Highlights from YPulse 2010

Recently at YPulse Youth Marketing Mashup 2010 , hundreds of youth marketers, influencers, and researchers gathered at the Nikko Hotel in San Francisco to discuss, learn, and share strategies and information on how to market to youth with technology. Representatives from Disney , Vitamin Water , and The North Face were among the many different panelists and presenters.

Liz Song and I both spent two days in San Francisco listening to companies’ efforts to market to tweens (kids between ages 11-14) – our target audience for Zamzee . Many of the findings the companies shared involved customer engagement methodologies that we currently pursue (eg. qualitative data gathering, focus groups, ethnographic research, etc).

Here are three examples of inspiring marketing case studies that are worth highlighting, with reflections from me (MV) and Liz (LS):

1. U by Kotex: Yes, that’s right, the feminine product brand from Kimberly-Clark. Kotex won the first-ever GennY Award! The award honors youth marketers and recognizes best practices of those who have applied new and innovative techniques to connecting and communicating with youth.

MV: I instantly thought “genius” when I saw the new Kotex “Apology” commercial a month ago while watching American Idol. The commercial pushes the boundaries of a typically taboo topic, women’s periods. This campaign is a great example of how honest, edgy, and fun ideas are welcomed by young people.

LS: I was most impressed with Kotex’s authentic approach. They were willing to self-deprecate past marketing campaigns and therefore create a space where girls and women are able to be really open about their bodies. I love the community they are creating!

2. Disney’s XD : Disney created a tween-boy-focused TV channel, and brand, with unique programming and branding to target a group that had been previously neglected in the Disney kingdom. Kelly Pena and Richard Loomis from Disney, presented their findings from focus groups and yearlong research.

MV: Kelly and Richard’s presentation was captivating. They and their team reached out to the young men for input and direction for XD. It’s pretty cool to realize that we here at HopeLab are using a similar process to put our products together. (For example, see some insights from tweens we collected by visiting our Ruckus Research site.)

LS: Personally, as an anthropology major in college, I’m always impressed when companies are willing to spend their resources on ethnographic research . (It’s the stuff that counts.) Disney truly listened to their customers and executed a fantastic brand in creating the XD channel.

Courtesy of: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/participation_inequality.html

3. 1, 9, 90 : This concept was introduced to the group by Jason Rzepka, VP of Public Affairs at MTV Networks, during the Youth, Health, and Social Media Marketing pre-conference session. Rzepka heard about this concept from Scott Belsky at SXSW earlier this year. Basically, as marketers, we need to create many opportunities for the various types of people to engage. 1% will become the ‘evangelist’ of your product or campaign, 9% will engage in some active way (e.g. submitting an entry in a competition), and 99% are passively engaging.

MV: The idea of making it easy to create and post online reviews and rewarding those who do are my favorite suggestions. As a consumer and online product reviewer, myself, the easier and less time consuming it is to post a comment, the more likely I’m going to engage. And if I get something in return or special recognition for three minutes of my time, even better!

LS: What’s most striking about this idea is that the vast majority of people are only passive viewers. This raises a lot of questions for me, and it makes me wonder a couple things: (a) how do we create more opportunities for the 99% to engage more actively, and (b) are we defining the 99% “passive” participants accurately? Could their behavior be considered active, if not compared to the fanatical 1% that all marketers hope for? Lots to consider!

Make sure to catch all the other speakers and events from YPulse 2010 .