It's that time again -- here are my picks for the biggest trends in the teen media & marketing space over the past year. Agree? Disagree? Think I left a big one out? Post a comment and let me know.

The rise of "doing GOOD": Corporate responsibility and social marketing have come back in a big way this year -- whether it's charismatic individuals like Bono or Richard Branson leading the way or just plain old market research that continues to reaffirm that teens (Gen Y, Millennials) are both leading the surge in volunteering and community service as well as supporting companies who donate to the cause -- AIDS in Africa, the environment, homelessness. Winning campaigns include the omni-present RED, which has teamed with popular youth brands like Apple, Converse and Motorola as well as Virgin Mobile's high profile partnership around youth homelessness with StandUp for Kids and YouthNoise. The Omidyar social venture fund is also helping to fuel this movement by giving large amounts of money to non-profits like YouthNoise and Common Sense Media. There's even a magazine dedicated to this trend (we'll see how long they stay in print). Look for lots more mainstream brands to get involved in partnerships and social marketing in 2007.

From the Ypulse archives:
Power to the Pocketbook
How Do We Know Who's Really GOOD?
Youth Power: It's All About 'Authenticitude'
Activating Youth Activism
Alterna-Spring Break
Activism 2.0
Amazing Africa

Marketing backlash: With the rapid demise of the "30-second spot," and the increased use of DVRs, marketers have had to come up with alternative ways of getting their messages across to young people. There are also now more "screens" to reach kids and teens (online and on cell phones). The result has been more marketing -- whether it's integrated into online communities, video games or coming in the form of branded entertainment, it's literally everywhere. This year we saw the food industry scramble to self regulate in order to head-off legislation around advertising to kids, more books from social critics, continued backlash over sexualized products like the PussyCat Dolls doll being marketed to girls and now children's doctors collectively saying "enough." While some very savvy teens are beginning to speak out, most will continue to just ignore marketing that is lame and engage in marketing that innovative and offers value. The showdown will happen over marketing to kids and tweens.

From the Ypulse archives:
Porn Normal?
Dolly Doll
Corporate America Wants to be Your Friend

User generated video: My original job title when I joined Current TV was manager, ugc. This was before Current branded its version of user generated content as VC2 (viewer created content) -- and before a music video spoof called "Lazy Sunday" exploded on a little known site called YouTube. UGC is not really new -- MTV pioneered it way back when with "Basement Tapes," where aspiring bands could send in their own music videos and action sports athletes have been making their own DVDs for a long time. This latest wave is really just Web-driven, first came text and photos with explosion of blogging and popularity of sites like Flickr in 2004-05. In 2006 making video became accessible to your average teen, whether it was using a cell phone or a one-chip camera or even a prosumer camera. And the Valley (Silicon) rose to the occasion the launch of several video sharing sites. There are now topical niches and sites geared towards aspiring indie filmmakers as well as the continued experimentation in the user generated advertising space. I think there will be a shakeout in the online video space in 2007 as some of the stragglers lose funding and the copyright issues continue to play out in the courts, but the notion of "broadcasting yourself" is here to stay.

From the Ypulse archives:
Multi-Screen Dreams
Lonelygirl15: The Authentic Fake
Today In YouTube
Dear Car, Let’s Talk About Our Relationship

Safer social networking: We all watched the media frenzy over online predators and stranger danger unfold this year as well as the coverage of cyberdrama and bullying happening between peers and with teachers. The internet safety space is booming and any site with lots of teens that doesn't have screeners or someone appointed as a "Safety Czar" is operating a risky business. We've seen all of the big social networks implement greater privacy options (and more and more teens taking advantage of them), especially as more parents, teachers and cops troll these sites trying to find out what teens are doing online. A few sites launched this year waving the safety banner like imbee and YFly -- I have no idea how they're doing registration-wise. But as we all know, accomodating both parental concerns and teens' desire for "a space of their own" is a fine line to walk, and that any site (think: Wal-Mart's The Hub) trying to hard to win parents' trust will surely flop with teens.

From the Ypulse archives:
Ypulse Interview: Jim Scheinman of Bebo
YFly For 'Teens' 13-27?
The Hub Flub
Big Momma's Tips
Will Nick Lachey be the Next Murdoch?

The re-invention of the teen magazine: Everyone was shocked when Teen People and ELLEGirl folded this year -- the writing was finally on the wall for teen magazines: adapt to teens' new digital reality or die. We watched CosmoGIRL! expand its web presence and launch blogs, Seventeen and Atoosa take over MySpace and saw ELLEGirl resurrected as an online-only publication. It's become clear that the strengths of old media (big sister voice and advice, editorial picks around style and fashion, information on health and sexuality issues) must now mesh with the two-way interactive medium of the Web offering comments and customization as well as the ability to contribute content. As for celebrity coverage, with the exception of photos you can tear out and hang in your locker, both teen mags and celebrity mags are facing stiff competition from independent gossip blogs (Think: Pink is the New Blog) And just as in the social networking space, where only a handful of general teen social networks can dominate, going niche both in print and online could be a winning formula (think: STACK Magazine).

From the Ypulse archives:
The Future of Teen Mags, Rain, And All That Jazz
ELLEgirl.com Relaunching Monday
Are Teen Magazines Really Just Tween Magazines?
Teen People Going Out Of Print

Related:
Ypulse [Y]ear In Review 2006 Part Two

Posted by anastasia