Wise & Young: The nuances of Gen-Y marketing, branding, advertising, trends, & more

I honestly don't know what to say about Thrasher Funds, a "mutual fund that offers young investors, a group of more than 60 million Gen X and Y'ers largely overlooked by the financial market place until now, the opportunity to leverage their youth along with a disciplined investment and savings strategy to help use what they already know to engage the stock market."

One part of me says, "Awesome, way to go after an untapped market and cater to a group that needs to learn about investing!" However, I honestly said, "What the hell are you doing? I don't want Urban Outfitters (sarcasm) investing my money for me, I want to be part of that bad-ass New York Mutual Fund that made my friend's dad rich."

The branding is 'cool', they casted the right people, they designed it well (a flair of Urban Outfitters mixed with a snooty bank). BUT, does it make me want to invest with them? No. The reason why is I don't trust them and they seem like a gimmick; if I knew they were a branch of a larger mutual fund, I might consider, but they're an up-and-coming firm that "says" they cater to me and my fellow gen-y'rs.

Until they create value, get rave reviews in the communication I participate in (blogs, forums, word of mouth) and achieve the endorsement from other influencers in my group of friends, I'll ignore them as just a gimmick. Branding and design isn't everything with Gen-Y, even though it seems to work, we need our truth — we're a generation that needs reinsurance from our peers — which means you better have a superb product or service before you even bother with the design/branding.

Since 2005, I've been a huge evangelist for Facebook, I loved the simplicity, speed, and the privacy. Furthermore, the thing that made me glued to Facebook compared to the other social networks was the ability to keep on top of all my relationships.

I'm one of those types that only adds Facebook friends that are truly my friends in the real world, which helps me keep connected to everybody and relish in their recent experiences. Anytime I see one of my friends, I always have something to bring up; for example, "Scott, how was that trip in Idaho? I saw the photos on Facebook, looked a lot of fun!"

This was all great and dandy, until Facebook released their ad network system. I understand what they're trying to do, make ads that resonated with me and my life and made me feel more connected to brands — they thought they found the holy grail to internet advertising.

Blah.

It's just one giant mess, which I feel seriously hurts Facebook the website and the brand. They are interrupting my Facebook experience, my human experiences, and my life in general. It's like a noisy bee that you swat away. I finally turned it off, but now you have branded pages showing up and noisy marketers trying to get you to buy something.

Their authenticity has certainly taken a beating and I must say Facebook made a wrong-turn, and better flip a "U" and get back to being that quiet, respected social network who allows their users to make the decisions and not corporations. What do you think Facebook should do? How would you fix the mess? Do you think they messed up?

Influx had a great post the other day about the fading use of consumer generated content in advertising and other marketing functions. They make a point of where we are going with online social/virtual worlds is exactly the opposite of where marketing and advertising firms are headed.

They then state something brilliant:

The killer application is finding a way to tap into consumer thinking and creativity through the social network, but to do it in a way that doesn’t involve classical advertising.

Agencies need to find a way to make this happen for their clients or someone else will.

If you view some of the top Facebook applications, I think a lot of people are getting close to what Influx is stating is necessary for brands to tap in to consumer-generated creativity and content. This is a very exciting time and it feels like a wide open market for advertisers, marketers, and even small brands to make a huge splash.

Anybody have a favorite Facebook application or widget that demonstrates what Influx is stating above? Something getting away from classical advertising?

I love what John Jay (Executive Creative Director and Partner of Wieden + Kennedy) had to say today in his blog about a recent retail experience:

Most marketers are not merchants, being a merchant is to be authentic and there is no more tell-taking aroma than the one of authenticity when you walk into a shop. That was my initial reaction when I walked into Self Edge on Valencia St. in San Francisco, but without even touching one piece of denim, there was already a sense of authenticity through a Japanese lens.

Self Edge is passionate about denim and the denim brands they sell. They house and display their products like your grandmother's fine china. They attack you with all five senses to conjure up the emotions and pride they have in their products. You can see right through them and their authenticity, passion, and knowledge latches on to your heart (and wallet!).

These are things small and large brands should be doing to attract Gen-Y. Start that blog, website, newsletter, store, etc., update it regularly, support your base, give away knowledge and ideas, elicit creativity and passions from your fans. It won't happen overnight, no detailed endeavors ever do, but if you continue to pound away on your project - your heart will shine through to others.

Mr. Jay finished up his post with:

No detail here is too small including the use of a vintage Union Special China stitching machine to create the proper puckered hem after a washing. Self-Edge is a love story, an emotional tryst between the owners, denim and Japan.

If you want to get inspired, visit the Alife headquarters on New York's Orchard Street. What looks like a shoe store is also the realization of the late-night plan that so many talk about, fewer attempt, and even fewer achieve. Rob Cristofaro, Arnaud De Le Colle, Tony Arcabascio, and Tammy Brainard (from left) met five years ago, saved and invested the same amount, and became equal partners in the venture that does what it likes, including art direction, curating (with artists like Shepard Fairey), book publishing (of Ryan McGuinness), a maiden shoe line called Rite Foot (to be carried at Colette in Paris and Los Angeles' KBond), and a lot of other stuff that there isn't room to mention. And they're all 30.

1. Collaborate with large brands (Puma, Reebok, Nike, Adidas, Levi's) on special products in a win-win situation for both
2. Support smaller creative musicians, cutting-edge artists, and filmmakers
3. Keep their products rare and limited, promote heavily
4. All their products/collaborations are in their creative control from start to finish (no outsiders)
5. Keep the product simple, but all details matter
6. Feature/distribute their product in only a handful of the coolest stores around the world

Yet as of last week, the income segment with the highest percentage of visitors to the iPhone site was 18 to 24 years of age, earning less than $30,000 per year. Could Steve Jobs have been aware of that when he lowered the price of the 8GB iPhone to $399 on Wednesday? We can only guess.

The problem is based in the fact that Gen Y is entering the stage where they're really creating pop culture for themselves and those younger than them. Anything that is really and truly pop, not artificial pop, is based on the work of people age 25 and under.

Because the Boomers and Gen X have such a death grip on upper management positions (and, truth be told, the desire to not listen to Gen Y OR to hear what they want to hear, what they know, and what's easy) mainstream pop culture in general is dying. There are no icons. There are no posters. Icons and posters require mainstream institutions. In fifteen years, Gen Y will a) have started to take control of those institutions that already exist (due to having finally worked their way up the ranks), and b) have built up their own mainstream pop institutions. But for now, we're stuck. All anyone can do is wait out the continuing period of trash culture created by old people for people they don't inherently "get."

My favorite bands are only on MySpace, but aren’t signed to a record label. These bands have sold out shows on Sunset Blvd and all throughout Western America, but they don’t have a manager. These shows are full of people that love the music, but would never buy the record.