyfallon tweeted last Wednesday to check out his Twitter Page at 6 pm because he was “trying an experiment”, I considered setting an outlook reminder. Ever since Jimmy Fallon took over NBC’s Late Night for Connan O’Brian on March 2nd, he has integrated social media into his show, taking it to new and unmarked territory.  Therefore, as a loyal @jimmyfallon Twitter follower for nearly 2 weeks, I was eager to see what 6 pm would bring.  

It started with Jimmy Fallon “twitterviewing” Cameron Diaz via three of his followers interview questions earlier this month.  While the questions weren’t necessarily life changing interview questions, it did result in an entertaining interview and more importantly, he was able to make all of his twitter followers feel like they were part of the interview and thus more connected to the show. While it could have just been a cheap trick to get a couple thousand more viewers, I truly believe Fallon is onto something in the way he is engaging in social media on his show.  

So, when I finally remembered to check back @jimmyfallon’s twitter feed, he simply had a tweet which requested you to follow @bryanbrinkman, dubbing it the “Bryan Brinkman Experiment”. Clearly, as I am not one to ignore a request by a celebrity tweet, I started following @bryanbrinkman, me and 10,000 of his closest friends. It was more than 3 hours before the show even aired, before he even announced what the experiment actally was, and @bryanbrinkman already had more followers than some major twitter users.  Fallon finally reveled the experiment on air, a simple ‘how many folowers can I get @bryanbrinkman’ (who started with 7 followers earlier that day pre-Fallon), paired with an entertaining segment featuring the founders of Digg.com and Russell Brand, all of whom tweeted on their MacBook’s throughout the show.  Today, it is almost a week later and @bryanbrinkman is at nearly 33,300 followers. 

This experiment brings up so many questions for me.  Will interviewers never have to come up with their own questions again, always turning to the public to find out what they really want to know? Will @bryanbrinkman’s tweets become more interesting before everyone unfollows him?  Either way, I truly believe we can count on Fallon to continue to use Twiter and other social networking sites to entertain, grab attention and solidify the power of this media during his tenure on NBC’s Late Night. 

Recent years have shown web 2.0 to be a largely benevolent force–bringing hopeful Americans together around the inauguration of our President and providing distressed cable customers with direct assistance from their providers.  Today, however, the instant connectivity and communication of web 2.0 has reached a new low– McSorley’s TV.

McSorley’s TV is basically a branded mashup of Twitter, Flickr and Brightkite updates that relate to St. Patrick’s day happenings at McSorley’s–one of the oldest bars in NYC and a legendary St. Paddy’s day hangout.  The site shows loyal revelers waiting in line at 7 am to score a coveted table at this 155 year-old bar that serves nothing but its own brew of light and dark beer. The site will be up all St. Patrick’s day showing a live feed of text and photo content of all things McSorley’s.

Truth be told, this is an ingenious application of web 2.0 technologies–and it’s hard to hate on one of the coolest bars in the world. But I can’t help but think it’s an act of cruelty to subject those of us tethered to our dreary desks on the best holiday of the year to live updates of the spririted atmosphere of McSorely’s. At the end of the day this is all just sour grapes–cheers to McSorley’s for getting it right! Slainte!

More and more companies these days are leveraging the enormous power of social networking to make a meaningful impact on their consumers, all the while boosting their brands with some positive buzz. I was impressed recently when Tide pitted a slew of companies against one another in a vintage tee selling competition. All tees sold benefitted the Tide Loads of Hope program which helps communities hit by natural disasters. With the help of Twitter and Facebook, over 2,000 tees were sold in just under 4 hours. Merging the power of social networking along with buzz-worthy creativity not only allowed Tide to get a major PR boost but also helped to instill the brand’s image with a very valuable message of hope, optimism and giving back. (Hey, I bought a green one.) In case you wanna plunk a cool 20 bucks down for a good cause, you can grab your own vintage tee here.

Tide Loads of Hope is much more than just t-shirts, of course. Over the past three years, the prominent mobile laundry program has traveled to cities in need and washed over 35,000 loads of laundry for over 20,000 families including victims of Hurricane Katrina, the Southern California Wildfires, the Iowa floods, and most recently for Hurricane Gustav and Hurricane Ike.

Now who’s gonna do MY laundry?

BTW, thanks for the tip, Coolhunting!

We at Mr Youth have long spoken about the Demise of the Glamorized Celebrity. It is one of many reasons why we often preach focusing campaigns on creating messaging that is spread through peers vs. betting on some celebrity. While nearly all data will reinforce that peers and trusted sources are the #1 influencer in purchasing decisions, recent celebrity behavior and the 24/7 media makes celebrity endorsements an even greater risk.

The list of recent celebrity “mistakes” leaves few safe. As Chris Brown, Michael Phelps, Alex Rodriguez, Britney, Michael Vick, Kobe Bryant, Mel Gibson and many others show,  nearly anyone can fall and anything from drug use, anti-Semitism , domestic violence to dog fighting can bring a celeb (and any brands attached) down. It appears that advertisers are catching on as a recent Ad Age article cited that only 7% of the ads that aired during this year’s Grammy Awards featured celebrities, down from 13% in 2008 and 25% in 2007.

Brands will increasingly have to question whether handing over big bucks to back a celeb are worth the risk, especially when social media and technology continues to make connecting consumers through authentic and relevant sources more widespread.  So, brands who haven’t already inked deals with Tiger, Peyton or one of the few seemingly sure bets will need to determine whether to bet on their consumers or a celebrity.

Target is running a 1-month exclusive with General Mills showcasing retro packaging around Cocoa Puffs, Cheerios, Lucky Charms, Trix, Kix and other brands within their cereal portfolio. A collectable t-shirt is promoted on the new retro-themed packaging, offering consumers the chance to get a vintage-styled tee of their favorite morning munch. Overall, its a smart play. Target gains exclusivity, consumers feel rewarded with a limited piece of throwback merch, and wearing the fashion creates conversations around the cereal brands and must-have appeal for young-ins. A website has been built to offer up a chance to win the tees.

This isn’t the first time General Mills or others have tapped the retro look. Junk Food was wildly popular with teens a few years back via licensed t-shirts using iconic General Mills logos and characters such as Lucky Charms, Trix and others 70′s and 80′s characters. Mountain Dew and Pepsi recently announched retro packaging and product formulated with real sugar in their Throwback LTO. Dew has also used their past icons successful in recent campaigns such as Green Label Art showcasing their legenday Hillbilly character.

General Mills is likely reaching a younger consumer, a savvy trend follower that will still rock the retro tee, which will likely fare well when it’s time for parents to write their grocery lists. This type of straightforward offer often favors well in a value-focused economic environment where there is a lot of pressure on established name brands to keep generic from brands taking market share. Hell, even I’d consider rocking a Boo Berry t-shirt to the gym for anyone looking to pick me up a gift on my b-day (which is a only a month away)!

I think we’ve all seen them by now–your friends tag you in pictures of South Park characters, superheros or those colorful cartoon characters you recognize but can’t remember what they’re called. This trend seems to catch on more and more every day with a new iteration hitting Facebook every 12 hours. You look in the picture, and scroll through the image to find out which one you are–the cute one? the fun one? the Arab????

Let’s face it–these photos are fun and harmless, and most generate some spirited discussion in the comments section. Still, one has to admit that this practice is a pretty boldfaced example of stereotyping.  I’m just waiting for the stories to surface of friendships ended or relationships terminated because the tagger didn’t quite think through their choices. I mean does anyone really want to be tagged as the ginger (not that there’s anything wrong with that)? As my mom used to say growing up, it’s all fun and games until someone gets their feelings irrevocably hurt by an internet meme.

Few things in the 2.0 era have received so much buzz so quickly as Skittle’s recent social media effort. I logged on to Twitter yesterday to a literal hashstorm of all things Skittles. I realize people get excited about candy, but this was ridiculous. What was going on? Obviously I did what any responsible digital marketing  professional would do–I went to Skittles.com.

Something wasn’t right–why did Skittles.com take me to Twitter’s search page with a little branded overlay on the top left?  Where’s the flashed out, high res animated page loader? Where’s the ambiguously organized homepage with different content engagement opportunities?  All I could see were different users’ tweets about Skittles. I clicked around the overlay, and was taken to….Facebook? This was something entirely new.

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