Youth Marketing Mega Event Conference Day Two Morning Dispatch reported by Jennifer Waits: Today was the first "official" day of the conference and they pulled out the big guns before lunch, with a presentation by trend guru Irma Zandl and a Q&A with Kevin Liles (subbing for the absent Russell Simmons who is announcing the launch of a new music group today), Def Jam and Warner Music big wig and the author of the Milli Vanilli hit "Girl You Know it's True."

Irma Zandl has been tracking cultural trends for years and did a very detailed presentation on ten marketing tips and also shared some current trends like "Uber: Go-for-Baroque," which is like a 1980s resurgence of ostentatious wealth processed through hip hop culture and the elevation of bling. She also talked about the growing influence of Middle America ("Heartland Values") and of gaming culture ("Frag Fest"). The more DIY Liles says he's less about formal trend tracking and research and more about trusting his gut because he "lives it" (he's immersed in hip hop culture and is releasing a book on how he went from being an intern to the corner office in the music biz). Liles began his talk sort of berating Zandl's trend predictions ("the chinchilla coat was 7 years ago"), but at times gave a nod to her insights.

Newsletter subscribers, go to YPulse to read a complete summary of Irma Zandl's 10 tips for marketers and the 3 trends from her Hot Sheet that she discussed.

Irma Zandl's 10 Rules of Engagement:

1.Stay consumer-centric: all levels of an organization need to find ways to immerse themselves in the lives of their consumers

2.Sometimes it pays to think small: there can be a cachet associated with having sub-businesses, limited runs of interesting products like Mountain Dew's pitch black beverage for Halloween

3.Keep your edge: Continue to reinvent your product and keep it fresh, relevant. Examples include MTV and Apple.

4.Sell style: She mentioned that our culture is becoming more visual and design is being mass marketed through companies like Ikea and Apple.

5.Stay tapped into pop culture: Zandl reminds us that popular culture is our common denominator and by aligning your product with it you stay culturally relevant. Her main examples here were the associated cool that a brand receives from being linked to a celebrity. Examples include TMobile's endorsements from Paris Hilton & Snoop.

6.Trade them up: People's expectations are rising and they are gravitating toward higher quality products, with "yesterday’s luxuries, today's necessities." I loved her point that people now stand in line to pay $4 for a Starbuck's espresso beverage when they used to be satisfied with a 99 cent coffee.

7.Be functionally relevant: Your product has to deliver—you can't JUST be cool. She argued that Levi's missed the boat because the slim-fitting 501 style was not relevant to hip hop culture, or to the growing number of overweight people. She also said that young people like infomercials (and not even for the campy reasons that I find them entertaining). People like to see problems and solutions displayed.

8.Remember, they're free agents: Youth have been empowered by technology. This resonates with what we all know from the experience of bloggers. Zandl actually recommended to the packed room of marketers that they all go on Feedster and type in their company name to see what bloggers are saying about them. She argues that "technology puts them in the driver's seat" and suggested marketers look into podcasting and websites when thinking about the changing role of advertising.

9.Capitalize on the Cult of personality: She talked about companies with visionary founders, leaders, or figureheads like Apple (again…she really loves Apple) and Virgin and how their personality resonates through the entire brand identity. As was mentioned yesterday, this helps products to connect with consumers on a more emotional level.

10.See the future She encouraged marketers to look 5 to 10 years into the future and to pay attention to lasting trends vs. what is transitory or trendy.

Irma Zandl's 3 Trends to Watch:

1. Uber: Go-for-Baroque: A real throw-back to the 1980s' emphasis on conspicuous consumption, but this time it is processed through hip hop. She mentioned the popularity of gold jewelry, St. Tropez, Pimp Cups, and chandeliers. She summarized as "more is more. Less is less."

2. Heart-Land Values: Zandl cited examples of how middle America is growing in cultural importance, from the spread of its conservative outlook to the growth of Christianity in popular culture and youth culture (Teen Mania Ministries), to the hipness of country music (Jack White partnering with Loretta Lynn, and that wacky country segment at the Grammys-Free Bird!), to blue collar television like American Choppers.

3. Frag Fest: I like that Zandl described the power of electronic gaming as influencing culture in a broad way, calling it a "major cultural force." Spike TV hosted the Video Game awards, videogame soundtracks are hot, the military uses games in training, and gaming culture has even influenced design and advertising (she showed us the Nike "For Warriors" ad with its blurring of reality and fantasy in a video game style). She predicts that beyond G4 there will be even more videogame-focused TV networks.

I'll try to post more later today about some of the afternoon highlights.

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