- Tweens, teens and body image (a recent survey shows that most think they're overweight and that their lives would dramatically improve if they were their ideal weight)

- Soulja Boy tells em (the young rap star shares the secrets to his success) (Las Vegas Sun)

- Disney turns to tween boys (with Disney XD, a new boy-focused brand that will include of a cable television channel, and a comprehensive Web site with games, music, videos and social networking. Also Mattel expands its digital efforts with more interactive programming and content online) (WSJ)

- Less reading, more playing (Ziff Davis shutters his gaming magazine and sells 1UP Network to Hearst. Meanwhile over in the UK video game sales have hit a record high. Oh, the irony) (Media Buyer Planner) (PSFK)

- Coming soon… (Hollywood markets movies to younger audiences by using more mobile and online engagement) (Variety)

- Truth in advertising? (scientists prove that the "Axe Effect" might have some basis in reality) (Ad Age, reg. required)

- Youth Radio (a youth media organization that teaches journalism, production, and tech to underprivileged young people. Also the Neiman Reports explore how new media calls for a new age of journalism) (Boing Boing) (Nieman Reports)

- Pessimistic about Pepsi (Brazen Careerist's Ryan Healy has his doubts about Pepsi's Optimism project. Plus a bold campaign in Germany to help girls suffering from bulimia) (The Brazen Careerist)

- A historic day for the PTA (for the first time in U.S. history a dad will serve as president of the national association) (New York Times, reg. required)

Correction: In yesterday's Essentials I noted that at Est. Today girls could “design, create and sell their own clothes.” It should have read ‘buy’ rather than ‘sell.’

Pepsi's Millennial Message Goes International

The youth of Hindustan — better known across the world as India — has been enthralled by Pepsi’s star-studded Youngistaan campaign. Launched in 2008, Pepsi gave India's youth an opportunity to voice our opinions on an international platform by conducting surveys and and encouraging video responses. This was then followed by a series of ads that addressed youth-oriented pro-social issues such as bullying and youth causes mentioned in the survey. By allowing us to speak our minds it really won our hearts!

Without making us feel like too much of a target, the campaign allowed us to define the concept of Youngistaan by asking what it meant to be us.

The first ad featured Bollywood idols and popular debutantes Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone as well as an all-time favorite of mine, Shahrukh Khan, better known as the King of Bollywood, and a perennial favorite. Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone became an instant hit with young people after their debut movies. Although neither of the two appeared in films with youth-centric themes, their attractiveness and magnetic personalities made them instant youth icons.

This campaign made us realize our potential as the youth of India –the largest youth population in the world. It created an aura of optimism, enthusiasm and adrenaline with its catchy slogan “yeh hai youngistaan meri jaan”. [translation: this is youngistaan, my life!]

The suffix “stan” could have been referring to a planet or a place, but the campaign used it to represent a state of mind. To me, it presented Indian youth in a refreshingly new and unique light. It celebrated our attitude and optimism without branding us or trying to bracket us into any single category. With its versatility and many possible interpretations, every single one of us could feel proud to be a Youngistaani.

About Akanksha
By the time she got to the much-dreaded, self-esteem destroying wasteland also known as high-school, Akanksha began to develop an interest in writing. Suddenly, all the words she ever knew began to creep into her dreams, and discover all her darkest thoughts and feelings, before silently but permanently immersing themselves within her soul and transforming themselves into fiction. In addition to that, the French language is her drug and acne is her worst enemy. She laughs a little too much and is a romantic in the extreme sense.

But then the industry goes and come out with something like a girly Guitar Hero and you just want to throw up your hands in exasperation. Presumably, the heart shape and pink color are simply an uncreative marketing ploy to get tween girls into Guitar Hero, but it's just… wrong. It turns an inclusive gender-neutral experience into one that's exclusively male by implying that the regular version of the game somehow isn't feminine.

Incidentally, earlier this week parents in the U.K. also were getting up in arms over products being given the girly treatment. British moms complained that the huge influx of toys designated for girls by color aka "the pink plague" was not only reinforcing gender stereotypes and widening the gap between boys and girls, but also effectively brainwashing their daughters . According to a recent Telegraph article:

[The fear] comes after one study on young girls' speech patterns found that, although they can identify colours such as blue and yellow, some said simply "Barbie" when shown something pink.

A little scary, no? Of course, the "Barbie" thing brings up a few additional issues. But for now let's just focus on putting the heart-shaped pink guitars away and letting girls play like anyone else.

For more coverage of marketing and media aimed towards tweens, check out the Ypulse Tweens Channel

Webkinz Jr. (the original virtual pets co plans on launching a new line for 3 to 6 year olds this spring) (Gifts and Decorative Accessories)

- Est. Today (a DIY design website that lets tween girls with an eye for fashion design, create and buyl their own clothes. Sound familiar? Back in September Anastasia pointed out a similar site) (trendcentral)

- Teen pregnancy rates rise (in the U.S. Let the blame game begin) (MccClatchy Washington Bureau)

- Grand Theft Auto is no Drivers Ed (a 6-year-old attempts to take the family car to school after missing the bus… and crashes. Definitely one for the WTF files) (AP)

- 'Olivia' on Nickelodeon (the beloved children's book makes the leap to television) (MediaPost, reg. required)

- Scitable (a free online resource designed for bio majors and educators. This could be a welcome alternative to Wikipedia. Also a West Point for aspiring bureaucrats exchanges a four year education for five years of government service) (New York Times, reg. required)

- Bellaboo (Aussie teen skin care line designed by and for teen girls… with the help of a very involved parent/former beauty editor)

- Meet the millennial congressman (27 year-old Aaron Schock is the first member of congress to be born in the 1980s and makes the rest of us feel like we have some catching up to do) (CBS News)

- Guitar Hero gets girly (with a pink heart-shaped guitar. And the 'pink plague' rages on. Plus in other stereotypically gendered toy news a new virtual world for boys comes out with a feature for building cars. And finally two studies come out on gender differences and physical activity) (Shiny Shiny TV) (Telegraph UK) (Virtual World News) (Jezebel)

- Nokia's new mobile web portal (reaches out to youth by reporting the latest news from Rolling Stone and US Weekly. Plus MobileYouth's Graham Brown takes a cue from Seth Godin with his presentation on Mobile Youth Tribes) (mocoNews.net) (Mobile Youth)

Hot

Useful Facebook Apps Youth who have been on Facebook since their early teens will begin to tire of apps like Lil Green Patch and Super Wall. While quizzes will continue to be popular so will apps that actually help you get stuff done like LuckyCal or offers students the ability to learn online like PodClass. As Facebook becomes more of an "operating system" for the internet (Facebook Connect will also be huge), younger users will begin adding tools to their profile "flare."

Getting degrees online As the financial downturn and credit crunch makes college even less affordable and accessible this year, we're going to see more and more young people going online for their degree. University of Phoenix teaming up with MySpace Records Kate Voegele was a smart way to begin reshaping online education as a "cool" option for teens who don't have the grades or the resources to go to a traditional school. See this post from Ars Technical about the boom in online education and today's Media Post article about Kaplan University.

Creating your own iPhone apps While the college/early twentysomething set may end up tiring of mindless Facebook apps, those who have iPhones are probably marveling at the possibility of actually making money off an app that makes your phone pass gas or battle with a lightsaber. I think there will be lots of younger people creating these apps either to make a quick buck or showing off their talent at work by volunteering to make one for their company/brand.

Multi-media Newsfeeds Lifecasting or keeping tabs on your friends' lives through newsfeeds on social networking sites hit a tipping point in '08. This year will be the year video expands beyond the YouTube ghetto and becomes more of a way to capture what you're doing right now. With the success of lower-priced digital cameras with video and the Flip and sites like Facebook making it social and simple to post, we'll see more teen girls and young women producing and posting video.

Grouping friends & limiting profiles This is beginning to happen already, but now that social networking has gone mainstream and expanded well beyond teens and college students, context for what you post and who sees it is becoming crucial. With mom and dad and lots of other adults with authority over teens wanting to "friend," youth are being forced to actually go through their privacy settings and set boundaries over who can access what updates and photos and think about managing their online identities for different relationships/contexts. And of course this may also spur youth to move away from MySpace and Facebook back to social networks that are more teen focused.

Not

The Limitations of the Google-verse This one is from Ypulse managing editor Meredith Sires: With @edu possibly becoming endangered, more college students will hang on to their Gmail accounts as their primary email addresses. This in turn will be a gateway to Gchat replacing AIM and for those that spend a significant amount of time on the web and are already familiar with RSS– Google Reader. I could also see this translating to the workplace with GoogleDocs (my old office was increasingly using this tech rather than just sending a Microsoft Doc). However, as far as Google's smartphone (Gphone) and internet browser (Chrome) it seems like the chances of either taking off or even really landing on teens and twentysomethings' radar in the year ahead are slim. Right now smartphone = iPhone (in the same way iPod = mp3 player). Conversely, a browser is a browser.
In both cases, kids won't be in the market for a new one.

The PS3 I'm not a gamer, but I live with one. We have a PS3, but I've been hearing rumblings lately about how we should have gotten an Xbox. As a gaming console, the PS3 seems to have squandered its opportunity by remaining too pricey and Microsoft having popular titles like Halo exclusively for the XBox. Throw in the mainstreaming of gaming through family-oriented consoles like the Wii (popular with non-traditional gamers like teen girls), and one wonders whether PS3s will end up being valued more as Blue-ray players than gaming consoles. This WSJ article sums up Sony's dilemma nicely.

The kids/tween virtual world glut With so many virtual worlds live or launching this past year, there is bound to be a shake out in '09. Club Penguin, Webkinz and the other biggies aren't going anywhere, but for the smaller start-ups dependent on future rounds of investment to stay afloat or expand, 2009 will be a tough, if not impossible year. Virtual worlds are more popular with kids and tweens than they are with teens, but there can only be so many in the "environmental niche," for example.

eReaders for youth Meredith agreed with me on this one - early adopters and commuters may love their Kindles, but I just don't see younger readers embracing eBooks anytime soon — even on the iPhone. Unlike the whole cd player vs. iPod deal, youth like the way books look (covers!) and feel. Plus, if you're reading a cool book, you feel good about subtly showing it off.

Tween social networks I'm not talking about virtual worlds with social networking elements, but about attempts to build separate MySpace or Facebook junior-type sites for the 10-13 set. The reality is that tweens (especially at a mature 11, 12 and 13) are aspirational and want to be where the older kids are. These tweens don't want to hang out in the parent-approved "safe" spaces created just for them. More of these tweens are already on MySpace or Facebook, often with their parents' blessing (and watchful eye). Social networks are driven by having all your friends in one place — if your friends are on MySpace or Facebook, it's going to be tough to get them to go create profiles and buy into the concept of a network like Imbee - as well meaning as it is.

P.S. I may end up with some revised views after my trip to Vegas tomorrow where I'm speaking at the Kids@Play Summit, which is part of CES.

For more coverage of youth marketing on Ypulse, please visit our Youth Marketing Channel, sponsored by Youth Marketing Connections.

On the one hand, you have the Newbery, "the gold standard in children's literature" recognized the world over as the highest honor in the field. Objectively speaking. Pat Scales, president of the Association for Library Service to Children, makes this point crystal clear in The Washington Post article when she said, "The criterion has never been popularity. It is about literary quality. We don't expect every child to like every book." Fair enough. The populist choice isn't always the quality choice and there should be some secluded committee somewhere to recognize the difference. And no, the selection process won't be perfect or unanimously accepted, but then again what prestigious award is?

Rather than tear down the Newbery, why not just create secondary, more subjective committees to sort through the selections and help young readers find the book that they will like: Enter the Cybils. Or rather, the concept behind the Cybils: a group of committed educators, librarians and other YA enthusiasts (in this case bloggers) who simply enjoy recommending good books for kids. Regardless of whether they could qualify for a prestigious award like the Newbery (see Cybil nominee Jellicoe Road) or not (see Cybil nominee Audrey, Wait.) The key here is not to get hung up on the first step. Because at the end of the day a gold embossed medal on a cover doesn't compare to a parent, teacher or librarian taking any given book off the shelf and saying, "I LOVED this. I think you will, too."

For more coverage of the children's and YA publishing space, check out the Ypulse Books Channel, sponsored by Poppy: The new home of today's hottest fiction.

- Depression spreads in Scotland (a survey shows that 1 in 10 youths find life "meaningless") (BBC News)

- Cybils shortlist (were announced, in case you hadn't heard. Also Newbery comes under fire… again this time for the lack of diversity among selected titles. And A Chair, A FIreplace and A Tea Cozy responds to the uproar) (The Ya Ya Yas) (Bloomberg News)

- Teens tell all (on social networking sites according to a recent study. Surprising? Not so much. More interesting was the second study that measured the demo's response to a physician reaching out based on the risky behaviors they disclosed. Also an Op Ed piece in the Wall Street Journal challenges the recent study that questioned the effectiveness of virginity pledges) (Washington Post, reg. required)

- 'The future of work' (a sidenote to our ongoing debate with PSFK from writer/comedian Chris Hardwick who discusses his life as a freelancer) (PSFK)

- You know you love it (the creator of "Gossip Girl" announces a new web series that will follow a group of twentysomethings who hang out a nightclub. Also the second season of "Secret Life of the American Teenager" raises more questions about teen pregnancy) (Variety) (LA Times, reg. required)

- Will virtual worlds get real? (a look at the explosion of branding inside virtual worlds for kids and teens) (MediaPost, reg. required)

- Alcopops banned (from youth-targeted video games in Illinois after a new law passes. Plus more on Pepsi's millennial-centric plans for the year ahead) (GameInformer) (AdWeek)

- Thatsnotcool.com (a new site dedicated to raising awareness and stopping digital dating abuse)

- Obama RSVPs (for the Youth Ball, an inaugural celebration for those between the ages of 18 and 35) (Washington Post, reg. required)

From blog to website: The biggest change is that instead of just publishing full posts in reverse chronological order, which we've done since our launch in 2004, we are moving to a more modular homepage design. We're doing this for a couple of reasons: 1) To highlight other types of Ypulse initiatives like our events and research from our partners 2) To be able to highlight content in our new channels: Mobile, Tweens, Youth Marketing, Campus and Urban (and also Books). You will still get links to each day's new content five days a week in the top "Today On Ypulse" Box. You can also still get non-essentials posts in reverse chronological order at the bottom of the page. I know it's an extra click from the homepage to read these posts, but we felt the trade-off was worth it in the end.

Offering vertical channels: We decided to launch five new channels in addition to Books in order to showcase our archival content as well as regularly add new content to the vertical topics we have found Ypulse readers are most interested in. It also opened up new advertising inventory on the site and the opportunity for advertisers to exclusively sponsor specific channels. For example, Campus Media Group is the exclusive sponsor of the Campus channel and Youth Marketing Connections is the exclusive sponsor of the Youth Marketing Channel. We still have opportunities on Tweens, Urban, Mobile and Books so if you're interested, get in touch with Anne Weiskopf.

You will begin to see new posts with invitations to dig deeper into these channels archives as well as thanking our new sponsors. You can find these channels in our cool new nav, where you can also toggle between "Topics" and "Tags" to find even more archival content.

The Ypulse Daily Update and our RSS feeds will remain the same for now in that you will see full posts or at least those that aren't truncated editorially for length. Please let us know what you think….we hope you like it!

With the exception of Red Bull and a handful of other stalwarts, I imagine smaller, newer brands facing both stiff competition and rough economic times will have a tough time sticking around. While inside the drinks' traditional niche market of extreme sports, household names like Red Bull and Gatorade continue to keep their stronghold, outside, in the mainstream, vitamin-enhanced beverages with a multitude of flavors and corresponding health-enhancing properties have systematically overtaken almost every selling point going for the product (revival, endurance, intelligence, focus) and made them low-calorie to boot. Even the street cred factor (given a boost back in '05 when Lil' Jon launched his "Crunk Juice") has been encroached by vitaminwater with 50 Cent agreeing to hawk his own flavor.

And then there's the outcry against the health risks, which came to a head last year when a petition was submitted by physicians and scientists calling for the FDA to regulate the highly caffeinated drinks. The drinks were called out for putting "young drinkers at possible risk for caffeine intoxication and higher rates of alcohol-related injuries." Yikes.

And so, it seems the buzz is dying down. But given the aforementioned health risks and the fact that most of these drinks seem like a hop, skip and a jump away from alcopops (Sparks, anyone?) if not worse, I don't think it's necessarily a loss, as much as an opportunity to explore healthier options for getting energized. What are your thoughts, readers?

Sorta Related
Ypulse Best and Worst of 2008: Youth Targeted Ad Campaigns

Disney in the Digital Age (how CEO Bob Iger is keeping Mickey's monolith alive and well) (Fortune)

- Ning for British teens? (a new online community for 13 to 18 year olds lets young UK users create the look and feel of their own social networking site) (BigNews.Biz)

- Teen dating violence (awareness and funding for the issue gets a much-needed boost) (New York Times, reg. required)

- 'Why colleges are just not that into you' (or how admissions marketing gives prospective students false hope. And the Common App site crashes because of too many high school seniors waiting until the last minute to send their college applications online. Ouch. Also AdAge offers recent grads alternatives to joining –or attempting to join– the workforce) (The Daily Beast) (AdAge, reg. required) (Jossip)

- Calling all teens.. (tips on grabbing the attention of the most easily distracted demographic. Plus why its tricky to use teen tech habits as a guide for TV programming) (MediaPost, reg. required) (Multichannel)

- Pushing pink (shops in the UK accused of reinforcing gender stereotypes by making the majority of girls toys pink. Plus popular UK teen drama "Skins" is back for a new season) (The Daily Mail) (Digital Spy)

- Adidas goes global (with a new ad campaign for its Originals brand. And young teens get groomed for college football fresh out of middle school) (USA Today) (New York Times, reg. required)

- Wild over Wii (50 kids unwrap a new Wii on Christmas. Hilarity ensues) (Pwn or Die)

- Gawker's Consumerist gets sold (in an attempt by Consumer Reports to attract a younger audience. Plus how the recession has changed Gen Y's views on marketing) (New York Times, reg. required) (MediaPost, reg. required)

- More on Boy Scouts (and their modern marketing makeover.) (AdAge, reg. required)

- Burton snowboards (still stirring up controversy) (The Boston Globe)

P.S. New year. New opportunities. If you haven't already, join the almost 600 youth media and marketing professionals in the Ypulse LinkedIn group.