In the flurry of media attention around this season's back-to-school shopping push, the focus has been split (not surprisingly) between the projected downturn-induced dip in numbers and a move towards integrating even more social media into campaigns. Nicely summed up in this USA Today piece, we wanted to take a closer look at who got what right.

A sample from some of the longtime BTS players: J.C. Penney has consolidated its microsites for different brands into jcp.com/teen and launched a teen-targeted Facebook page, Kmart launched a web site around its Schoolebrity Sweepstakes that also features games and a dress-up avatar feature, and Staples (who had no social media component up until this year) used Facebook to promote a cause-marketing effort to collect school supplies for needy students.

Give teens a reason to share what they find/do/create on your site or fan page. Nike has a great example of this with their iPhone app that lets you customize a shoe design that you can share with friends via Facebook before you commit to buying it. Sears also has a Campus Ready app on Facebook for potential college roommates to connect, design the layout of their dorm rooms, and then purchase the items from Sears.com. I think both efforts could be taken one step further and integrate a poll so teens could see how many of their friends approve and possibly even a loyalty program or rewards system if teens' friends end up making a purchase.

Let teen shoppers be the fashion police. It might seem counter-intuitive, but I really like that on the J.C. Penney site teens can comment on both the styles they like and the ones they don't. To me, this brings the virtual shopping experience a lot closer to its real-life counterpart. I could see this playing a role on features like Kmart's Mix and Mash Dress-up Avatar. For teens (as with any social shopper) the input of a thumbs down is just as important as a thumbs up. As is the space to modify and tweak in order to turn that thumbs down rightside up.

Celebs spokesmodels are great, but what can they offer? Miley and Max Azria for Walmart. Selena Gomez for Sears. Ryan Shekler for J.C. Penney. As this year's tween stars roll out their latest lines, I flashed back to a recent case study on celebrity advertising that showed famous people as "the least trusted of all company/brand spokespersons." The study wasn't specifically among youth, and in the tween world I'm not sure this issue holds up.  With the volume of content and the depth that these stars are integrated into their respective campaigns (Selena, for instance, is hosting the Sears Air Band Casting Call, a competition to find a fifth member for Sears' Arrive Air Band and Miley has exclusive interviews and offers on the Walmart site), youth brands seem more likely to run into the opposite problem (see Wrigley and Chris Brown). Still, I wonder even if these fun and flashy celeb-centric extras successfully pull teens into the site, how well do they work in the way of promoting the actual apparel and ultimately nudging teens (and their parents) into the stores?

Ypulse readers: What did you think was especially strong (or weak) in this year's BTS campaigns?

Categorized under: Youth Marketing

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