This issue, strategy is focusing on connecting with youth, and while some may grumble that there’s too much attention paid to youth marketing, there’s a reason. It’s hard to get right. We also focus on boomers, the market everyone knows they should be paying attention to, but finds difficult to tackle.

Curiously, there’s a lot of commonality between the market that’s been relatively ignored – boomers – and youth, the market everyone is fascinated with (perhaps overly so). Both groups want brands that pay attention to their lifestyles and forge a meaningful connection, and not just lip service. Sticking the demo in an ad seems to be the way some approach it, but tossing in gray haired grinners, or spiky haired hip-lingo spouting youth doesn’t make an impression, except of a ‘that’s not us’variety. What’s working is a ‘show us what you’re doing for us’ approach.

In the case of youth, they want brands to put their money where their mouths are, and show support of whatever it is they care about – music, sport, causes. They also appreciate brands that add some entertainment value to their scene, yet are blatant about – even spoof – their commercial agenda. Like the Wendy’s square on MySpace, Axe Dry’s Gamekillers show and site, or the Burger King’s wide-ranging antics.

At the end of the day, it’s about a meaningful connection between the brand, and something the consumer cares about. For our Understanding Women event this month, we were looking for brands that get this real connection thing. So the keynote is Unilever president Jeffrey Allgrove on how they’ve repositioned some of their brands from commodity to companion status, most notably Dove. This is the company that has also made a deodorant into a sex magnet device (Axe) for teen boys, and managed to strike a blow for feminism with Vim.

And when we were researching content for our Understanding Youth event next month, and hit upon the GenWorld study out of Energy BBDO, it was another Eureka moment. This 14-country global teen culture trend survey really resonated, as it touched on all the themes that we had identified as key in this sector. One theme, dubbed Zeitgeist: Courage and Determination in a Dark World, found that teens were ‘self-activists’ and that their fight for beliefs is focused on ‘personal, tangible results advancing teens’ goals in life’ and advocated that brands demonstrate they also believe in something, whether it be a cause or a philosophy. When your brand becomes a kid’s champion, your work here is done.

That was also the advice related to another GenWorld trend, ‘Brands: From Symbols of Status to Drivers of Apathy.’ The study recommends turning around anti-brand sentiment by making sure the brand stands for something important. We looked around at the companies that were striking a chord here, and noticed this philosophy was rather prevalent. Some of the examples featured in this issue include West 49 and their skatepark and indie band support, and Sony PlayStation’s fundraising concert and choice of tuitions as a gaming tourney prize.

As long as it’s relevant for both the demo and the brand, the meaningful connection needn’t be a social action/cause overlay, it can be anything that contributes to an emotional bond. So, for our Understanding Youth conference, we’ve invited Chip Walker to pop over from Energy in Chicago to tell us how brands are getting it right in terms of forging a meaningful connection with youth, and to also share the new Cancon findings of their 3,000+ global teen study. We’ve also tapped New York-based kid marketing guru Paul Kurnit to share his considerable segmentation wisdom regarding tween and teen culture. Kurnit has spent 25 years working for blue chip kid brands, and continues to forensically study the shifts in this demo. We also invited the kids panel back. A Youthography-hosted session is on the agenda, so once again we’ll get to hear what their youth panelists like, and why.

After all, to make a meaningful connection, you need a killer insight.

cheer,mm

Mary Maddever, exec editor strategy/MIC, 416.408.0864

P.S. If your brand is doing some meaningful cause work, let us know for our ‘Brands Giving Back’ report in August. maddever@brunico.com