 | Ypulse Daily Update 05.28.09
Directory and more at Ypulse.com | |  | Quick Links Ypulse Essentials: MTV Goes After Young Male Audience, The Aging Of Print, Teen Author Carnival Posted by meredith Only three short days left until the Ypulse Youth Marketing Mashup event in San Francisco. Register now before it's too late! Enter the code READER for 30 percent off!  MTV looks for a few, young men (Viacom exec Paul Dauman hopes to revive the channel's low ratings by targeting young male audiences. Plus, a children's author tries to incorporate the aggressive images boys are drawn to create in his books) (WSJ) (BBC News)
- California teens respond to gay marriage ban (being upheld by the state supreme court. Plus, teen environmental group and Mashup attendee Teens Turning Green is featured in a piece on banning lead in lipstick) (LA Youth) (New York Times, reg. required)
- Graduating into the recession (the latest in their series on young people facing the economic downturn, Slate compiles responses from college seniors on the brink of stepping into a dried up job market. Plus, thoughts on online alumni networks) (Slate) (Marketing.fm)
- Healthier kids' meals (Burger King adds more options as part of the chain's pledge to advertise more healthful meals for children. And more kids eating off fast food "value menus." Plus Disney star Selena Gomez shills for Borden.) (MSNBC) (MediaPost, reg. required0 (AHN)
- Aging of print (not surprisingly, the average age of magazine and newspaper readers is aging at an accelerated rate according to recent industry research. Plus, 16Style a new site devoted to teen fashion and style looks for teen volunteers - thanks Karell!) (Ad Age, reg. required)
- Connecting outside the classroom (danah boyd addresses concerns over teachers interacting with students through social networks. Plus, danah and her husaband are featured in a New York Times, reg required, piece on texting at the table) (apophenia)
- Segregated proms (continue to be held in Georgia's Montgomery County) (New York Times, reg. required)
- Idol hands (Fox responds to the controversy alleging AT&T fixed the votes in Kris Allen's favor. Plus, Zooglobble, a blog devoted to kids' music)
- Teen Author Carnival (takes place in NYC today with an impressive roster of authors. Also, the controversial subject matter of Laurie Halse Anderson's Wintergirls leads to censorship) (Readergirlz) (Blogging Censorship)
- Teens and porn (not as troubling a combination as some might think. Plus, a documentary on teens' casual attitudes towards sex aims to shock) (Metro News) (ABC News)
Posted in: Ypulse Essentials It's Alright [For Guys] To Hug Posted by anastasia  Yesterday one of the OpEd editors from the New York Times asked me to comment on how teen rituals spread and alluded to hugging as an example -- it was very last minute and I didn't realize our short comments were packaged with an entire story devoted to teen hugging. After reading the article, what stood out to me as being really new is straight male teens being more comfortable with showing this sort of physical affection towards other guys.
At the girls school I briefly attended in Nashville, hugs were commonplace, along with Southern accented squeals of "Oh my god! It's so great to see you!" even though we just saw each other an hour ago. As a couple of the teen hugging detractors in the Times piece said, sometimes this sort of gratuitous hugging can feel somewhat superficial or just for show. But with guys, not so much. This was the 80s, when even our beloved John Hughes movies contained a homophobic slur or two. Fear of being labeled gay as a teen guy was rampant and real.
Apart from all of the speculation offered in the story about why hugging has proliferated in schools -- wired teens wanting to connect in more "real" ways, growing up hyper-organized and loyal to the group, changing boundaries of touch since the 70s, I would argue that the greater level of acceptance of gays and lesbians in the culture at large and especially within youth culture has freed up teen guys to feel more comfortable showing affection.
Obviously there is still discrimination and bullying of gay and lesbian teens, but there is also more tolerance, gay-straight alliances and a higher degree of gay and lesbian visibility in YA books, television and film than ever before. I also believe that the changing role of fathers in our culture -- being more involved with their kids, and certainly showing more affection than perhaps their fathers did, is liberating young guys as well. And finally, the acceptance of the "meterosexual" guy or straight males who are more in touch with their feminine side, at least when it comes to fashion and grooming, has also helped to loosen up gender roles.
As for schools cracking down on hugging or even banning it from the hallways -- I can think of a lot bigger issues to focus on (bullying/violence, dropout rates, etc.), can't you?
Posted in: Ypulse Essentials | Uncategorized Ypulse Guest Post: Branding Lessons From Tony Hawk Posted by meredith Today's Ypulse Guest Post is from Chad Kennedy, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Teen Scene Magazine. Chad recently flew out to California to be featured on an episode of Sprint's Business Fantasy Camp on MSN and spent a day under the wing of action sports icon Tony Hawk. We asked him to share what he learned. If you work in youth media or marketing and have an idea for a guest post, feel free to email me.
Branding Lessons From Tony Hawk
Recently, I had the opportunity to hang out for a day with pro-skateboarder, Tony Hawk, at his offices in California. Skateboarding is a mainstream sport today, but it hasn't always been. Tony Hawk can be credited for helping to transform skateboarding into a household sport. At 41 years old, Tony is now retired from competitive skateboarding, however you could say he's bigger now than he ever has been before. He is the head of Tony Hawk Inc., which produces the Tony Hawk Pro Skater video game series, Tony Hawk clothing (available at Kohl's), skate decks, ShredorDie.com, and more. Altogether the Tony Hawk brand is worth well over $1 billion and growing.
This brings me to the reason that I met with Tony. As the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Teen Scene Magazine, I have been looking for ways to develop and expand the Teen Scene brand. So, I entered a contest by Microsoft and Sprint called Business Fantasy Camp earlier this year and I was lucky enough to be chosen as a winner. The prize was an opportunity to be filmed for the Business Fantasy Camp web series and meet with Tony Hawk to get branding advice.
During my meeting with Tony on April 28th, he taught me many valuable lessons about branding. We spoke about the importance of knowing your audience and staying true to what they want. Whether you are developing a skateboarding video game like he is or producing an online teen magazine like we are at Teen Scene, it is key that you first know who your audience truly is. This doesn't just mean knowing their gender or age, but knowing who they are as people, their likes and dislikes. Having a solid grasp of who the audience is will fuel everything going forward which is why it is such a key factor to brand success.
Next, staying true to what your audience wants is essential. Tony expressed that he wasn't a fan of focus groups and neither am I. In order to ultimately understand what your audience wants and needs out of your product you must fully immerse yourself in their life and see things from their point of view. Tony does this through continuing to skateboard for fun at events across the country and always making time to meet with and talk to fellow skateboarders, as well as his fans who don't skateboard. Tony further illustrated how he is staying true to his audience by showing me how he is reinventing his video game series to stay current. His new game is called, Ride, and it is pretty revolutionary in that Tony and his team along with Activision have developed a board similar to the Wii Balance Board, except that it is designed to look and function like a skate deck. The board takes the video game skateboarding experience to the next level. At Teen Scene staying true to our audience has been part of our core since the beginning as we are for teens and young adults, by teens and young adults.
The third lesson that I learned from Tony was to maintain control of your brand as it grows and expands. While his brand is wide reaching, he is still the one who makes the key decisions. While I was at his offices, he was regularly asked for his opinion on colors and designs for new products. He told me that this is equally as important as the other aspects of branding because if you lose control, your audience will see right through whatever you are pushing to them.
About Chad Kennedy
 In May 2000 at just 13 years old, Chad Kennedy started Teen Scene Magazine. Since then he has worked with Hollywood's hottest celebrities, including Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, and 50 Cent. He also regularly works with brands, such as Ford, Toyota, and Sony, on how they can better reach out to teens/young adults. In his free time you can find Chad giving his opinions on everything from Hollywood to politics on Twitter (@chadkennedy)
For more coverage of youth marketing, go to the Ypulse Youth Marketing Channel sponsored by Youth Marketing Connection. Posted in: Ypulse Essentials | Uncategorized | Youth Marketing
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