Youth Marketing Mega Event Conference Day One Dispatch-Reported by Jennifer Waits: Today was the opening day of the Youth Marketing Mega Event conference in Huntington Beach, California. While the sun and surf beckoned outside, marketers from a wide range of industries (food, apparel, cellular technology, consumer electronics, non-profit, cable TV, and market research to name a few), talked shop inside. The conference is "mega," because it addresses marketing to kids, tweens, teens, and college students. Today was broken up into 3 symposiums: marketing to parents, licensing, and youth market research. Some of the highlights from the research track today:

1) Ethnography is the research tool du jour with youth marketers. Although some companies have been incorporating techniques from anthropological research for over a decade, it became clear today that it's finally hitting the mainstream. More and more companies are incorporating observational research, in-home interviews, and shopping excursions with their consumers. A number of presenters today (including Nokia and Philips) do this kind of research globally-talking to youth in many different countries about their relationship with their product. As this discipline is becoming more formalized within companies, some job functions that incorporate skills of sociologists, anthropologists and psychologists were mentioned. The coolest job title I heard was Consumption Sociologist (reminds me of the fabulous media section at City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco called Commodity Aesthetics). Keep reading for more highlights from today. (Ypulse newsletter readers come to the site for more.)

2) Best practices for conducting youth research: Nothing too surprising here, but I liked the reminder that often you'll get different answers to questions when they are asked online vs. offline because when asked a question by a real-live person people tend to answer in the most socially acceptable manner. Apparently more people say they believe in God when asked this question in a phone interview than say they believe in God when asked online. Similarly, when talking to youth about sensitive topics like drugs, sex, and risky behaviors; the most candid responses often emerge from online surveys since they are perceived as more anonymous. It was also mentioned that kids will actually engage with and complete lengthy surveys as long as they find them interesting.

Probably most surprisingly, we didn’t hear much today about using newer technologies (cell phones, SMS), online communities (message boards, chat), or IM to conduct research with youth. At other conferences I've heard about some brilliant pieces of research done with online communities built expressly for the purpose of research. Additionally, in the research-track today I didn't hear from any web-based companies (besides Harris Interactive, which is all about web-based research with the youth market). Maybe tomorrow?

Other buzzwords today:

EXPERIENCE: A product is just a product, but what gives it power is the experience that we have with it. Marketers are trying to figure out how to help consumers experience their brand more explicitly. Urban Outfitters was cited as an example of a good in-store experience. Levi's is working on a different kind of shopping experience via their Tokyo concept store "Tab Device." It's designed like a house, with bedroom, living room, bathroom, kitchen, couches, and moodier, ambient lighting. Kids can hang out and check out clothing in an environment more like a cool crash-pad.

CREATORS: Well, YPulse readers know this already. But, researchers at the conference reminded us that Generation Y are creators and express themselves by making technology their own. Bloggers and podcasters are examples of this and it's predicted that the generations following Y will be even more savvy and prolific creators.

Fun Tidbit on History of Youth Culture: I knew that youth culture and the accompanying terminology for it (adolescence, teenager) was a relatively modern, post-WWII creation; but today I got a new random trivia tidbit about this. The Senior Futures Specialist from Nokia said that the term "teen" was actually coined by a U.S. ad agency in the 1950s.

Stay tuned for more highlights from the conference tomorrow, including Bratz, mobile entertainment, music marketing, and trend guru Irma Zandl.

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