A mishmash of thoughts from the Ypulse Youth Marketing Mashup

I just returned from a whirlwind trip to San Francisco where I attended the Ypulse Youth Marketing Mashup. Overall I thought the conference was superb. I give a huge amount of credit to Anastasia Goodstein and everyone at Ypulse who helped "shape the discussion about how marketers, media and non-profit organizations connect with youth" (this is their boilerplate mission statement and I love it.)

Rather than get into any detail on specific panels and presentations, I'm just going to give you the quick and dirty sound bytes, buzzwords and quotes that made it into my conference notes:

Anastasia Goodstein, YPulse: "Trends may change but the core needs of teens and youth don't change. All teens want to connect with friends, spend time hanging out, figure out who they are and seek validation/fame."

Josh Shipp, HeyJosh.com: "Teens don't give a crap about your brand. If you are authentic, and figure out a way to make your self distinguishable, then you have the right to communicate. If you don't add value to your target audience, then you should not exist."

Doug Sweeney, Levi's: "Authentically insert your brand into culture and utilize multi-faceted ideas. Content is king."

Bill Carter, Fuse: "Stop wasting your marketing budget. Listen to teens."

Jacqueline Lane, SurveyU: "Awareness + useage + loyalty does not necessarily equal brand advocacy and success. You need to now consider corporate responsibility and ethics as well."

Don Tapscott, author: "If you understand youth, you understand the future."

Kate Connally, AddictingGames.com/ Nickelodeon: "Put your audience first. Build multitasking into game play. Add categories that build into their daily lives."

Lauren Puglia, Undercurrent: "Be experimental. If you screw up, fess up and then move on. Not everything has to be about ROI."

Rebecca McQuigg, The Intelligence Group: "Know your audience. Know where they are. Teens are not twittering. Make sure your marketing strategy is in line with who you’re trying to target."

Paul Yanover, Disney Online: "Create tons of engagement."

Jon Gaskell, Smarty Pig: "This generation doesn't think about money the way we do. They're not depressed about it. Money is purely a means to an end."

Matthew Palmer, Stardoll: "Tween girls don't carry credit cards. Pure ROI can't always be measurable."

Donna Fenn, author: "Teen entrepreneurship is the new lemonade stand."

And then Guy Kawasaki walked in the room and began moderating the final panel of the day. But it was time for me head to the airport...

Scholastic's Book Fair Flak

Has Scholastic gone too far? Or are parents and teachers naive to think that kids will actually purchase what is good for them (i.e. 'real' books)? Or, perhaps, is this part of a much larger and sinister plot on behalf of all kids marketers to get kids to buy more and more and more licensed crap-- oops I mean creative merchandise?

Check out this week's press release from the CCFC:

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - May 19 - “Stop enlisting teachers to sell toys, make-up, and brands to students through book clubs.” That’s what more than 1,200 teachers said in a letter the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood sent to Scholastic, Inc., the world’s largest educational publishing company. CCFC sent the letter, signed exclusively by teachers, after a review of Scholastic’s 2008 elementary and middle school Book Club flyers found that one-third of the items for sale were either not books, like the M&M Kart Racing Wii videogame, or were books packaged with other products, such as lip gloss and jewelry.

I attended my first Scholastic Book Fair this fall and I have to agree... it did feel like the licensed merchandise was taking center stage, and as a parent I was completely put off. Then again, if you give a kid $5, what are they going to choose? This year's Caldecot winner, or something they already recognize and like?

Let me know what you think.

Butting in on the Burger King-SpongeBob ad campaign debate

In case you missed it, Burger King and SpongeBob have stirred up a little controversy over their latest co-branded TV commercial promoting the 99-cent Kids Meals (and square butts, apparently.) Before I tell you what I think, I'll get you up to speed on what everyone else thinks:

The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood is issuing a "Spongebob and Sexualization Don't Mix" campaign to remove the ads. "It’s bad enough when companies use a beloved media character like SpongeBob to promote junk food to children, but it’s utterly reprehensible when that character simultaneously promotes objectified, sexualized images of women,” said CCFC director Dr. Susan Linn, a psychologist at the Judge Baker Children's Center.

According to the Washington Post, Burger King and Nickelodeon have issued the following statements:

"The 99-cent BK Kids Meal is a value-based offer aimed at adults and requires an adult BK Value Meal purchase. This value offering enables the entire family to enjoy an affordable quality meal. As with all Burger King adult advertising campaigns, the SpongeBob commercial
featuring Sir Mix-A-Lot's famous song airs only during shows targeting adult audiences, and with the King and a popular '90s rapper as the headliners, is meant to appeal to the adults who take their families to Burger King restaurants for good food and entertainment. This commercial is intended to show that even adults can have fun, laugh and be silly with entertainment genres -- such as rap and pop culture icons -- that have become part of everyday life. We also developed a second, completely different SpongeBob advertising campaign for kids, which is currently airing on kid-targeted programming."

Nickelodeon issued a similar statement:

"The Burger King ad is intended to be an adult-targeted and humorous take on the SpongeBob character's iconic "square" pants set to a famous pop song from the '90s. It is running on adult-targeted networks. This year marks SpongeBob SquarePants' landmark 10th anniversary, and with a monthly adult viewership of 45 million people above the age of 18, the intention was to offer a funny and playful take on the character for that audience."

Okay... so what do we have here? An adult targeted ad that is promoting what, exactly-- kids meals? Square butts? A really old (albeit catchy) Sir Mix A Lot song? As a feminist I kind of get the CCFC's point about the "objectified, sexualized" images of women, but fail to see how the butt shaking damages kids in any way, at least no more than say, Madagascar's "I like to Move it Move It." And then we have the canned BK/Nickelodeon response about the adult targeting. Which would make sense if... they weren't using the kid-targeted Kids Meal and the popular kids brand SpongeBob as the major themes of the ad. Never mind that the ad ran on "adult air time." It's all over YouTube now. And then there's the question of the big/square butts... which is supposed to make us want to... eat burgers? Or watch more SpongeBob?

Even if you can for a minute, set aside all of the ifs, ands and/or but(t)s --I still fail to see how this campaign promotes either brand.

The Best of Both Worlds: Predicting yet another Hannah Montana success story

With the Hannah Montana movie opening tomorrow, I'm going to go out on a limb here and make a prediction: it's going to be a huge box office success. How do I know this? Everything about the marketing and branding machine behind all things Hannah and Miley have been carefully orchestrated to optimal effect. Cute, wholesome teenage girl that doesn't remotely remind us of Britney, Paris or Lindsay? Check. Story line with a moderately appealing plot? Check. Perfectly timed movie release around Easter and spring break? Check.

This week's LA Times article, "Miley Cyrus Blaze of Modesty" further points out that the "ultra Disneyfied" fashions reflect the shift toward more parent-friendly tween fashions. And according to Common Sense Media, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping families manage kids media, the movie "is upbeat and perfectly G rated ... yet another marketing tool in Hannah's merchandise-rich world. The sexuality is completely innocent -- flirting, slow dancing, conversations about relationships, and three really short kisses -- and there's no language, drinking, or smoking. Expect frequent physical comedy (pratfalls, getting hit with a ball, bitten by an animal, etc.) and one scene in which Hannah and Tyra Banks fight over a pair of shoes."

So there you have it. What's not to love? Disney figured out a long time ago that the success of their brands depends not only on the popularity with kids but just as importantly with their parents. It's a winning combination. And that, I must say, is the best of both worlds.

Exploring Dora the uproar

What's the big deal about Dora growing up? She's still "sweet, wholesome and adventurous, a perfect role model..." according to Mattel and Nickelodeon execs. She's just now, well, older. And therein lies the problem.

This new "tween" Dora, which is really just an interactive doll with a USB port and some new online adventures, has really hit a negative nerve among its core target audience, according to a recent AP article. And in my opinion, justifiably so. Remember "new" Coke? Tropicana? Allowing Dora to grow up is not just a brand extension, it's a major change in brand strategy.

I'm amazed that with all of the marketing and strategy muscle behind Mattel and Nickelodeon, they failed to recognize this basic premise.

Just because parents indicated that they wanted "a way to keep Dora in their children's lives and have their daughters move on to a toy that was age appropriate" does not mean that the core property (especially one that has been so successful to date) needs a makeover. It just signals an opportunity for a brand extension. Why couldn't they just create a new character, say, with a similar strategy as Diego? Hey, now there's a novel idea.

The older Dora doesn't even look like the Dora we know and love... and that's probably the saddest part. Once they launch this toy in the fall, there's no going back. I wish they'd just give her a new name. She could be a long-lost cousin, older friend, new stepsister. Anything.

Jean-Pierre Dube, professor of marketing at the University of Chicago's graduate school of business nails it on the head: "A lot of people think of Dora as something for their small kids. And part of the reason people like Dora is because it teaches their kids to be inquisitive and curious in an educational way, because no one wants their kids to grow up fast...people really cherish and value what Dora represents, and if you start trying to license that out or extend that brand, this is a really risky thing to do," he says.