So I’m sitting in my bedroom in front of the TV, wondering if I really want to eat the left over Domino’s Pizza from last night, when a new edition of FRONTLINE came on PBS.
I like FRONTLINE especially their report on Wal-Mart.Last night’s topic was “Growing Up Online.” The synopsis:
“…FRONTLINE peers inside the world of this cyber-savvy generation through the eyes of teens and their parents, who often find themselves on opposite sides of a new digital divide. A generation with a radically different notion of privacy and personal space, today’s adolescents are grappling with issues their parents never had to deal with: from cyber bullying to instant “Internet fame,” to the specter of online sexual predators.”
During one segment, English and social studies teachers in a New Jersey high school discussed the impact of a multimedia classroom, both the wealth of knowledge and related difficulties. Students today are inundated with more media and advertisement than ever before. ‘Cutting through the clutter’ is paramount but then, how to keep their attention? The social studies teacher lauded the internet and LCD screens in classrooms for allowing him to pull infinite amounts of data and multimedia. The dynamics captured students’ attention. Podcasts and websites let students to track their progress and revisit lessons, fully incorporating new media to reach out to students. On the other hand, the English teacher struggled to keep up with her kids. She didn’t grasp the technology and worried that students were using SparkNotes to trump actually reading and analyzing their homework. How will children learn critical thinking, if they’re fed everything from they need from the Web? And comparatively, how much time do students spend online chatting and on social networks, versus going through informational podcasts and websites?
Two thoughts immediately popped into mind: 1) shouldn’t this story have aired a year ago? And 2) as a marketer, how do I reach out to an audience who’s exclusively grown up with the Web?
My marketing professors would be proud of me, when I say, reach out to your target market where they live: on the Web. That answer’s obvious.
But how?
Enter my year of experience at SHIFT:
I’ve learned that using the words ‘advertise,’ ‘marketing,’ or even ‘PR’ is a no-no. You’ll probably get some backlash of “I am not your minion to be spoken to. I am an individual. *bleep* you!”
The irony is that there are still cliques, fads and a fairly malleable youth. So marketers, I’m sorry, communicators or brand ambassadors or community managers, are putting out banner ads on MySpace and Facebook. They’re cultivating conversations around a topic, sponsored by a brand, supported by its parent company and backed by its investors. SEO specialists earn thousands of dollars a month just developing links and inching up a rank or two on Google. Commercials that target youths, a.k.a. the ‘new’ money spenders, are now also product trials or story pitches to teen bloggers and teen sites. Advertising companies hire indie artists to embellish packaging or sponsor a brand or just ask Lindsay Lohan to subliminally hold a quit-smoking aid in all the paparazzi pictures.
Am I being cynical or does this sound formulaic to you? Hence, back to question 1.
P.S. I love the FRONTLINE Website and how they are able to incorporate the parts of social media that’s relevant to them.
