Channel Surfing with Dreighton Pickner (ad critic) : June 2007

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A big “hello” to all my readers out there in the World Wide Blogo-sphere! Thanks for stopping by for this month’s edition of Channel Surfing – the world-wide-web edition of my weekly newsletter.

As some of you may know, I left “the agency game” a while ago after over a decade of climbing the ranks from junior copywriter to copywriter at Your Logo Here! in Palatine, IL. So it’s fair to say I’ve taken my lumps and have a pretty good eye for what makes or breaks a commercial on the old boob tube these days.

This month I want to talk about youth-targeted advertising. Boy, are you agency guys way off! How do you justify your corner offices and your reserved parking spots coming up with the tired old stuff that you do?

Take Ovaltine for example. You have a product out there that the kids already like – (Who doesn’t love a glass of chocolate milk on a hot day?) so what’s up with this “More Ovaltine, please?” junk? Kids just don’t relate to that kind of thing – asking their mom for stuff and saying “please”? How about cutting against the grain a little, guys? Kids are rebellious, they want to bust loose and play air guitar to some heavy rock with their friends without their parents hanging around.

What about a character from the brand that speaks their language? Ovaltine is chocolate, how about a brown bear that also can ride a skateboard? What about some Hawaiian print shorts and some cool sunglasses for that California surfer look? He could even have a catch phrase – something that uses the kid’s vernacular like “Totally Stoked For Ovaltine!” I don’t know, I’m just ’spit-balling’ as we say in the trade.

It reminds me of a print campaign we did for Splashin’ Safari waterparks here in Palatine. We totally nailed their look with a surfing Polar Bear named “Zack”. The polar bear was a great device for them – on those hot Midwestern Illinois days with the heat index on the climb – kids just took one look at Zack with his trademark shades and said “Cool!”

Or there was the ad for Dunkables Choco-Yogurt Bites where we shot some local kids doing handstand tricks on their skateboards. Our animated brand character Zeke Zebra came on screen in the end of the spot wearing a leather jacket and a baseball hat on backwards and said “Dunkables – Gotta Dunk ‘Em!” It was a few extra bucks to get Alan Thicke to do the voice of Zeke (don’t think we didn’t hear it from the client!) but in the end, it really gave the kids something they could relate to. It’s a shame they didn’t shoot any more spots with Your Logo Here! – we could have really built that brand up to be a winner together.

But listen, it’s not just about the razor scooters and buzz words. You never know with the youth market of today – one minute they’re jamming out to “Rocking Like The Hurricane” and then the next they’re on the school bus with their baggy pants claiming to be big time rap-heads! I try to make the most out of my visits with my eleven year old Donny – he says he’s not really into the stuff the popular kids are - “too busy practicing jazz clarinet”, he tells me. But he overhears things at school and I try to relate as best I can – even with the crazy stuff America’s youth gets into. For example: Did you know that kids are into the punk music again? It’s true! There’s even some bands on the MTV like April Lavigne who are big-time into punking. There’s even a store at the mall where you can get clothes and necklaces and all kinds of rock gear. I’m gonna have to check that out.

Anyways, that’s enough from me – I don’t want to give too much free advice away here. As much as I miss the agency side sometimes I know everything happens for a reason and I’m having fun building up my consultant business here from home. Check back next month, adguys and adgals – maybe I can help teach you a little more insight about the biz! [dp]