Friday, March 28, 2008

Youtube Mixtape-CultureLab Hotlist

Rock en Espanol Mix




An Ode to Nike SB Dunks



Spank Rock-Baltimore Electro Clash



Santogold-Brooklyn Electro



Dancin' Is Back-Fun and Silly Rap!

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

CultureLab’s What’s Hot and What’s Not List-1st Quarter 2008

HOT

Barack Obama
MTV’s Making the Band 4
Electro/Hipster Hip Hop
Li'l Wayne's Lollipop
Skinny silhouette’s for men
Retro funk-think Amy Winehouse and Mark Ronson
Silly Dance Rap-Flo Rida, Soulja Boy
Hollister/Abecrombie & Fitch
Youtube
Baltimore and Brooklyn Electro Clash-Spank Rock, Justice, Santogold
Skatewear/Streetwear
The Dream
Guitar Hero
Vans
Chris Brown
Nintendo Wii
Day Glo colors
Google
Nike SB Dunks and Air Force 1's
iPhone/iTouch
WiFi Games
Patron Tequila
Voting
Rock en Espanol
New Wave/80’s influenced clothes
Big chunky jewelry for women

NOT

Urban Wear i.e. Roc-a-Wear, Phat Farm
Reggaeton
Puma
BET
Motorola Razr
White tee’s
American Idol
John McCain
Beer
Grills
Snap Music
Yahoo

Technorati Tags: ,

Thursday, March 13, 2008

The Old Agency Model Is Dead!

This past week, CultureLab immersed itself in the ever changing world of marketing and advertising in the Digital Age. From Toronto to Austin to LA, we traveled all over North America to find out what is really happening. There are a few important topics that we constantly heard relative to reaching Gen Y’ers. Here is what we learned:

1. Engagement-Advertising is no longer screaming down from the mountaintop with whatever message you want to communicate. Smart marketers know it is important to enlist the consumers’ help in spreading your message. Marketers who will win with Gen Y’ers will be those who encourage brand interactivity and enlist the help of the consumer to spread the word to their peers.
2. Hispanic Youth – 85% of Hispanic youth in the US were born in the US. They are multicultural in their sensibility and gravitate to English speaking media. This is the group that will have the most clout in terms of population size and cultural influence
3. Google vs. Microsoft-It is quite mind boggling to witness this epic battle of who will control advertising distribution. In the Old Media model, it was broadcast networks who controlled advertising distribution but now it is Google and Microsoft who are absolutely duking it out for control. We saw presentations by both Microsoft and Google and it became very clear to us that the stakes are high for both because this is where the advertising play really is from this point on. With Google buying Double Click and Microsoft buying Yahoo, the saga will continue.
4. Mobile Marketing- Here is another element that smart advertisers will add to the marketing mix. It was generally agreed that we are in the very Dark Ages of mobile marketing as marketers have to deal with a “broken eco-system”. The American carrier system is a HUGE hindrance to successful mobile marketing. Right now, SMS messaging is the stalwart tactic being used in Mobile.
5. R.I.P. to the Music Industry and Newspaper Industry- The expectation of free and rampant use of Bit Torrent, Limewire and other downloadable means has put the record industry in a serious pickle. It was announced at the Millennials conference in Toronto that 48% of teens in 2007 DID NOT buy a CD. That is a trend and is only going to get worse. Bad news is that the music industry is structured for CD sales. WOW! The same goes for the newspaper industry. Young people are into pop culture news and have very short attention spans. Newspapers are not an integral part of their daily lifestyle.

The advertising world is changing and changing fast. We pride ourselves as an Agency that stays relevant because we love monitoring these changes. Digital is the word and those who don’t understand this evolving world will be left behind.