Ready for Generation Z?

Today’s MediaPost features an article in their Engage: Teens column that admittedly I found a little disturbing. Three Predictions about Generation Z purports that this up-and-coming group of teens are like a super-powered version of their Generation Y predecessors (I can’t help think of the scene in Eclipse with the “newborn” vampires are coming out of the water, stronger and feistier than their elder vampire counterparts).

Anyway. These forthcoming uber teens (who are younger than preteens, the offspring of the X Generation, ages 5 and under) are apparently 1. More technologically savvy than any other generation, 2. Adverse to criticism, and therefore likely to sabotage a brand or a marketing campaign and 3. Will continue to find loopholes so that they can access information more quickly. Numbers one and three I’m totally fine with; it’s just number 2 (excuse the pun) that stopped me in my tracks. These kids are barely potty trained! It's quite the stretch to predict that with "one slip of the tongue, they're likely to stomp on your foot, leave the room, and start an empire quicker than you can say Facebook." Yeah, maybe that's because most of these Generation Zers are still in preschool and therefore tantrums are not uncommon.

When it comes to generational trends, I prefer Penelope Trunk's Generation Z summary of predictions. She gives us some historical perspective but doesn't make any big claims. And really, as youth marketers, do we really need to start focusing on Generation Z now? Unless you've got an early learning program, children's book series or family-friendly movie coming out soon, I think not.

For YA novelist, plagiarism is the new promotion

Today’s New York Times article “Author, 17, Says It’s ‘Mixing,’ Not Plagiarism,” tells the perhaps not-so-surprising story of Helene Hegemann a 17 year-old German author who’s debut novel “Axolotl Roadkill,” shot to bestseller status in the span of just a few weeks. The Times states that German newspapers and magazines “heralded the novel far and wide as a tremendous debut, particularly for such a young author.” So hey, it must be a good read.

The interesting thing about it is that Hegemann admits to lifting material from a lesser-known novel, “Strobo,” by an author writing under the nom de plume Arien.

Ah, the plot thickens. Says the Times:

Ms. Hegemann finds herself in the middle of a collision — if not road kill exactly — between the staid, literary establishment in a country that venerates writers from Goethe to Mann to Grass, and the Berlin youth culture of D.J.’s and artists that sample freely and thereby breathe creativity into old forms. Or as one character, Edmond, puts it in the book, “Berlin is here to mix everything with everything.”
A powerful statement, but the line originally was written by Airen, on his blog. The plot thickens, however, and shows that perhaps more than simple cribbing is at work. When another character asks Edmond if he came up with that line himself, he replies, “I help myself everywhere I find inspiration.”

In a final “gotcha,” the controversy does not at all seem to be hurting book sales – for either Hegemann’s “Axolotl Roadkill,” or Arien’s “Strobo.”

So here’s my question. In the era of “mixing everything,” of re-tweets and re-purposing content and blogging about bloggers and multichannel marketing and content aggregate sites and yours truly lifting a paragraph from the New York Times about plagiarism in order to make a point about plagiarism… is there any originality anymore? Perhaps not. A trendsetter for sure and perhaps wise beyond her years, Hegemann says “There’s no such thing as originality anyway, just authenticity,” in a statement released by her publisher after the scandal broke.

Not so fast: new teen research indicates well, more of the same

Today, MarketingVOX summarized the recently released Simmons Teen Study and found that teens are spending money on the same type of products that they did in the 1990s: music, clothes, video games and electronics. Couldn't this also ring true for say, the 1980s and 1970s as well? (okay, maybe not the video game part and certainly not mobile or online communications) but my point is this: for all of the talk about how kids and teens are "growing up faster than ever before" and the "world is such a different place"-- when you look at the research, their lives aren't all that different. Music. Clothes. Games. Communication. Pretty simple, really.

Marketers trying to reach kids and teens should most certainly stay relevant, get up to speed on the latest technologies and understand how trends in consumer behavior will impact their brands. Just don't go reinventing the wheel.

Teens and mobile advertising: bad news/good news- or is it all just bad news?

eMarketer reported last week that More than one-half of teens do not want mobile ads according to a Direct Marketing Association 2008 survey. Compared to adults (64% of adults said they weren't at all interested), this is the good news.  The bad news? Harris Interactive and CTIA found that more than one-half of their teen respondents were not interested in mobile ads, even if there was some sort of incentive. Not all that promising given that teens are using mobile technology constantly and you'd think that they would be more open to paving the way. Which, of course, would only make sense if current mobile advertising and promotions were actually paving the way. Polls? Been there, done that. Contests? Ditto. Coupons? Snore. Music downloads? Better, but not quite good enough. C'mon, mobile marketers, you can do better. How about a game? A social networking component? A really cool app? Teens are perhaps the most technologically savvy and sophisticated audience you've got. They would appreciate it if you didn't dumb it down for them. 

Retailers txt teens

When I received my Ypulse post alerting me to yesterday's Tampa Bay article Retailers know texting is the totally best way to reach teens, I saw that Anastasia had commented "this seems like a no duh one to me...as long as it's opt in and not sneaky at all." Ah, but I disagree. You'd think that major retailers and other large companies who have some sort of teen initiative would rally behind mobile marketing efforts. Because, of course, that's where the teens are, right? If only it were that simple. Yes, teens are glued to their phones. Yes, they text incessently. But does this mean that they want to receive mobile marketing messages from their favorite retailers? The article reports that Beall's department stores gained 5,000 opt-in subscribers since March. Let me repeat that. 5,000 subscribers. Since March. Just about any print, e-mail or online advertising campaign would far exceed those results. Couldn't those marketing dollars be put to better use?

The article does point out that while text messaging is not a great way to attract new customers, it can serve as a new channel to communicate to existing shoppers. Still, though: "Stores walk a fine line between relevant content and being labeled lame by picky teens." Isn't that the truth.

My advice to retailers or anyone else jumping on the mobile marketing bandwagon: Outline your goals and intiatives. What do you hope to gain from your mobile marketing efforts? Craft your messages around some sort of campaign that's relevant to teens. Know your audience. Or hire someone who does.

Getting started

It's taken awhile, but I've finally decided to start a blogging. My hesitancy hasn't been so much about what to say, but how to focus. I'm not interested in blogging about my kids, although they do fuel my business on many levels and are a constant source of entertainment. I'm not going to be a news service on what's going on in the kids industry at any given second; I have better things to do with my time. I won't write product reviews or book reviews although I may mention them as part of a larger trend I see in the industry. I'll blast the companies and ad agencies that are harming kids with obnoxious campaigns and inappropriate messages but I'll be kinder to those who miss the mark in targeting kids but whose underlying mission is well-intentioned. So here's what I will do: I'll compile, I'll focus on what's creative and cool, and I'll be critical every step of the way.