(Graham Brown mobileYouth) Youth Marketing Dec 2009
1. twitter: @grahamdbrown www.mobileYouth.org GRAHAM BROWN RUN WITH THE LITTLE GUY CREATE SOME CHANGE
2. twitter: @grahamdbrown www.mobileYouth.org ASHTON POPE 18F USA “ I Live in a small town in the middle of Texas where there’s like 800 people. It’s kinda boring… ” __________
3. Miles twitter: @grahamdbrown www.mobileYouth.org Popn: 800 X 786 Miles Texas 1 2 3 4
7. twitter: @grahamdbrown [email_address] Telling them you’re cool Telling them in a BIG way Keep telling them... $32m
8. twitter: @grahamdbrown www.CustomersAreTheBrand.com Q: BIGGEST INFLUENCE ON BRAND, TECHNOLOGY AND PURCHASING DECISIONS FOR 16-24 YR OLDS? A: 16-24 YR OLDS SOURCE MOBILEYOUTH REPORT 2009
13. twitter: @grahamdbrown www.mobileYouth.org “ Rodeo is real popular here so people think riding dirt bikes is dumb and easy…”
14. twitter: @grahamdbrown www.mobileYouth.org “ Regular Man, None Of This Goofy Shit! “ “ As Long As It Makes The Boys Jaws Drop And The Girls Skirts Drop, Im Styling It!”
34. twitter: @grahamdbrown www.CustomersAreTheBrand.com 4 KEY QUESTIONS 1. IS THE NARRATIVE ABOUT OUR COMPANY OR THEM? 2. ARE WE SELLING STUFF OR WHAT THE STUFF DOES FOR THEM? 3. ARE YOU FOCUSING 100% OF YOUR ENERGIES ON 100% OF THE MARKET? 4. ARE YOU MARKETING TO OR ARE YOU MARKETING WITH?
35. twitter: @grahamdbrown www.CustomersAreTheBrand.com 3 QUICK WINS 1. DOWNLOAD PRESENTATIONS WWW.MOBILEYOUTHNET.COM 3. MOBILEYOUTH TOUR 2010 2. BOOK CUSTOMERSARETHEBRAND.COM
36. twitter: @grahamdbrown www.CustomersAreTheBrand.com “ RUN WITH THE LITTLE GUY CREATE SOME CHANGE”
Editor's Notes
The story of marketing to youth is the story of the little guy and change. Let’s start with the little guy… her story
Insightful statement. Reconnect with your youth – 2 factors 1) Never was there a period in our lives where boredom was such an overarching presence. Mum – I’m bored. Tidy up your room then. Not that bored 2) Hyperbole.
What does Miles Texas of Runnery County offer for young people. Here, according to the town’s website are top 4 attractions: The town library The rumley tractor weighing 15 tonnes and with a top speed of 25k The red brick road The town jail No surprise then that young people like Ashton would jump at the opportunity to do something meaningful with their existence
Rolled out the PR machine, mobilized a generation of youth who wanted to feel significant and belong. Canvassing, flying and cajouling neighbours and elderly relatives That’s all very well, what if I’m a company that wants to connect with Ashton. How? Money. $50m as a reasonable starter.
Your first $8m a rebranding exercise. Commission your creative agency to funk up, sexify and web 2 dot whatever your brand. Something young people could really relate to
Media space Still leaves you with $32, perhaps a celebrity? Don’t come cheap
Average fee for high level CPG endorsement starts at $16m Same talent agency. 3 for 2 You could spend $50m on …telling them you’re cool But you’ll still be stuck with the inconvenient truth that…. ->
We no longer live in a world where we passively accept what media tells us. We want to be part of and shape that narrative. The whole art of marketing as storytelling has changed from being about the brand to being about the customer. … so I was intrigued. If that’s the case, how do great youth brands do it? How do cool technologies catch on?
And we’ve spent the last 8 years working with some great clients – from tech to CPG to media to agencies alike understanding what works and what doesn’t work. We’ve gone out into the streets of Mandaluyong City in the Philippines, the villages outside Dhaka Bangladesh, the suburbs of Chicago and the backstreets of Harajuku in Tokyo to find out what young people think about these technology, brands and marketing. This year was the first I visited all 7 continents – Middle East, Africa, Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Australasia – covering 250,000 miles on a mission to put an end to boring marketing, boring brands and boring brand managers. Here is what I found…
Yes, there are a lot of companies out there that have a strong youth fan base But I wasn’t interested in the ones that had big marketing budgets to blow or those that had inherently great products that would be easy to market. What if I was trying to sell to young people on a limited budget to start with? What if my product wasn’t as sexy as Tony Hawk or Red Bull?
5 remarkable youth brands 4 questions you need to ask about selling your product, technology or service 3 actions you can take tomorrow morning
Pick up the story where we left off…
What is Ashton’s pain?
What is the real pain here? The pain is that these young people just want to tell their story. They tired of brands sticking their noses in their conversations, hijacking their Facebook pages and interrupting their hangouts. And this what Monster realized. ….
When BBM want to talk to MA they tell stories about their brands BPMs think Maccamphetamine wakes up thinking about their products BT think of new ways to capture his attention through more exciting technology stories What Monster did was stop trying to tell a story about the Monster brand and let the customers tell their own story.
It built a Monster Army – a place where everyone had a voice. 1 million members Ashton Pope is a rising Dirt Bike with sponsorship now turned pro. Maccamphetamine is a wannabe… and a groupie… but still has a place. UK, USA now in Canada.
Monster’s logic is : Customers are the brand. Are we trying to sell them stuff or are we trying to connect them? Yeah – but. Does it work?
Hell Yeah
Meet Jake… When he was at college in 2001 he started a web design firm called Dreamless Submissions for t-shirt designs Eventually making more money from the tees than the design he went full time on the tees in 2004
Why pick this one? TSHIRTs
Involved them in the process Etsy / Folksy 8,000 unique and individually made Flip covers created by fans 0-18% why pick this one VS SONY Pure Digital – Stop treating youth as a destination for their marketing messages and start treating them as partners in its production Cisco bought Pure Digital for $600m
WHAT IS THE PROBLEM YOU ARE TRYING TO SOLVE YOUNG PEOPLE DON’T HAVE A RED CROSS PROBLEM
Get all the information, advice and tips you need about being a teenage girl; including body changes, friendships, family, boys, beauty WHAT IS THE PROBLEM YOU ARE TRYING TO SOLVE? YOUNG PEOPLE DON’T HAVE A MOBILE CONTENT PROBLEM
Mobile operators generally do a lot of things wrong when it comes to young people but sometimes they get it right Give to get – which in a way – is very indicative of how we need to reach youth. We have to give something first now. Why pick this one? Youth offending teams Weekends. Influence 10-90 rule
If there ever was a Steve Jobs of the youth marketing world it had to be Peter Van Stolk, maverick founder of Jones Soda Steve Jobs because he went into a tough market with zero money and grew a brand to a $1bn market cap. His impact was so profound that when he left the company floundered. When Jones was hitting home runs
Their’s because of the label Where am I in this story?
Kelly’s story – tells friends Make it about them… Break some eggshells Christmas Ham, Turkey & Gravy flavored soda “ We may be a small player in the soda market, but we own the meat flavoured drink market”
Leave you with 4 key questions and then 3 things I want you to do tomorrow morning.