Youth Tribes: It's About Talking to the We, Not the Me!

I ran across this brilliant post by youth branding and marketing guru Dan Pankraz (you are reading his blog and following him on Twitter aren't you?) last night and it really hit the nail on the head.

You really must read the whole post, but this paragraph in particular seemed like a good book end to what we heard from folks like Josh Shipp, Disney.com, mtvU and Don Tapscott at the 2009 Ypulse Youth Marketing Mashup last week in San Francisco.

"The fundamental emotional need of youth is and always will be BELONGING. It’s hardwired from birth, a primal need to belong to a community, to a tribe. It’s a fundamental form of self expression that is at the core of the human psyche. The growth of social media has turbo charged young peoples ability to connect and be part of global tribes.

The best youth brands understand that youth are desperate to connect with each other, so youth marketing is not about pushing messages onto a target audience of disparate individuals, it’s about inspiring the TRIBE, so they connect with each other. It’s about talking to the WE, not necessarily the ME."

Spot on Dan, spot on!

Read the entire post >>>

Related Links

• China Youthology
• Premise Marketing
• Ypulse: Youth Marketing to Teens & Tweens
• MobileYouth