!"#$%&'(#)%" hen we were young, marketing to teens and young adults was ! really rather easy. We, Generation Xers true to type, were eager to tune ourselves to global brands and de nitely wanted to start our yuppie careers in a famous multinational. The big corporations radiated the proof of the ultimate success. Just imagine... when we were 16 we'd be able to buy those big cool brands ourselves! And that's exactly what all brands were shouting at us. Buy us and you will be so cool! And oh yes, we loved it... we even believed it. Brands were projecting cool and aspiring images in their ads. They were setting the goals we all desired to achieve. They dictated how to dress, behave, walk and talk. We didn't doubt for a minute what the marketers were telling us. We even adored TV commercials, because we were the rst generation to grow up with commercial stations and it was all so new and glamorous to us. Like forbidden fruit. Our parents and grandparents gave us an allowance from time to time and we all spent it hastily on Depeche Mode or Talking Heads vinyl records, just saving enough to buy a pair of Docs or All-Stars and some hair gel. Today, things have dramatically changed. This youth generation has been bombarded with commercial messages from their birth. They have learned to lter out all those loud messages and they have been empowered by their parents and teachers to have an opinion of their own and never merely believe whatever somebody is proclaim- ing. But the global brands are still there. So are the commercial media. And there must be countless times more choice of both. Instead of new wave or synthpop records Gen Yers can choose and mix dozens of music genres at last.fm or iTunes, and what brand of gel, wax, clay, gum, spray, whip, cream-mousse, pomade, paste, texturizer, balm or lotion will they use to style their haircut tonight? To survive in the current cluttered and fragmented environment, today's teens and How Cool Brands Stay Hot.indb 1 10 /2 8 /2 0 10 11:0 5 :2 2 A M 2 " #$ %##& '()*+, -.)/ " #. adolescents use collective peer wisdom and social connections. They believe what their best friends and parents are telling them and self- consciously want to explore what roads they should take. And what are brands to do now? Shouting how cool they are isn't working anymore, that's for sure. Brands have lost their role model or oracle status. Whispering might be an option, but you still need to convince the condent teen to remove his white iPod earplug and bother to listen to you instead of to all the other teen whisperers. The main point is that you have to earn youth's respect, before you can even start the conversation about your brand. This book is all about connecting with a new generation who will determine how consumer markets evolve in the next three decades. Although Generation Y still embraces cool brands, the ones that just claim they are cool, won't even reach their radar. It takes a great deal of effort to be cool and to stay hot for this consumer group. In working with media and advertisers in our day-to-day jobs, we have often experienced some insecurity in addressing youth markets. Of course, the pressure for marketers is high when they have to deal with the most marketing-savvy generation of teens and 20-year-olds ever. The huge number of competitors that join them in trying to convince this age cohort heightens the stress levels and kindles the battle between brands in youth markets. U nfortunately, this rat race often ends in a brand's mere surng on youth fads and hypes. Many research agencies seem to have limited their youth insights to trend- watching and coolhunting. Although a youth brand needs to be aware of what's hot and what's not, just to stay in touch with its environ- ment, we believe that there's much more to the equation. C reating brands that touch their hearts implies a true knowledge of the underlying youth drivers and needs. In this book, we will explain the ve key attributes of successful youth brands to you. Together they form the acronym C R U SH: M C oolness; M R ealness; M U niqueness; M Self-identication with the brand; and M Happiness. Each of these traits is the main topic of a chapter in this book. The C R U SH brand leverage model is based on ve years of intensive How Cool Brands Stay Hot.indb 2 10 /2 8 /2 0 10 11:0 5 :2 2 A M 0*.(#+12.3#* 3 youth research and consulting grounded in a daily connection with 13- to 29-year-olds. By optimizing your brand's performance with re- gard to the ve characteristics of engaging youth brands, your brand too will enjoy an uplift in terms of satisfaction, peer-to-peer promo- tion (conversations about your brand) and purchase preference. We have illustrated our youth brand vision with inspiring case stories from the past as well as the present including Sony Playstation, Axe/Lynx, Vans, Q uicksilver, R ed Bull, Levi's, Doctor Martens and many more. The C R U SH model was tried and tested through new international research as well as interviews with global marketing executives of successful brands such as Jack & Jones, N okia, H& M, N ike, G-Star, C oca-C ola, and Tommy Hilger. If you're not working for a global and mainstream brand, it might be relatively easy to become cool for a while for parts of Gen Y. But the marketers and brands we have interviewed have managed to stay relevant for the entire youth market year after year. On the other hand, we have also inserted a number of `unusual suspects', not-for-prot organizations connecting with youth in a low budget yet very effective way. A few examples include the Swedish Armed Forces and C ancer Society of Finland. We rst kick off this book by debunking some Millennial myths and explaining how this generation differs from others. What are the specic characteristics of adolescents that will affect the way they connect with brands today? The impact of our vision on youth branding is explained in the second chapter, as an introduction to the subsequent parts that will deconstruct each of the ve C R U SH dimensions. The third chapter explores what being cool means for a brand. Is it necessary to be cool and is it possible to become a cool brand in every product category? In C hapter 4 on real brands we will prove that brand authenticity really makes a difference for the critical Generation Y. But being authentic means completely different things for Gen Yers than for other generations. Gen Yers are on a mission to become special or unique. That's why they are also looking for unique brands that help them to stand out. But how do you make your brand unique in a post-modern world full of choice? The fth chapter tackles this subject. C ontrary to previous generations, Gen Yers were brought up in an atmosphere of equal relationships and co-decision making and How Cool Brands Stay Hot.indb 3 10 /2 8 /2 0 10 11:0 5 :2 2 A M 4 " #$ %##& '()*+, -.)/ " #. that's exactly what they expect from brands today. This also means that brands should have a better knowledge of the values, interests and opinions of different youth lifestyle groups. The new consumer combines brands in an eclectic way to express his/her own individual identity. In C hapter 6 we will fully delve into the topics of identity development and self-identication with brands. Today's youth generation is more emotional than ever. The last chapter deals with the way brands can offer them magic moments and arouse feelings of happiness. Although in marketing there are never one-size-ts-all solutions, we are condent you will recognize the brand attributes that might need focus in your own market approach. Perhaps this book will even confront you with the blind spots in your current offer. By read- ing this summary of our ndings, you will explore the Generation Y world. You will understand why the ve brand components are essential for Gen Y and how your brand can tap into them. We know that trying to capture the mindset of an entire gener- ation is quite a vain endeavour. And although the world and this generation are more globalized than ever, we still feel it would be a bad idea to generalize too much. But we hope that by sharing our passion to understand and connect with these mind-blowing consumers, we will challenge you to develop relevant youth strategies and brands. Although the real difference will be made in your own creative marketing approach, we trust this book will help you to get a better grip on this fast-moving target group without losing your brand's identity in the next small trend. After all, it's all about staying true to your roots, but adapting to the changing environment and constantly nding new angles to keep this stimulus-oriented and emotional youth on board. We wish you an inspiring and exciting journey and look forward to hearing your feedback and thoughts via www.howcoolbrandsstayhot.com. Last, but not least, on behalf of The Staying Alive Foundation we would like to thank you for buying this book.