Today we continue our Year In Review coverage with Youth Advisory Board member Libby Issendorf. Libby dons her hat as media analyst and shares her picks for the hits and misses she's seen this year in youth advertising. Look for more of the Best and Worst in youth media and marketing from 2008 along with more in-depth reflections on this past year up through the start of 2009!

Best and Worst Youth Ad Campaigns of 2008

The Best

The Obama campaign's use of social media. Everything from his iconic logo to his sans serif font resonated with young voters, and Obama urged them to talk about it. The campaign mobilized youth by linking them together through forums they already used–Facebook, texting, Twitter, iPhone apps–and creating communities through which they rallied together. Young (18-29-year-old) voters responded by voting for him in record numbers and some think his focus on young voters won him the White House.

Dentyne. Young people don't think about living our lives through a screen; laptops and cell phones are what we've always known. But once in a while we do want to quit texting, typing, recording, or watching, and just live. I love that Dentyne wants to prepare me to make face time for my friends IRL. Sometimes "<3 xoxo" just doesn't cut it. Their website shuts down in 3 minutes after encouraging us to request face time from a friend or attack the emoticons as cheap substitutes for actual smiles or laughter. The New York Times quoted industry experts who thought college kids would "roll their eyes" at the campaign, but I love its message and visuals.

VitaminWater. "Gossip Girl" and "Sex and the City" were two key partnerships in 2008 that elevated VitaminWater's visibility among youth. Fun-loving, offbeat brand ambassadors made the beverage a must-have by handing out product on college campuses. They've also dominated movie theaters and even replaced their clever copy on the labels with co-sponsored stories about Carrie & friends. It's a great example of what a brand can do with non-traditional advertising and PR.

Target dorm. I remember being terrified that my first college roommate would hate the sea of magenta and orange I'd picked out from Target. Imagine my delight when she walked in with the exact same bedding collection. In this high-energy spot, Target taps into a real consumer insight about freshmen anxiety and positions itself as a fun possible solution.

The Worst

JC Penney. In this AdWeek article, CMO Mike Boylson said that JC Penney was trying to show off the "newness" of JC Penney's teen-targeted back-to-school lineup and presumably raise its cool factor among teens. Unfortunately, it was way off the mark. I'm too young to get "The Breakfast Club" reference, and I left high school over 4 years ago. This mistake shows that JC Penney is exactly what they're fighting not to be–your mom's store.

Candie's Foundation. I pretty thoroughly bashed this PSA in an earlier Ypulse entry, but I need to repeat that it's parental and out of touch. Worst, it relies on an unresolved fear tactic without presenting a clear solution.

Toyota. I know teens aren't Toyota's main target (besides the Scion, targeted at men 18-24) but sports fans of any age are ready to stab out their eardrums when they hear this commercial during every NCAA football commercial break. STOP.

John McCain's Barackbook. John McCain's campaign started out with a clever concept when they launched BarackBook, a faux social network with a familiar blue interface that gives information about all Obama's "friends." The homepage is set up to look like Obama's mini-feed, and controversial connections like William Ayers and ACORN have their own profile pages and links to negative news articles. The execution may have grabbed young voters' attention, but the strategy was off. Young voters were turned off by negative ads, especially those that critiqued alliances instead of policies. They also may have felt McCain was mocking their own use of Facebook as a platform for supporting their candidates.

About Libby Issendorf

After growing up on a farm in North Dakota, Libby Issendorf moved to Minneapolis to attend the University of Minnesota. She discovered her passion for brands and media as a member of her school’s first-place National Student Advertising Competition team. After graduation in 2008, she began her career as a media analyst at an advertising agency. Libby works on media placement and targeting for national brands like General Mills and Land O Lakes. Outside of work, she loves blogging, playing sports, consuming gratuitous amounts of pop culture, the Minnesota Twins, being really geeky with her iPhone, and driving to see her boyfriend, who lives too far away.

Categorized under: Youth Advisory Board, Youth Marketing

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