Parenting Trends that make you go “huh”?

Why are parents so sensitive to trends? Why are they spending small fortunes and become sanctimonious and judgmental in some of the worst cases? I’m guilty of succumbing and find myself easily caught up in the one-upmanship and new news paranoia that prompts new parents to always be striving for some version of perfection. 

Babble.com offered some insight recently. Babble is this hipster parent web site from the makers of Nerve.com for the new generation of parents. The site features articles like, “Just how dangerous is it to smoke pot when you’re pregnant?” Pretty provocative perhaps?

 Parenting is a loaded subject. It seems everyone’s got a point-of-view. EVERYONE. From the seasoned parents of multiple kids to the organic gardener down the block with no kids or plans for any.

For me, anything that takes the piss out of the current obsessive parenting culture and enormous industry built around it, is a fun read. Madeline Holler describes those “trends”, both “in” and “out”, that may prove baffling.

OUT

The “ayden”-ifaction” naming style: Same name, different spelling: Kaitlyn, and the –aydens. I’m guilty of using an atypical spelling. My daughter’s name is spelled with a C instead of the classic K. It was probably some attempt to distinguish her from all the other kids she’ll grow up with. 

Bringing baby to work: Oh, the horror of watching the guy in the cube across from you talking baby talk as he soothes his little one. Babble’s point, and I agree – maybe it’s time for flex time to actually happen or even better, day care down the hall or co-ops for small companies.

Helicopter Parenting: This is a parenting that baffles me and my Gen X peers. Holler describes it, “Moms now negotiate grades with their kids’ college professors. Dads shake hands with baby’s future employer…”Any parent joining his/her 21+ year old kids at their first job interview? It just seems strange! My folks were supportive but I fended for myself. They believe I  would learn important life lesson learn how to be resourceful, tenacious and proud of my own hard-earned achievements.

Nursing well beyond babyhood: Really? For real? Nursing until kids are in first grade when they’re articulate enough to have a thoughtful conversation about trains and Sesame Street? 

Next, the “In” List.

 

 

This Is So Random

What makes one ad work better than another? Why is Bill Gates the richest man on Earth? Why did you win $500 last night in poker? According to this thought-provoking book, the answer to all of these questions is the same: TOTAL RANDOM LUCK.

Yes, there is such a thing as talent. (No doubt, you are talented at what you do.) But if you’ve ever seen a nobody beat Tiger Woods, you know how much talent gets you. So to take this to the next level, should every brand be trying multiple ad concepts at once? If you go by the Levi’s example, then the answer may be “Yes”. And if a coin tossed every second for 30 years will land heads a million times in a row no less than six times in that thirty years, (its true!) how much credence can you give research? Maybe you just caught a lucky streak.

Interesting reading. In interesting times. The moral of the story seems to be: if you want to succeed, double your failure rate. Go with your gut and have fun. Easier said than done, we know. But whether you do it or not, you’re still rolling the dice.

 

PART III: FRUGAL CAN BE THE NEW COOL

PART III: TRENDS IN CONSUMERS’ RECESSION BEHAVIOR

It is our job to stay positive and find opportunities, right? Necessity is the mother of invention was exemplified by McDonald’s dollar menu, an invention of the past recession. In addition to the discounting and empathy we spoke about in the last post, we see the additional communication opportunities for food & beverage advertising to be:

1. Destroy the Middle Man: Savvy and crafty consumers should be praised for figuring out what contributes to end costs. Help them feel more in control, gain trust through transparency, and show them how they can bypass conveniences and the middle man to get to the real raw product. This might even give advertisers permission to capitalize on the nostalgia equity of brands like Spam, which are seeing their sales increase. Some examples of what consumers are choosing:

b. to grow and can their own food

c. locavore options, like farmers markets which cut out transportation costs

d. to buy the whole chicken instead of pre-cut convenience packs

2. Cook like a Chef: To save money, people are looking to themselves (what they can do to raw ingredients to get them into their belly?). Advertising can encourage and support consumer chefs to discover that they can bring the restaurant foodie experience into their homes, even express their talent to entertain friends. We have all had face-to-face moments with a can of tomatoes and a shaker of basil, and realized we have been throwing money away at Whole Paycheck. It is not so bad to make your own sauce and it is even better when it creates social cache. Consumers relish the confidence and satisfying pay-offs of DIY (Do-It-Yourself). Practicality, getting real and doing the balancing act can even be dramatized as a challenge (so you didn’t think you could do it, huh?). While Boomers know how to cook and are more comfortable eating at home, Gen Xers and Millenials are not familiar and could be a rapt audience. Examples of what consumer are doing:

a. Buying cookbooks. Taking classes at supermarkets about getting maximum yield out of all ingredients

Can frugality be as cool as a binge lifestyle? What will you find once you are stripped of accoutrements? Consumers are finding out and thus we dare you to try “Destroy the Middle Man” and “Cook like a Chef”. If only to save up for an iPhone instead of going into more debt. For now this concludes our inklings about how frugal can be the new cool.

 

Obama New Yorker cover scores ad points. Maybe not popularity points.

The Fist Bump

What do you think about The New Yorker cover? Here’s my take; EFFECTIVE AD

The cover has been derided as “tasteless” by every analyst within range of a mike. Republican and democrat. Obama too. Satire that missed. Evidently. At least with lots of people.

It is also a great story about the power of doing tapping in to something relevant and doing something surprising with it. When is the last time there was a national conversation about The New Yorker magazine. The New Yorker may well see a subscription spike.

What does it mean to advertisers? No politics in advertising? No religion? Social sensitivities need to be heeded?

Obviously.

But what about stirring things up? Covers, like everything we do, are designed and intended to get attention. And sales. And in the case of this magazine, politics are a fair playing field. My guess would be that the feeling at the New Yorker is; oops, but mission accomplished…collateral damage among the uninformed is unfortunate…sorry about that, Obama. We were trying to help actually.

Advertisers should take this as an affirmation of one of the basic tenets of Advertising. Be relevant. Do something different. Be surprising. And in doing so, force people to think or feel something.

Obama New Yorker cover scores ad points. Maybe not popularity points.

 

Photo Inspiration

Worksongs is one of those photo blogs that makes me want to run back to film! The photograper, Andrew Emond, switched back to film in January and it’s amazing the difference in crispness, color, and composition. Running through abandoned factories, asbestos mines and underground water tunnels – all with a Hasselblad on his back. Love it.

I found Ed Ou back in December while searching for photographers for Bonefish Grill. According to his resume, he’s all of 21 years old, yet has seen more then most and captured it with an incredible eye. My favorite, if I had to choose one, is the first image in the Reuters Africa section “Courtship Dance”.

If you need more inspiration, try out Magnum Photos blog. Not only do you get beautiful images but the photographers give insight to what they see and the work they do.

 

PART II: FRUGAL CAN BE THE NEW COOL

PART II: EMPATHIZE WITH CONSUMERS TRADING OUT, NOT DOWN

· Today, people are trading out not down.

· The “lipstick factor”, where people indulge in small ticket items like lipstick to cheer themselves up, is not taking effect.

· QSR dollar menu items and loss leaders aren’t even working. Consumers walk out without buying anything else. (Offer eggs at wholesale prices in combo deals where people have to buy mayonnaise at retail).

Whereas consumers previously traded down from 20 bedroom McMansions to 3 bedroom houses, they are opting to move back with their parents (leaving the real estate category un-stimulated). Brands that are used to consumers trading down from designers’ private collections to Target’s limited editions, will not be used to consumers forgoing the style fix and cutting it out completely. Historically, many QSRs experienced growth during recessions because people traded down from Fast Casual and Fine Dining restaurants. However in the current economic condition, QSRs need to lend consumers a helping hand or provide added value to balance the effects of seeing sales plateau or dip soon.

In the work we developed for Quiznos’s $5 offer, showing people eating $5 lends a helping hand by saying “yeah, this sucks”. As two Bain & Company consultants wrote for Harvard Management Review during the recession of the early 90’s, “Prove that you deserve your stakeholders loyalty and trust…friends in a foxhole often become friends for life” (HMR | 2001). Brands like Quiznos become friends that provide value and hide from the fox in the same foxhole. Whereas brands that have regularly enticed consumers to spend beyond their means are now the enemy, brands that help consumers conserve are friends. Empathetic message is a key opportunity to gain share of mind during a recession.

The focus of the next and last post in this 3 part series on how frugal can be the new cool focuses on changing consumer behavior and beliefs.

 

Viddy Snacks

vnax video application

You’ve been in the situation before: Sandwich on your desk, meeting in fifteen minutes, and a hankering to see a skateboarder get his nether regions tenderized by a telephone pole – again. Chances are, you’re going to dial up your favorite video blog or old faithful YouTube and start watching some short clips while you enjoy your sandwich. Congratulations. You are now “video snacking.”

These patterns of people watching short clips during lunch has caused networks and advertisers to take notice. Noon-2pm online ad placement has become premium. Networks are producing content specifically for lunchtime viewing. But what if you didn’t need your computer to engage in video snacking? Would you watch short video clips more often?

Enter vsnax, a new video application for the iPhone. Vsnax offers bite-sized clips from the likes of vh1, cbs, spike, and mtv to name a few. With the new 3G iPhone and it’s application store, mobile video has become a reality that previous handsets couldn’t achieve. Vsnax gives users the ability to watch short video clips on the go, anywhere they get cell service or wi-fi.

The implications of anytime video snacking could be enormous. The demand for short videos will increase and brands seeking more exposure will certainly jump on the bandwagon. Before long, you could be on your iPhone watching a skateboarder getting whacked in the crotch…with a Quiznos sub! The future is bright my friends.

 

FRUGAL CAN BE THE NEW COOL

PART I: TIMES ARE TRULY TOUGH

“People can’t stretch their money out from week to week. Some of them are embarrassed … They say, ‘I was trying to make it till Friday,’ and they couldn’t do it” — AAA mobile technician Gary Siley on the increase in motorists running out of gas while trying to stretch out a tank until payday, AP | 6.3.08

The planners here groaned through a report about how frugal is cool and outrageous bling bling is out. I.e. buying a brand name chicken at the supermarket will look showy, much less an iPhone. We are not just dismayed about how our retail clients’ businesses will do with dipping conspicuous consumption. But we are admittedly surprised by how many people the recession is hitting, how deeply the recession is impacting their day to day lives, and the worry that’s emerged.

We knew that people who make minimum wage struggle to pay for the most essential basics, but we did not know that, “Across America, close to 40 million people are listed as being “food insecure,” according to the USDA. That means that even if they don’t actually go hungry, they constantly worry about how to put food on the table. In These Times | 4.08. If ignorance means I am relatively unaffected, I feel I should at least understand what this feels like, if not help.

We knew that housing prices were sinking, but we did not know that many people depend soley on their house’s worth for current cash flow, a way to pay off debt, college tuition for their kids, and money to retire. If Americans used the $700 billion dollars they loaned against their homes in early 2006, as spending money, I wonder what Americans today are using for day to day expenses now that credit has dried up. If by the end of this year 17 million homeowners will owe more on their homes than they are worth, what does being an American become?

One of our clients said that choice gives Americans the will to survive. Does the American Dream bottom out now; where is the consumer left when deep-seeded cultural assumptions about housing values is overturned; can wealth & family futures really disappear overnight? As people feel the houses they once relied on for financial freedom are turning on them, fear, pessimism and powerlessness, in addition to shame and regret, could wash over Americans. The current live-large binge-bling generations have little cultural reference for lifestyles of need over want, enough is enough and piecing things together to get by.

The impact of this on brands and consumer behavior will be the focus of the next posts in this 3 part series on how frugal can be the new cool.

 

I.D. 2008 Annual Design Review

2008 Winners

If you get a chance, head down to Parson’s on 5th ave and 13th st to check out the winners of the design review. Some really great stuff including the Bike Dispenser, Puma Ping-Pong paddles, BBDO’s Kitchen stationary, and of course, check out #22 – my friend Phil’s concept work called the Datum Line that won Best of Category!! The opening was last night and they had some great giveaways, I tried to win the ping-pong paddles – but that didn’t happen.

Thursday, July 10th – Sunday September 28th, 2008

Sheila C. Johnson Design Center
Parsons The New School for Design, 66 Fifth Avenue at 13th Street, New York
Gallery hours: M-F, 10 AM-8 PM; S-S, Noon-6 PM
Admission: Free
Info: Please contact 212.229.8919 or visit www.parsons.newschool.edu/events.

 

What do you eat?

I first came across Refrigerator Photography this spring on the Sonya Open Studios in Brooklyn, 35 Claver artist Steven Samet had full size printouts of fridge interiors that showed more then what you ate, but your status in society. Now comes Fridgewatcher. Certainly not the same caliber of Steven’s but still interesting…
http://www.fridgewatcher.com/