My top 10 posts of ‘09

As 2009 draws to a close I thought I’d recap with a list of  the top 10 posts (according to you guys) that gained the most traffic on my blog. It seems the posts you guys tended to navigate towards were those that were about how brands should behave in the new media environment when trying to engage youth in conversationas well as learnings from the world’s best youth brands.

Here are the 10 posts (in terms of site traffic) in  2009 for those that haven’t read them.

1. Nike: We don’t do advertising , we do cool stuff (by far and away the most popular post of the year)

2. Levi’s ‘Go Forth’ – Inspiring Generation Optimism

3. Youth want TRIBAL IDEAS – tips on creating a movement

4. Youth are Cyborgs

5. 10 Principles for engaging Teens

6. 10 Observations on how the best youth brands behave

7. Why Red Bull is the world’s best youth brand

8. Youth marketing is about Culture Creation

9. Experimentation is the new Engagement

10. Brand Ecosystems and Participative Branding Comms Model

Sprite’s ‘Green Eyed World- reality remixed by Facebook community

I’m really liking this idea by Sprite called ‘Green Eyed World’.  It’s obvious part of this brief was to create an authentic role in grassroots music for youth. Instead of making a TVC, they created a social music series built in real time, following an emerging artist, Katie Vogel for a year on youtube, with her fans being able to interact with her via Facebook connect. The idea was called ‘reality remixed’ and it’s got loads of follow factor. It has produced 4 seasons with 13 episodes, I’ve watched 3 of them and they’re not too bad.

The content itself isn’t that amazing, but what’s really interesting about this idea is how they cleverly linked in all the social media platforms and created a REAL TIME interaction method for the community to really get up close and personal with Katie V and her journey. The integration of Facebook connect along the journey has been brilliant and you can help her decide what to do, the whole way. The community helps create the outcome of the story, it’s truly an interactive brand narrative.  This is what creates the ‘follow factor’. It’s done very well, with 2.5m views on youtube.  My only criticism is that Sprite as a brand doesn’t really add that much value to the user experience, it’s in the background, which is maybe enough, but I would have pushed for more integration into the brand narrative.

‘WannaMe’ – the better digital version of my real self.

WannaME culture/Facebragging- uploading the best version of yourself to Facebook

We all know that social media has turbo charged our connections to each other and the conversations we have, this is particularly prevalent when you think of Gen C. The last few weeks I’ve been talking to quite a few 16-21yr olds here in Sydney about their ‘digital life’ and what’s become more and more obvious, is this concept of ‘WannaME’.

WannaMe (a rip off of an Aussie slang word, Wannabe), is when young people build digital personas on Facebook and other social networking sites which show the absolute best parts of their lives. Call it Facebragging, showing off, call it what you will. It’s all about how they meticulously craft their online personas to share with the world, i order to ensure they pass judgement from other members of their tribe.It’s about creating the best version of yourself – as we all know perception equals reality.

Belonging to a tribe is and always will be a primal need for youth, but now we’re seeing youth needing to constantly upload pics, show that they’ve been invited to the right parties/concerts, be seen wearing the right clothes, hanging with the right crowd. It’s all a part of their desperate need to fit in and this competitive pressure to be in the know is overwhelming alot of young people I spoke to. It’s like the 1980’s ‘cool kids’ phenomena all over again, where you were either in or out based on how you dressed. Now it’s just dimensionalised in real time.

When you talk to these teens, you realise that the pics they’re uploading from music festivals, parties, make up about 10% of their life, but on facebook, it looks like they are uber social, connected and little party animals. One guy I spoke to even said he pulls out old pics from last summer and posts them if he doesnt have anything good to contribute to the conversations happening. So they are re-using old versions of their social life to ‘keep up with the Jones’ if you will.

The WannaME culture that has been charged by social technology has definitely also made youth more extroverted. What was unacceptable to share with friends is now completely acceptable, and Aussie kids are trying to one up each other on facebook. Boys are uploading pics of them doing risque sporting tricks eg: jumping off a bridge illegally, whereas girls are being more and more provocative with how much flesh they show. Psychologists talk about the need to highlight the  ’social risk’ in communications when you’re trying to change a certain ingrained behaviour eg: drinking driving, smoking, drug taking etc. Now it seems that this social risk is being celebrated online.

WannaME culture is permeating through pretty much all youth subcultures, it’s not just the rich urban indie kids, it’s across the board. More than ever young people are carefully crafting their digital personas and brands need to understand this mindset in order to engage with them. Thoughts?

Mini WASH ME – An art project

 

Mini Switzerland are creating culture in a cool way. Mini has always been a bit of an object of art, so they’ve taken that concept to a literal level. They’ve commissioned 10 artists to deface (design) a Mini each. It’s called Mini WASH ME and has culminated in a book, bearing the same name. Artist like Seak, Dieter Meier, Euro and Smash137 were given free reign to create.  Mini has always been about customisation and urban cred, so this idea is a nice way to give Mini even more cred in the market as the car you can personalise and put your own personality on, literally.

"Muscle Car" by Marisa Pichler & Gigi Burn

First look at Project X – Shaun White’s secret halfpipe

 

Hot off the press, here’s the second video released by Red Bull showing Shaun White’s private halfpipe – part of Project X.  Don’t need to say much about it, apart from the fact that it’s such a killer idea and everyone I know who’s heard about it is WOW’ed by it. Red Bull are drip feeding the content over the coming months in the lead up to the Winter Olympics, keeping his competitors and fans salivating for what new tricks he will release onto the world.

Youth Interview with Greer- team WOW finalist for Coke Expedition 206

I wrote a post a few days back on Coke Expedition 206. They’ve got 3 teams of 3 people, one team will be chosen as Happiness Ambassadors to travel around the world for a year in 2010 spreading happiness in every country Coke is sold in. It’s a global expedition on Coke (excuse the bad pun).  It’s a cool idea that really only a brand like Coke could pull off. I was lucky enough to get in touch with a fellow Sydney-sider Greer, who is one of the finalists in  team WOW who are currently in second place with 38% of votes.  She’s got some interesting perspectives on Happiness and why the expedition will be valuable to her (if her team wins). So vote for Greer in Team WOW. Here’s some thoughts from Greer on the Expedition, Happiness, youth culture and what she stands for.

Tell me how you got involved in Expedition 206?

I was lucky enough to be on the mailing list for Lonely Planet suppliers as I had sold them a travel video about Italy. When Coke put out the call for applicants they did it through companies/agencies who would be able to find people with relevant experience for the project; it was not private just targeted. The initial job application did not state the company that you would represent, it was very secretive. It was not until the final 18 were invited to go to Atlanta for a week long selection process did we find out that is was Coca-cola. I, along with 17 others spent a busy week in Atlanta. We did team building exercises, filming expeditions, under pressure video editing as well as psychological testing. On the second last day, we found which which 9 had been selected as finalists and who was in which team. We then had approximately 24 hours to film and put together our promotional videos, when I finally got on the plane home you can imagine how exhausted I was! It was a roller coaster experience. we got to know that other 17 people very well and formed some great friendships. When we found out who was in the final 9 and who had not made it, it was bitter sweet. Happy to be included but also thinking of your new friends who had not been selected. Having 18 talented people to choose from I am sure the decision about the teams would have been very tough to make.

Team WOW from Coke Expedition 206

What does ‘happiness’ mean to you and why do you believe it’s important for global youth?

I am happy when I am content with the things I have happening in my life and I am able to just relax & enjoy them. Everyone suffers pressures whether it be from work, family, peers or themselves and I think happy people are the people who can accept or ignore those pressures and just be content with who they are. This is a tough concept for youth as I know when I was a little younger I was constantly aspiring to be, have or do something other than what I was, and that can make it harder to enjoy the ‘here & now’. Of course it is still important to have goals and work towards them but smell the roses along the way and live in the moment not in the future.

 Is there a ‘happiness’ issue/crisis?

I believe happiness has always been and will always be an important issue. It seems to be a simple concept but in fact it is very complex. It is not just about enjoying happy moments but also about living in a happy/positive state of mind. Being happy does not need to depend on your economic situation, and I think by being able to ask people in so many countries from so many walks of life; will give us a great understanding about what truly makes people happy.

Why do you think ‘happiness’ is so important for global youth culture?

I am not an expert, but when you hear stories about youth suicide and depression; it does make me very concerned. As youths our lives should, in theory, be less complicated and more carefree than adult life, but so many youths to not have a healthy state of mind and do not enjoy their younger years. In privileged societies such as our own it would appear that we are less content with all we have than those in poorer countries who are content with far less. I think it is very important to address this and help show youths how to be happy with less and how to be content with themselves.

 

Team WOW trying to become Happiness Ambassadors

How is it that two Aussies made the final 9? What do you think it is about Aussie youth that make us ‘happy’?

I can’t be sure how they picked us, though I think what appealed was our sense of humour and easy going nature.  Australians, generally speaking are a culture of people who are always ready to have a good time but we are also hard working. Internationally I think we are well liked by most other cultures; travelling, I never had a negative response towards Australia.

What’s your life mantra?

 My mantra is not very fancy, its very simple. It will all work out, one way or another. When ever things don’t seem to be going to plan, I just think ” Ah well, its going to work out somehow.”

Why do you think your team deserves to win over the other two teams?

 I’m not sure if its a matter of deserving it more, but I think our team is best suited for the trip. We will live in each others back pockets for 365 day to survive that you need to have the right personalities. I am very driven and love to be busy so I will adapt well to the hectic schedule of the trip. All three of us have high energy but also know when to buckle down and focus. We also have the perfect skill set between us; EZ (Erin) is the writer of the trio, Brendan and I both of plenty of video experience and we are all experienced using online technologies and blogging. I studied digital media at COFA and have technical knowledge as well as a creative eye. Aside from our skills we are all genuinely nice people. Working together so far we have all been under a lot of pressure and we have proven we can make quick and sensible decisions together. We all contribute and compromise to work together as a team. Being a prima dona on this expedition will just not work.

Complete these sentences…

I believe in…what goes around comes around

I am inspired by…people who rise above their circumstances.

I hope..to always be happy and enjoy my life.

I hate..feeling like I am wasting time.

I care….about other peoples feelings.

I wish….that’s a tough one because I wish can be something almost unattainable… I wish there was no war

My friends…are all important to me.

My dream….is to be able to live my life creatively, without feeling trapped by circumstance or finance.

The link to vote for our team is :  http://www.expedition206.com/TeamWow.aspx

And our facebook page is:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Team-WOW/169501557448

Experimentation is the new Engagement

This is the short presentation I gave at AIMIA (Australian Interactive Media Industry Association) ‘Getting Inside Gen Y’ conference last week. My presentation was titled ‘Experimentation is the new Engagement’ and it was all about how brands today need to continually experiment, play with youth if you will. It’s about creating an interesting brand game, far less about your brands story. It’s about social ideas which spark a rapid mobilisation of youth, and some recent examples of brands that are experimenting with culture – from Red Bull’s Project X (Shaun White secret halfpipe) to Coke’s Expedition 206 to VW Swedens ‘Fun Theory’ social experiments. Enjoy.

Influencer Interview #7: The world of brands and music according to Emily

Got a chance to interview a real music expert and pop culture maven in Emily Copeland – we met the other week and she gave me some great insight into the world of music and some great examples of what brands are doing right to connect with young people (and how they’re fucking up too) in the brand saturated space that is music.  Em  works at MCN and also hosts a music program on FBI radio. Check out her blog here.  She’s got amazingly deep insight into youth culture and how brands and ‘playing’ in the music space.

Em Copeland from OMGwithemily.com youth music guru

Here’s here perspective on brands and music, music tribes and what’s coming up this Summer.

Which brands are doing well to leverage music? Maybe a few different examples

I love seeing brands do something a bit different in music. The ideas of giving away tickets to have an ‘ultimate festival experience’, running an unsigned band competition, and setting up your own branded music event have been done to death. More importantly, there are brands that now ‘own’ these spaces (Festivals – Smirnoff; Unsigned Bands – Tooheys Extra Dry; Branded Music Events – Bacardi) , so it is incredibly difficult for anyone new to try to play in these areas, or to do it better than those existing brands.

 Ted Baker leveraged music well this year, with the creation of the ‘Gig Race’ to promote a new clothing range. Entrants had two weeks to attend as many gigs as humanly possible, whilst blogging and twittering about their experience as they went. Ted Baker used something their consumers were already doing (going to gigs, blogging and twittering) to promote their brand. And more importantly, they found a way to credibly link their brand with music – by having consumers do it for them! Every tweet and blog post that went out in relation to the competition mentioned music and Ted Baker – and came direct from the target demographic. (FYI – the winner was a 29 year old guy from Kent, who went to 27 gigs in 14 days. He now holds the Guinness World Record for most concerts attended!)

 Are there any ‘must do’s’ when considering using a music marketing strategy to engage youth?

There are two major ‘must do’s’ that I would recommend every brand look at before trying to engage youth through music:

MAKE SENSE

You need to do something that makes sense to your audience, in relation to your brand. Just simply deciding that you want to be ‘aligned with music’ isn’t enough. Nike are a great example of a brand that does this well. Nike are all about sport – so rather than trying to put on a gig, or use a band in their advertising, in mid-2008 they teamed up with A-Trak to create a mix to help people “Keep on Running’ – which adds a music element to their sporting brand. A few months back they also helped De La Soul to release their first new album in five years – which was designed to play as a workout soundtrack, and was produced by Flosstradamus. Nike found sneaker wearing musicians, who had massive credibility, and helped them to do their thing (release music), while still retaining their core brand focus (helping people to exercise).

BE DIFFERENT

Don’t just look for trends within your target demographic and try to copy them (like Taco Bell did in the US, when they tried to take an ironic look at white boy hip hop with their ‘Roosevelts’ campaign .  Look to do something unique, or look to support an artist or sound that is emerging (like BMW have done with The Presets and Empire of the Sun http://www.omgwithemily.com/2009/05/bmw-parters-with-empire-of-sun.html). The support of an emerging artist will almost always be looked upon favourably, as everyone knows that these independent artists can’t pay the rent with just hipster cred!

 Youth music tribes.. what tribes are popular at the moment?

Back in 2004, the British Council compiled a document that identified 9 youth ‘tribes’ – Townies, Goths, Nu-metallers, Soulstrels, Indie Kids, Pop Princesses, Clubbers, Grungers and Skaters. The interesting thing about this study was that every tribe was partly identified by a particular musical artist, or a genre of music they were all into.

Music is incredibly important to young people, primarily because it is something they all use to create their own identity. Music also helps define their other choices in life – from who they hang out with, to the clothing they wear, the bars they go to, the media they consume, and even the alcohol they drink.

In Australia, we have seen a rise in the popularity of Indie Kids over the past few years – and the music at festivals has reflected this. There has been a move away from techno and hard house, toward more indie electro sounds at major festivals. Even more traditional ‘rock’ festivals have seen an increased number of indie bands and indie electro acts in the lineup.

You will also find multiple sub-tribes within each tribe. The 9 youth tribes defined in the UK are massive generalisations. If you are looking at identifying youth by the music they listen to, then everyone who listens to electronic music would be a ‘Clubber’. However, when you drill down into the electronic music genres, you get everything from Disco, to House, Jungle, Trance, Nu Rave, and Garage. Then, if you look into sub-genres, you find styles such as Baltimore Club, Industrial Rock, Fidget House, Glitch and 8 bit. It will probably be hard for you to find huge similarities in lifestyle, fashion and speech between someone who passionate about Juke (similar to Booty House – think Kid Sister), compared to someone who is crazy about Psytrance (think something from Infected Mushroom) – even though both styles are in essence ‘electronic’.

 What do you feel will be the bands/artists which will gain traction with Aussie youth this summer?

There is a huge amount of female electro-pop currently hitting the mainstream. From the horrible (Lady Gaga) to the more interesting acts including La Roux, Little Boots, (both of whom we just saw performing around the country as part of Parklife) Ladyhawke and Bat for Lashes. I’m sure these sounds will continue across summer, particularly with Ladyhawke having just received five nominations in the 2009 ARIAs.

There are a few tools that I use to look at current trends in sounds and artists. One is Shazam (see Shazam’s picks for 2009 here: http://www.omgwithemily.com/2009/01/whats-that-remix.html), another is Hype Machine’s ‘popular’ feed. I also RSS feeds from around 150 different music blogs, of all different genres, and from right around the world – and keep an eye on these for hot tracks, and musical trends. Young Aussies are also getting better at supporting local talent, and we are seeing huge support for local artists in both the commercial and indie scenes.

MTV hunts for their next VJ

MTV VJ Casting Call Live today

Ca nyou make me famous?

Today Friday 9th October @ MTV HQ in East Sydney, MTV is giving anyone the opportunity to audition to become their next MTV VJ…to hit the big stage and become famous, like Ruby Rose or Lyndsey Rodrigues and spend your life rolling with cool muso’s and pop culture mavens.  You just have to fill in an application form and rock up! The process will be live on air for everyone to watch, providing live interactive entertainment. I like this cos it really puts the power to the people, and given it’s school and uni holidays in NSW they should get a good turnout and discover the next hot VJ.

Influencer Interview with an arbiter of cool: Meet Erica

Erica partying at Playground Weekender

I’m lucky enough to work with a super cool chick called Erica who totally has her finger on the pulse when it comes to youth culture, especially in the music space. We’re collaborating on some cool projects and I wanted to get her viewpoint on one part of youth culture I’m weak on, the world of music. Love your work E.

What do you think are the most popular/interesting youth ‘tribes’ at the moment? What’s emerging?

The ENTREPRENEURS – I’m amazed at how many 20 something’s and younger are starting their own businesses and non for profit projects in really niche areas. They have the eye for the angle and the drive to make it happen. They’re leaders in their peer group and it’s not uncool to be successful

The ALTERNATIVES – tattoos are back and have been in for a while. Think full sleeved tattoos and facial piercings. Interestingly they are actually very ‘normal’ and mainstream. Even the beautiful glam girls are getting in on this scene, thanks to Kat Von D and celebs like Megan Fox.

 The DRESS UP- friends that fancy dress at any given opportunity. The spontaneous fancy dress trend has been emerging for the last few years and continues to grow. You’ve seen them at festivals, at the beach, at mates parties. It’s all about having a laugh and becoming someone else for the night. (i’ll admit my group falls into this category)

What’s the most important thing for a brand to think about/understand when looking to engage with youth?

You need to have a reason to belong and a right to be talking with them.  You need to understand exactly what tribe you’re talking to and the language they speak. If you get it wrong you’re immediately on the outer. It’s all about gaining credibility over time and once you’ve got it to keep following through

Ask yourself what you offer them, what’s your awesome brand experience that they can take away with them and preferably share with their mates….. Some things haven’t changed over the years – now more than ever kids love free shit.

What’s the key formula for putting on an amazing youth event/experience in the music space?

Younger consumers actually embrace brands presence at music festivals and other events, they’re savvy enough to know that hosting big events costs money. What upsets them is when a brand either (a) doesn’t try to engage specific to their environment at all (eg just sticking up  a tent with some promo staff in it) or (b) tries to be too ‘down with the kids’ and ends up getting cast as a try hard.

 There are lots of genres of music popular with youth: 80’s, hip hop, indie, folksy, electro, reggae….what’s going to be big this upcoming summer do you think?

80’s is going to be huge, huger than it already has been with the electro phase that’s been around for a few years . We’re already seeing it with  the success of La Roux – who’ve been upgraded from the Gaelic to the Enmore with fairly limited push from their record company. It’s permeated into fashion, i noticed that at the start of this year the chambray shirt and Degrassi Junior High wardrobe was back….

Aussie Hip Hop continues to go from strength to strength. I was at Splendour this year and the Hill Top Hoods drew the biggest crowds of the festival.

 Do teens/20 somethings belong to many different music tribes at once, or are they fixated on one genre typically?

You’re still definitely more ‘something’ than ‘something else’. Like an indie with an emo slant. Or a Rock chick who likes a side of hip hop and a dash of pop.

It’s all about being a chameleon with musical taste.

With the ipod playlist came the freedom to have all sorts of music genres at your fingers tips- and to proudly share them with the world