Grown Up Thinking

Looks like the Apple/Adobe “feud” just got a lot more interesting. Fresh off the heels of Steve Jobs’ condemnation of flash on the Apple blog, Adobe released a full page ad in the Wall Street Journal proclaiming its “love” for the computer giant.

While a traditional media play may seem contradictory for a brand whose product resonates most with the online crowd, the provocative ads demonstrate just how powerful the synergy can be between traditional and social campaigns. Already, there are thousands of blog posts dedicated to the subject, and the twitter-sphere is buzzing as the tech-savvy crowd rushes to choose sides.

Regardless of where your allegiances lie, the Adobe example demonstrates an important point for marketers: traditional and social needn’t be mutually exclusive. When executed strategically (with an inherent understanding of your target’s behavior), a traditional mass awareness play can be so powerful that consumers will willingly turn to social media to weigh in, amplifying your message exponentially. All you need to do is start the conversation, and let your audience take it from there.

Who are you rooting for, Apple or Adobe?

Find out in our just-launched white paper in partnership with Intrepid, titled Millennial Inc. Following a six-month joint international research study, the paper explores what the Millennial-led company will look like when Millennials take charge.

Closely observing the way Millennials would run an organization and develop and market products brings to light the challenges marketers are currently having in reaching this demographic. By taking note of how Millennials would reach and impact themselves, the white paper is a much needed how-to guide for making the changes necessary to survive and thrive in the new socially-connected, fully transparent world.

Millennial Inc explores nine core themes across three main areas of the business and concludes with the 10 Core Principles that the Millennial Led Business Will Follow. What are they? Download the whitepaper at millennialinc.com and find out.

No matter the budget, when brainstorming for a client the eager minds at Mr Youth always start by thinking BIG. We toss around ideas of wild, dream executions to introduce or promote a brand, imagining that money is no object. (“Let’s send one person from every single country to the 2010 World Cup!” or “Let’s build the world’s largest piñata!” –don’t laugh, it’s been done! Well, sorta.)

Typically, reality sinks in quick and we regroup to develop a program that has the same strategic and creative chutzpah our client wants, but that fits more in line with their proposed budget and timeline– to sparkling and dynamic results, no less!

Derrick Borte’s new film, The Joneses, presents a concept that sounds as far-reaching as some of our initial wild and crazy marketing ideas. Embed a fake, envy-inducing family into a wealthy, materialistic neighborhood, outfit them with all of our clients’ newest and hottest products, and get them to get their “neighbors” to want it all? GENIUS… maybe.

The concept here is compelling on a few levels. We know for a fact that consumers trust the opinion of their family, friends (and in this case, neighbors) more than any claim a company itself can make. The Joneses may have something to say about how far some brands are willing to go to get you to buy what they’re selling. Is this an example of word-of-mouth gone too far? Are you swayed by strategic product placement as much as some brands are hoping you are?

Watch the trailer and let us know:

I just got back from a trip to Miami, having spent five days at Winter Music Conference 2010, one of the largest and most publicized annual music gatherings in the world. This year, I was there simply as an observer and mole for all who are looking to connect with consumers to make their presence known. I certainly had some fun, but after five days of over-stimulation with 70,000 other event attendees (including the cast of Jersey Shore), I felt it worthwhile to share some of my recommendations:

Hey DJ! Use your microphone!
With such a captive audience, brands can leverage the opportunity and really connect with consumers- think mobile and social interactive calls-to-action, engaging consumers and creating content. Vendors should be asking consumers to interact and experience products while they’ve got their attention. Oh, wait- there was no product (that’s my next observation).

Where was the ‘product’?
The only WMC-friendly promotions I witnessed on Collins Ave (main drag for parties and prime people-watching zone) were beverage providers handing out cans. But when it came to larger ‘official’ venue events and activities presented by major brands, there was nothing to experience.

Foursquare was the rage!
If you didn’t know what Foursquare was upon arrival, you certainly were game by the time you left Miami. The service continues to grow in popularity for multi-venue, multi-day experiences like WMC. Attendees were constantly whipping out their phones to check-in, connect and find others on the ground.

With mobile, less is more money
There are huge opportunities for events, venues and other vendors to integrate mobile payment solutions, ticketing services or other transaction-based or promotional solutions into the event.  By the way, 8 out of 10 mobile users at WMC own a smartphone.

From a marketing perspective, WMC 2010 was a fun experience with many continued lessons learned and unique opportunities available to brands.  As a sidebar to future attendees –please remember your sunscreen, drink lots of fluids (note: beer does not count) and enjoy the music safely with your earplugs.

H&M Kids Fashion Flash Mob

This weekend, Mr Youth had the pleasure of helping create a truly unforgettable flash mob for H&M Kids. 55 talented (and tireless!) hip hop dancing kids took over Union Square in San Francisco to show their moves and flash their fashion. Read a bit more about it here (and thanks for the love, AgencySpy).

We hope you love watching this as much as we loved making it! Watch it here.

In the fuzzy afterglow of the Chat Roulette frenzy of the past few weeks, I find myself thinking “what’s next”? Lucky for me, I don’t have to spin my wheels on that brain buster quite yet as two similar sites have already distracted me with their unique interpretations of the random chat craze:

RandomDorm connects college students on the prowl for some dorm-to-dorm interaction (only those with a .edu address need apply).
MyChanceRomance Billed as the “fun way to find love”, MyChanceRomance is a dating site with a Hot-Or-Not mentality that’s bound to give you an inferiority complex.

Not ready to move on from the original just yet? Don’t fret. It’s  still alive and well, even spawning it’s own Chat Roulette Missed Connections site (which I can assure you is comic genius in its own right).

I’m a gigantic geek for the Academy Awards every year. It’s like my Superbowl. I wonder if my parents got worried when I was throwing Oscar parties in my basement at age 5? Well, in all of my years as an avid enthusiast for all things film, I must admit that I never thought twice about the Best Animated Short Film category. Imagine my delight when I noticed 2009 winner Logorama, a short 16-minute feature consisting of a plot built with over 2,000 (!!!) different logos. They’re all there: Ronald McDonald, Mr. Pringle–even the MGM Lion in what is certainly a vivid, eye-popping display created by the French collective H5. I’m a true nerd enthusiast for the strategy, artwork and beauty of logos and branding, as are probably most of us creatives here at Mr Youth. This is like logo porn for a design dweeb rockstar like me. The plot is a bit all over the place; nearly every natural disaster occurs throughout its duration–including an Xbox earthquake! But I think it’s a fascinating look out into our branded world. Sure, we’re inundated with literally thousands of logos everyday. But I doubt most consciously think about the emotional connections (good or otherwise) that they have with these brands–or wildly imagine how the filmmakers anthropomorphize these iconic logos that literally weave in and out of every moment of our lives. You can catch a glimpse of the trailer below or shell out a mere $1.99 to purchase the film on iTunes. Kudos to these masterful directors on a well deserved win at the Oscars. And kudos to this year’s Oscars for validating my increasingly overwhelming geekdom.

Logorama by H5 from Grafik Magazine on Vimeo.

The arrival of March means many things. Winter coats are being tucked away into the backs of closets, flip flops are making their premature debut and the buzz of March Madness starts in offices, apartments and dorm rooms across the nation. This year, Hulu (the commercial-supported website that streams video of TV shows and movies) is partnering with Entertainment Weekly to put its own spin on the traditional basketball tournament by sponsoring a voting-based Best In Show Tournament.

Voting opened on March 1st and the ultimate champion will be crowned on April 5th with the prestigious title, Best in Show. While it’s still too early to predict the mass popularity of the competition, I think Hulu is doing a great job of providing unique interactive ways for its users to stay connected with the site beyond streaming video. One drawback: I do not see a sharing feature anywhere on the site to share the competition and my votes within my social networks.

And for now my predictions: I think Glee and Family Guy will showdown in the semi finals against Lost and 24. Ultimately, I think Lost will take it, appealing to a wider fan base than my beloved Glee.

Anyone care to make a wager?

By now everyone is aware of the sensation Doppleganger week generated on Facebook, and a smaller buzz was created when a movement challenged women to change their status to the color of your bra to raise awareness for Breast Cancer. Both appear to have started organically.

Two new groups are getting viral traction on Facebook. The first one:  I’m With Coco, a group started to show support for Conan through the NBC debacle. The group, started up by artist Mike Mitchell,  is closing in on 1 million fans and has inspired a merchandise line featuring  a Shepard Fairey-esque image of Conan that Mitchell created.

The second meme of the month is “Can this Pickle Get More Fans than Nickelback.” It was inspired by the “Can this onion get more fans than Justin Bieber”, which had over 2-million fans before it was pulled down by facebook. This week, the Nickelback hating page reached their goal by netting more than 1,420,000 fans compared to Nickelback’s 1,413,167. The page continues to grow with pure viral pickle power.

Both social media movements have started small, but have resulted in big pay offs. Facebook is a tricky space. Their policies are ever-changing and they reserve the right to pull down pages that violate their terms. YET, if a brand approached this correctly, it could be a huge win. Conan could have put out a rally cry on the network and driven people to join a Facebook fan group, but a consumer did it instead. Who knows if there is some magic pickle man behind this viral effort. I’d put money on it that there isn’t, but you never know these days.

Back in November, a clam chowder joint’s viral stunt reported their sales tripled from a hoax campaign that put their billboard in the depths of the ocean. Damn, I’m getting hungry… gotta change my FB status.

Print is not dead, but it’s certainly evolving. Perhaps offering a glimpse into the future of publishing, Wired Magazine’s latest offering is pretty impressive. Its ambitious iPad app (launching later this summer) wholeheartedly takes advantage of the yet-to-be released device’s multi-touch capabilities. Coming originally from a design background in print, I’ve long loathed the awful user experience of seeing magazines and newspapers being pulverized down to an eyesore browser smoothie. (I’m a proud card-carrying member of the ‘I Hate Arial’ club, by the way.) This new app is not only cool in that users will get to visually experience a publication the way it was meant to be seen, but it’s revolutionary in that you actually get to interact with it. Interactive print. Hmm…no longer an oxymoron? I was most impressed with the 360º rotation options for imagery and the oh-so naturally intuitive hand navigation.

Also of note: Unlike a traditional web browsing experience where ads are an evil burden, I would argue that print ads are integral to a magazine browsing experience. The placement of products in glossy publications are intricately woven into the entire experience in a very thoughtful and eye-catching way. Wired again steps up their awesomeness by illustrating how those very same print ads can truly come to life on the iPad in visually stunning and useful ways. It’s like the magic and wonder of a children’s popup book. On steroids.

So ‘cheers’ to the next incarnation of the publishing world. This splashy app is only the beginning of many exciting developments (hello, Augmented Reality!) surely to come.